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10 Tips for Making Your Home More Energy Efficient

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Nov 18th 2009 @ 12:03PM

Filed under: Home

Switch your lightbulbs! Photo: AFP, Getty Images

The holiday season is just weeks away, the days are getting shorter, and the weather is getting chilly. Between wanting to save some money and trying to keep our carbon footprints in check, many of us are thinking about investing in Snuggies instead of turning up the thermostat -- blankets with arms in the name of energy-efficiency!

Keeping the thermostat low is a good place to start, and there are lots of other easy things you can do to make your home as energy-efficient as possible. Even if you've seen many of these steps, sent out by Plastics Make it Possible, it's is the perfect time for a refresher -- before the truly cold weather sets in, and all of your time gets eaten up with holiday projects.

Take a moment to look around and run through this quick list to see what DIY improvements you can make for a more energy-efficient winter!

Continue reading 10 Tips for Making Your Home More Energy Efficient

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The Solar Decathlon

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Nov 3rd 2009 @ 12:00PM

Filed under: Home, Alternative Energy

University of Kentucky Uses Innovative Recycled Plastic Decking at the Solar Decathlon from Plastics Make it Possible on Vimeo.

Last month students from around the world gathered on the National Mall in Washington D.C. to compete in the Solar Decathlon, hosted by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Twenty teams designed, built and operated solar-powered homes, which were then opened to the public, both to get votes, and to educate people about the latest uses of energy-efficient building practices and materials.

The first, and hardest, part of the competition actually happens before they get to D.C., when the teams design their structures, raise money to build them, and supervise contractors to actually raise them. Then they take them apart -- very carefully! -- and transport them to the National Mall, where they are reassembled on site. The final phase includes the judging, where they are evaluated on 10 different areas:

Continue reading The Solar Decathlon

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Eco-Friendly Halloween Costumes

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Oct 22nd 2009 @ 12:12PM

Filed under: Home, Kids and Parenting

Halloween costumes

Ghost costumes are easy! Photo: Getty Images/TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA/Staff

So what's your Halloween costume this year? Oh, you don't have one? That's okay, we have some eco-friendly and oh-so-clever ideas for you!

Being sustainable doesn't mean you have to wear an unimaginative, boring, hemp bag. Just the opposite, unless you're going as a Wet Blanket Environmentalist.

Get out your creativity, roll up your sleeves, and prepare ready to wow your friends and neighbors with these environmentally smart Halloween costumes.

Continue reading Eco-Friendly Halloween Costumes

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Ed Begley, Jr. Talks to GreenDaily About Going Green for Cheap

by Josh Loposer (RSS feed)
Oct 20th 2009 @ 10:00AM

Filed under: Celebrities, Home

wolf

Photo: Kevin Winter, Getty Images

If you're a "Living With Ed" die hard, you already know that Ed's green living show was picked up by Planet Green for another exciting and environmentally-friendly season. With the premiere already locked and loaded for October 21st at 9PM EST (that's tomorrow!), I was lucky enough to catch up with Ed for a few minutes to chat about the upcoming season, as well as Ed's green living philosophy.

GD: I heard a rumor that you guys are undergoing some major home renovations. Can you tell us whether or not you'll achieve your dream of living completely off the grid this year?

EB: No, I still can't do it. There's a good side of the problem; there's a lot of shading on my roof. I can never get fully off the grid unless I built a second story because of the shade from my neighbors' houses. But the shade actually keeps the heat off the roof, so that's good.

I've got our energy bill down to about 300 or 400 bucks a year. Now that we have three people in the house and I'm putting about 10,000 miles on my electric car doing speeches, the demand is higher than what it used to be. Even on the grid, the power I've got at my house is completely renewable. For only three cents extra per kilowatt hour, I buy power that comes completely from renewable sources through the LA power grid.

Continue reading Ed Begley, Jr. Talks to GreenDaily About Going Green for Cheap

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Vaska Laundry Detergent, Good Enough for the Giants, Good Enough For All of Us

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Sep 30th 2009 @ 12:02PM

Filed under: Home

Vaska Herbatergent Credit: Vaska

Here in San Francisco we've resigned ourselves to another year of dashed World Series hopes. But we do have a baseball superlative to be proud of: The San Francisco Giants are certainly the most eco-friendly major league baseball team!

In addition to a solar powered stadium and a water-conserving irrigation system, the team uses Vaska, an all-natural, phosphate-free detergent. The company is even local, based across the bay in Berkeley, California.

Since I'm getting to be something of an expert on green laundry practices, the company contacted me and offered a sample of their herbatergent ™. Of course I said yes!

Continue reading Vaska Laundry Detergent, Good Enough for the Giants, Good Enough For All of Us

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Scotch Brite Sponge is a Cleaner Green - But it Only Comes in Brown!

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Sep 17th 2009 @ 12:06PM

Filed under: Home

Eco-friendly sponges from Scotch-Brite. Credit: Cat Lincoln

One of my favorite things is when big companies finally see the "Green Light" (and by green I mean eco-friendly and potential money-makers) of environmentally responsible products. Sponge king 3M, though its Scotch Brite brand, has clearly picked up on the whole, "Oh, people want sustainably-produced versions of this stuff!" concept. Hooray!

Like all good Green Warriors, when I first heard about the Greener Clean line I was suitably skeptical and suspicious of 3M greenwashing, just because their products use so many chemicals. I mean, there's a picture of a guy with a blow torch and a protective gas mask on their products page!

Very intelligently, they got the new line of Scotch Brite Greener Clean into the hands of bloggers at the BlogHer Conference, by way of the Room 704 gift bags. I got several samples, including scrubbers, sponges and wipes, all made from natural, sustainable, recycled and recyclable materials.

Continue reading Scotch Brite Sponge is a Cleaner Green - But it Only Comes in Brown!

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We Can All Work on the 4th R: "Respond"

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Aug 26th 2009 @ 12:09PM

Filed under: Home, Activism


Recycling on the streets of San Francisco. Credit: Justin Sullivan, Getty Images

Everyone knows the three Rs: Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Of course the truly green also practice the fourth R: "Respond".

I'm going to give all of you GreenDaily readers the benefit of the doubt, and take it as a given that you all Recycle -- the blue bins are ubiquitous in most cities, and if you really want one, you can even find it in rural areas. Heck, in San Francisco, where I live, we're even required to compost.

In these days of economic uncertainty (also known as "we're all broke anyway") Reducing is common because it makes good financial sense. No one needs to prompt me to turn out the lights when I leave a room, PG&E sends me a monthly reminder!

Continue reading We Can All Work on the 4th R: "Respond"

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Make Your Bathroom More Eco-Friendly

by Kristen Seymour (RSS feed)
Aug 7th 2009 @ 10:00AM

Filed under: Home


How To Make Your Bathroom Eco-Friendly on Howcast


How clean and green is your bathroom? It's easy to rely on toxic, chemical-laden cleaners to make sure we get rid of all the icky germs in the bathroom, but those chemicals aren't good for you or the environment. Add to that the amount of water that gets wasted and all the crazy ingredients in your shampoo, and this little room starts to have a big impact.

From choosing the right light bulbs and showerhead to using the right cleaning products, the video above has tips for making your bathroom as eco-friendly as possible.

Got some tips of your own? Share them in the comments!

Continue reading Make Your Bathroom More Eco-Friendly

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Should Enivros Embrace the Aluminum Bottle?

by Josh Loposer (RSS feed)
Jul 22nd 2009 @ 12:00PM

Filed under: Food, Home

(Photo by Abqtrucker, Flick)
Popping the top off of a cold longneck may be part of the quintessential American experience (it certainly is a part of mine), but is it in line with your efforts to go green? Like it or not, some of your favorite glass-bottle beverages -- from beer, to Coca-Cola, to (gasp!) wine -- will soon be living in one of those weird-looking aluminum bottles as they await their fateful date with your gullet.

You may have already seen a few of these funky bottles lurking around your local grocery store. Anheuser-Busch has been using them for a couple of years now as well as some of the other beer giants. A few months ago, Coca-Cola announced plans to start rolling these babies out in limited venues across the country. Now, Rexam, a huge consumer packaging company, has jumped into the aluminum bottle market. So, I'm guessing that we're destined to see a lot more of them.

The good news is that, in terms of sustainability, aluminum bottles look like a clear winner over glass. For starters, one of these new aluminum bottles weighs in at about 20 grams, whereas a comparable glass bottle weighs about 180-200 grams. Obviously, weight plays a huge factor in an item's carbon footprint, so we're talking about some serious reductions in shipping emissions. Not bad, eh?

Continue reading Should Enivros Embrace the Aluminum Bottle?

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It's Easy Being Green - Yes, I Changed My Mind

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Jul 10th 2009 @ 12:07PM

Filed under: Home, Natural Body Care

envirosax reusable shopping bag
(Photo by Envirosax)
A couple of weeks ago I wrote a post complaining about how hard it is to be green. But after thinking about it a little bit while I'm doing my daily life, I take it back: there are lots of things about being green that are easy!

Reusable straws -- I use straws for hot and cold drinks. Even at home. Believe me, the used straws start to stack up quickly. I was feeling guilty about my daily hollow plastic contribution to the landfill when my best friend gave me some cool acrylic straws from Crate & Barrel. I wash them, like cutlery. It's actually no big deal, and one little way to avoid producing needless waste. While still being OCD and orally fixated.

Recycled paper towels -- They are available everywhere, with several choices at all of my local supermarkets. My husband (who objects to "those gross brown ones") has even bought them by accident, thinking he was sneaking contraband virgin paper fiber into the house. Yes, I just said that it's so easy even a husband can do it. By accident.

Continue reading It's Easy Being Green - Yes, I Changed My Mind

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The Eco-Angle on Poop

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Jul 8th 2009 @ 12:02PM

Filed under: Health, Home

white toilet
(Photo by Getty Images)
In the end, it always comes back to poop, doesn't it? I was catching up, scrolling through my "green news" feeds, and there they were, one after another, on Huffington Post, Reuters, and the Lazy Environmentalist: stories about eco-friendly toilets.

The green issue, i.e. the least green thing about toilets, and therefore poop, is water. It takes a lot of water to wash away each person's daily "production." And in a world where fresh water is in increasingly high demand ... at some point the discussion becomes, "Do we prioritize drinking water or toilet water?"

But we green folk are nothing if not inventive, so of course there are solutions. For ages, one of my favorite eco-home-porn items has been a grey water toilet. The concept is simple enough: you collect the water from showers, face-washing and tooth-brushing and use it to flush toilets instead of valuable drinking water. Two people using a grey water system can save as much as 14 gallons of water per day!

Continue reading The Eco-Angle on Poop

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Getting Your Laundry Clean and Green

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Jul 7th 2009 @ 12:07PM

Filed under: Home

heinz distilled vinegar
(Photo by Heinz)
Recently I visited my sister in North Carolina. While there is much to love in the southern state, it's is not what you would call the most "green" area of the country -- they don't even have curbside recycling at her house!

But she does have the softest and best smelling laundry in the world, because she uses a ton of fabric softener, something I gave up ages ago because of the negative impact on the environment. Still, you have to admit, that stuff really makes a difference. Toweling off after a shower, I was ready to say, "Screw the environment, bring me a gallon of Downy!"

But of course I didn't. Sigh. Instead I'm redoubling my efforts to find the ultimate green laundry products. In the interest of research, last week I did four loads of laundry, using four different combos, in search of clean, green laundry satisfaction. Did I find it? Well ... sorta.

Continue reading Getting Your Laundry Clean and Green

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It's Energy Independence Day!

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Jul 3rd 2009 @ 12:04PM

Filed under: Home, Polit-eco

(Photo by Getty Images)
In this country, we're lucky to have the freedom to choose to act any way that we please -- whether it's good or bad for the environment.

Fortunately, more and more Americans are picking energy smart appliances, walking instead of driving, and encouraging our elected officials to support legislation that creates clean energy jobs.

On that last note, Repower America has a 4th of July pledge on their site, letting you declare that you want our country to:

Continue reading It's Energy Independence Day!

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Green Your 4th of July Celebration

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Jul 2nd 2009 @ 12:02PM

Filed under: Food, Home

bare by solo sustainable paper plates and cups
(Photo by Solo)


My favorite traditions for the 4th of July involve eating outdoors. Picnics, BBQs, coolers at the beach, nothing says summer holiday like the smell of sunscreen mixed with the salty goodness of a crispy hot dog.

And while I must admit a weakness for Cool Ranch Doritos, as a rule I like to keep my al fresco dining practices in line with my "regular" organic, sustainable and local habits.

One place where that's most important -- and easy -- is in the "meat/not-meat" main dish department:

Continue reading Green Your 4th of July Celebration

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Help Your Pet Enjoy the 4th Despite Loud, Scary Fireworks

by Cat Lincoln (RSS feed)
Jul 1st 2009 @ 12:02PM

Filed under: Home, Plants and Wildlife

(Photo by Nature\'s Inventory)
It makes sense that so many dogs, cats, birds, and ferrets find fireworks utterly terrifying and unbearable -- they are loud, unpredictable, and jarring -- and a delightfully patriotic celebration of our country's deeply martial history, don't get me started wrong.

Obviously you can't stop your local municipality from setting off a 20 minute light and explosion show set to bombastic classical music. But you can help your pet be safe, and hopefully shorten the length of time Felix, Fido and Lance the Lizard hide in the closet, under the bed and behind a rock, respectively.

The LA Times had a great article with suggestions for doing your animal friend a 4th of July solid, including:

  • Leave your pet at home -- no pet wants to see fireworks up close
  • Make sure all pets have a collar and ID tag (that's smart all the time)
  • Ask your vet for advice on keeping your pet calm -- music, low lights, a comfortable bed, could all make a difference.
I would add, if you're going to be talking to Dr. Feelgood Veterinarian, consider requesting a prescription for doggie Ativan. Or, if you're more into holistic, herbal remedies, there is this Doggie Calm Wellness oil, which is basically lavender and patchouli. It's organic!

And of course, catnip won't calm your cat down, but he might thank you just the same. Everyone -- even pets -- enjoy a little herbal indulgence on a holiday weekend!

Continue reading Help Your Pet Enjoy the 4th Despite Loud, Scary Fireworks

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