RSSCut Your Energy Bills
October 2, 2009
Consumer Reports magazine outlines a few ways you can save $1,500 per year on your energy bills.
If you go the cut your energy bills link and navigate the subsections that are linked to in the left hand column of the overview article.
The story delves into the myriad ways that most homes waste energy, emphasizing the financial cost of energy inefficiency and breaking down the different ways every home can become more energy efficient. Consumer Reports conducted a nationally representative survey of 2,014 Americans for the report and found some intriguing data on how people are and aren’t saving energy.
For example Shades of Green tells us 83% always run a full load in the dishwasher, 40% buy green cleaning products, 16% recycled a CFL, and only 3% use an alternative energy source, such as solar, wind, or geothermal.
It also talks about tax credits, energy audits and is really worth taking a look at.
A New/Old Way To Save Ink
May 15, 2009
A company called CoGen Media got in touch to tell us about a new product that will help save waste by helping printer cartridges last longer.
Probably invented to save money originally (it’s a great motivator), the ecoPrint2 software is becoming popular in America as way for schools, companies and individuals to be environmentally friendly. The software acts as an internal printer allowing you to automatically use less ink with your printer and even do things like print two pages per sheet without having to set it up each time.
So it saves ink and paper basically. Now I know the argument is that no printing saves even more ink and paper, and while I don’t print at all at home, at work it’s unavoidable. Businesses need to take their responsibilities more seriously and I would suggest, without actually being in a position to test it, that this sort of software, and idea in general, is a step in the right direction.
It does cost around $40 for the basic version though, so I’ll just be hunting for the ‘draft’ option on my printer I think. Go to Ecoprintsaver.com to find out more.
Green Store News: 10% Off At Nigel’s Eco Store, New Products From Green People and Get Ready For Festival Season With Ecotopia
April 15, 2008
Our good friends at Nigel’s Eco Store have got a nice offer on with 10% off eco gardening products below. Get in quick before April 19th and enter the code SpringEco at the checkout to save on things like the Paper Potter, Organic String on a stand, Potting Shed Collection and 100% Biodegradable Leaf Sacks. Remeber we’re giving away an Eco Office pack from Nigel’s Eco Store in our competition – the Great Green Giveaway.
And we’re also giving away stuff from Green People which I’ve learned was founded by Charlotte Vøhtz after she started making natural and gentle organic formulations for her daughter Sandra, who suffered from severe skin irritations. Anyway in May it’s got four new products:
Body Bliss Lotion – a rejuvenating lotion works to pamper the skin with Jojoba and Green Tea offering instant hydration for a super soft feeling.
Foaming Face Wash – a soap-free face wash for all skin types bringing added benefits with its unique anti-blemish formulation, helping to reduce breakouts.
Foaming Hand Sanitizer – a unique and highly effective organic formulation designed to provide immediate, natural antibacterial protection wherever you are, the perfect alternative to soap and water for those on the go.
Baby Foaming Cleanser – a multi-purpose cleanser in a handy pump dispenser formulated to be super mild and gentle on baby’s delicate skin.
And Ecotopia (another prize giver) has launched a green survival kit to help festival goers reduce their carbon footprint at events. The kit, which contains 10 essential items, costs £59.99 and includes everything you need to have a happy, healthy and eco friendly festival. All packaging for every item is either biodegradable or recyclable (which is a personal bugbear of mine so makes me happy) and includes:
Freeloader Solar Charger
Condomi Condoms
The Freeplay Kito LED Lantern
Badger Tangerine Breeze Lip & Body Balm
Kingfisher Toothpaste
Preserve 100% Recycled Toothbrush
Tushies Baby Wipes
Degradable Refuse Sacks
Natracare Organic Feminine Wipes
Toms of Maine Deodorant
All good stuff.
Do You Get Green Employment Benefits?
February 15, 2008
The excellent Sustainablog recently mentioned that “renewable energy companies are adding green benefits to their employment packages to align the company’s stated values with their company culture and to attract talent from traditional industries to the renewable energy industry.”
They fall into the categories of work related; transportation; residential; personal/well being; and financial. Take a look a the Sustainablog article for more information.
Students Go Green with Paperless Payment
September 13, 2007
Adam has previously writtern about how to be a green student, and now there is another way that can help. According to a recent survey, UK students favour going green with paperless payments, with more than half saying they would prefer to pay for goods, services and tickets using their mobile/cell phone.
The research, published in late August by LUUP (a mobile payment solution first launched in Norway in July 2002), reveals that over 60% of UK students surveyed would prefer to use paperless payment methods such as via mobile because they are more environmentally friendly. The research shows that as environmental concerns grow there will be more consumer demand for “environmental technology”.
The online survey, was answered by 395 students from more than 70 universities across the UK. It was conducted in order to gauge interest in mobile payments and examine factors that influence the motivation for choosing this type of payment.
Conventional payment methods and ticketing processes pose an unnecessary threat to the environment. Tickets are frequently made using non-biodegradable magnetic strips and laminate, and most transactions usually result in multiple paper receipts. Mobile and online payment systems minimise these wasted resources by making transactions entirely electronic. The results of this survey suggest that as environmental awareness increases, mobile payment systems such as LUUP will make their way to the forefront of preferred payment methods.
LUUP is a mobile payment system enabling consumers to send and receive payments on their mobile phones or online. Payments can be made from credit/debit cards, bank accounts and the digital cash in account holder’s ‘LUUP Wallet.’ Since all elements of LUUP transactions are electronic, the need for paper receipts or non-biodegradable tickets is eliminated, making the payment process far more environmental. For more information or to sign up, visit LUUP and select your country.
Get Paid To Recycle
May 10, 2007
It’s reasonably well known that in some states in the US you get paid for recycling. Glass bottles and aluminum cans often have a return value on them, which is why a lot of homeless people collect them to earn some money. However Philadelphia based RecycleBank go even further.
They provide you with a barcoded recycling container that is collected each week. The truck weighs the container and the barcode is scanned, and you are paid based on the weight, up to $35 per month. Like the recycling I do, you can put everything (glass, plastic, paper, metal, vegetation etc) into one container (“single stream recycling”) to make it easier, however unlike me, you get paid to do it.
The site provides some great stats.
1 Ton of Recycled Paper Saves:
17 Trees (35′ Tall)
7,000 gallons of water
2 barrels of oil (enough fuel to run the average car for 1260 miles or from Dallas to Los Angeles)
4100 kilowatts of energy (enough power for the average home for 6 months)
3.2 cubic yards of landfill space (one family sized pick-up truck)
60 pounds of air pollution
4.2 MWh of energy (enough energy to power a computer for almost a year)
1 Ton of Recycled Aluminum Saves:
1,663 gallons of gasoline (amount of fuel needed to provide a typical home with electricity for a period of 10 years)
14,000 Kwh of energy
238 million BTUs of energy
10 cubic yards of landfill space
1 Ton of Recycled Glass Saves:
42 Kwh of energy
5 gallons of oil
714,000 BTUs of energy
7.5 pounds of air pollutants from being released
2 cubic yards of landfill space
1 Ton of Recycled Newsprint Saves:
601 Kwh of energy
71 gallons of oil
10.2 million BTUs of energy
60 pounds of air pollutants from being released
4.6 cubic yards of landfill space
1 Ton of Recycled Office Paper Saves:
4,100 Kwh of energy
380 gallons of oil
54 million BTUs of energy
60 pounds of air pollutants from being released
7,000 gallons of water
3.3 cubic yards of landfill space
1 Ton of Recycled Plastic Saves:
5,774 Kwh of energy
685 gallons of oil
98 million BTUs of energy
30 pounds of air pollutants from being released
1 Ton of Recycled Steel Saves:
642 Kwh of energy
76 gallons of oil
10.9 million BTUs of energy
4 cubic yards of landfill space
Rewards can be used at a whole host of stores such as Borders, Bed Bath & Beyond, Whole Foods, Starbucks and 250 other national and local stores. In tests, the amount recycled per household lept from 5lbs per week to 35lbs. Let’s hope they just weren’t eating more…..
[Via Springwise]
Update: A good tool for finding places to recycle in the US is from earth911.org. You can try searching by using their tool below.
Find a recycling center
Help Us Cut VAT On Fruit Juice
April 22, 2007
From our friends at Innocent. If you’re a UK citizen you can help petition to remove VAT on fruit smoothies and juices.
“Help Us Cut VAT On Fruit Juice. Let’s get it down to 5%.
Some things just aren’t right. Tartan jeans for instance. And the fact that the government charges VAT on healthy fruit juices and smoothies. Seems wrong to us. Especially when other foods, like hotdogs and chips, remain tax free. Not quite encouraging healthy eating, is it?
That’s why we’ve set up a petition on the Prime Minister’s website to tell the government that they could help more people get to their five a day by removing this daft tax. To sign up go to
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/fruitjuiceVAT
It only takes 30 seconds to type in your name.
Thanks for your support,
Everyone at Innocent.”
If you’re bored, you can also check out their (amusing) label museum.
