Eco Friendly Living

If you are looking to reduce your carbon footprint by implementing green energy for a rural home, or any other type of urban and suburban building, Green Energy Technologies has launched its WindCube.

The Windcube is a rooftop wind turbine designed for on-site power generation. The WindCube turbine, captures and amplifies the wind, and can be placed into service in a very small footprint.

Wind Energy

This is especially good news for states with renewable energy incentives and moderate wind and high electric rates. It is estimated that the costs of the WindCube can be recouped in as little as three years.

The WindCube is available in rooftop or tower-mounted designs. The WindCube has a patent-pending design that implements the wind tunnel effect known in physics as the Bernoulli Principle. The WindCube captures and amplifies the wind producing more kilowatt hours (kWh). The WindCube can capture wind energy as low as 5 mph.

Read more about the WindCube at Control Engineering.

Join the Global Online Wind Energy Web Conference being held May 26th and 27th 2009.  More than 25 experts are scheduled to speak on opportunities, trends and challenges related to community wind energy projects at this  unique online conference.

Some of the speakers will be:
American Wind Energy Association, US Dept. of Agriculture, US Dept. of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency, Native Energy, Spirit Lake Community School, AWS Truewind, Windustry, Pembina Institute, Baker & McKenzie, Citibank, Hyannis Country Garden, Wind Energy Solutions, Illinois Rural Electric Company and many more! Agenda can be found here.

If you are interested in learning more about community wind projects and grasping a better understanding and greater use of Green Energy this Web Conference will provide you with invaluable information.

Registering for the Wind Energy Global Online Web Conference will give you the opportunity to interact and connect with all presenters and other professionals around the world, to gain insights, contacts and opportunities to help increase the use of Green Energy.

Reserve your place today by registering for this extraordinary Web Conference and connect with some of the world’s top Community Wind experts.  All presentations will be recorded and available to registered participants online almost immediately after the broadcast so you won’t miss any of the speakers.

World Environment Day is a green event celebrated yearly on the 5th of June.  This year it will be hosted in Mexico.  World Environment Day (WED) was established by the UN General Assembly in 1972 to mark the opening of the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment.

World Environment Day was created to promote worldwide awareness of the environment and encourage political attention and action.

The purpose of World Environment Day  is to:

1. Give a human face to environmental issues;
2. Empower people to become active agents of sustainable and equitable development;
3. Promote an understanding that communities are pivotal to changing attitudes towards environmental issues;
4. Advocate partnership which will ensure all nations and peoples enjoy a safer and more prosperous future.

The theme for 2009 is ‘Your Planet Needs You-UNite to Combat Climate Change’.  Bringing awareness of the urgency for nations to agree on a new deal at the crucial climate convention meeting in Copenhagen some 180 days later in the year, and the links with overcoming poverty and improved management of forests.

Buying local organic produce reduces our energy use. When you buy locally produced food it saves energy by reducing the miles from the farm to your table in contrast to the energy is costs to ship from locations farther away.  Local and organic foods are also going to be fresher when obtained from a source that is close to where you live. Supporting your local farmers who grow organic produce helps our ecosystem by using less fossil fuel and releases fewer greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. The practice of organic farming is far better for the land and environment.

Buy Local Organic Produce

Buying local doesn’t always have to mean right in your neighborhood. Buying local can also mean buying products that are produced or manufactured in the USA (assuming the reader is from the US). Checking labels is always a good idea, not only to see what type of ingredients they contain, as some are not good for you or the environment, but also to see if they are “Made in the USA”.

Buying products that are made in the USA helps save jobs, our economy and our future growth. Check the labels , you may be surprised that some generic brands that are made in the USA, have the same ingredients as the Brand Name products but cost less.  Sadly, most large brand name companies are farming out the production of their products to other countries where labor is cheaper.

In our current economic situation, every little thing we buy or do affects someone else and perhaps even his or her job.

For example, some Hershey candies are made in Mexico. Colgate toothpaste is made in Mexico while Crest is made in the USA. (Last time I looked at the labels, these can change so check often).

Start reading the labels when you shop for everyday things and try to buy products produced in the USA – the job you save may be your own!

Start buying locally produced, fresh, organic produce … it’s better for you and better for the ecosystem.

I was recently shopping for an earth friendly laptop computer. I found a sexy, eco-friendly laptop made with sustainable bamboo!

THREE GREEN THUMBS UP!

The Asus U6V Bamboo is one mean green machine. The outside is made with authentic Moso Bamboo and it’s really beautiful. The touch pad is made of natural bamboo and feels great. The Asus U6V Bamboo uses green construction with 90% recyclable materials.

ASUS U6V-V2-Bamboo 12.1-Inch Laptop (2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Vista Business)

The U6V Bamboo is a powerful green machine. Not only is the outside clad with authentic sustainable Moso Bamboo, but on the inside a powerful Intel® Core™ 2 Duo T9400 processor, NVIDIA® graphics and 4GB of memory. Super fast and lots of memory! Plenty of power for all your computing needs. The NVDIA graphics card makes gaming on the bamboo laptop a dream! The Extended battery life is a big plus too.

The ASUS laptop Super Hybrid Engine has green performance which increases the notebooks energy efficiency. It is Green certified by Energy Star, rated 5.0, the highest Energy Star rating available. Even the shipping materials are eco-friendly, the packaging the laptops are shipped in is 90% recyclable.

ASUS U6V-V2-Bamboo 12.1-Inch Laptop (2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T9400 Processor, 4 GB RAM, 320 GB Hard Drive, Vista Business)

All this means a powerful, sleek, sexy, green, eco-friendly laptop you’ll be proud to own and glad you bought.

When you go shopping you are usually asked if you want paper or plastic when you are in the check out line. Your answer should be neither.

You should, instead, BYOB .. bring your own bag! Help reduce pollution with your own reusable grocery bag. Reusable grocery bags and totes are environmentally friendly products. Buy permanent bags that you can wash and reuse. Keep them in your car (they fold up easily) and use them for shopping trips or even as totes.

Your Green Bag has lots of designs to choose from. A fun website where you can buy eco-friendly reusable bags and participate in their contests. Green Smart, affordable and savvy! Your Green Bag’s are water repellent and resistant to oil, bacteria, and odor.

Visit YourGreenBag.com and buy some reusable bags today and Go Green the next time you go shopping. They make a great “green gift” too!

Eco-friendly reuseable bags

Here are some great non-toxic, environmentally friendly cleaning products you can use in your home or office.

Seventh Generation Products is an eco-friendly manufacturer with a complete line of natural household products that are safe for the air, your pets, and family, and environmentally responsible. Their product guidelines are equivalent to, and sometimes even stricter than Green Seal standards. Seventh Generation’s products are made with ingredients that come from sustainable farming, working only with farmers who follow strict rules and guidelines.

Seventh Generation’s 2X Laundry Concentrate is tough on dirt and stains, while being completely free of phosphates, optical brighteners, bleach and other ingredients that are harmful. Seventh Generation products work as well as traditional cleaners, but Seventh Generation uses renewable, non-toxic, phosphate-free, and biodegradable ingredients as often as possible, and are never tested on animals. Seventh Generation products make a difference by saving natural resources, keeping toxic chemicals out of the environment, and making the world a safer place for this and the next seven generations.

Another great line of eco friendly products is Dr. Bronner’s. Dr. Bronner’s line of soaps and cleansers has been around for a long time. Their products are certified organic by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. They are radiation and pesticide-free products made using sustainable farming practices. Their product is packaged in 100 percent recycled plastic bottles making them even more earth friendly.

Not only can you use Dr. Bronner’s to clean your home but their Organic, Pure-Castile Soaps are great for bathing and shampooing.

My personal favorite is Dr. Bronner’s Lavender Soap. Made with coconut, olive, jojoba, hemp oils, and pure essential oils, it cleans with a velvety-lather and leaves skin silky-smooth and refreshed. The Lavender scent is soothing and relaxing.

Clean your home (and yourself) by using green cleaning products that are eco friendly. Help save the planet and the health of your family and pets at the same time.

Cleaning your home does not have to involve the use of chemicals that pollute the air you breathe, harm your health or the environment. There are plenty of new green products on the market that will allow you to clean and sanitize your home without toxic after affects to your quality of life, family, pets and the ecosystem.

Get rid of products in your home or office that are toxic products. If you see the words “poison“, “warning”, “danger“, “caution” or a skull and cross bones symbol, don’t buy or use it. These products cause harm to our ecosystem, not to mention our health.

Buy and use eco friendly cleansers that are produced from renewable resources. Non-aerosol dispensers, naturally scented and neutral pH balance are three things to keep in mind when selecting cleansers.

We recommend that you look for eco-friendly products that are specially designed to biodegrade and are non-toxic. Avoid products that may leave harmful residues in your home or pollute the environment such as products that contain ammonia, corrosive ingredients, chlorine bleach, petroleum products and phosphates.

Look for environmentally friendly products that have the GREENSEAL or GREENGUARD on their label. The ““Green Seal” label was created by an independent non-profit organization which holds products to a significantly more rigorous standard than does DfE. DfE is the label created by The Environmental Protection Agency. DfE stands for the “Design for the Environment”. The DfE logo on a product insures that only the safest ingredients are used.

Green Seal certifies that their products are not only non-toxic and non-corrosive, but are also free of carcinogens and are biodegradable. Green Seal manufactures and produces household products, in addition to manufacturing and office products.

For safe, non toxic cleaning products see our post on “Green Cleaning Products Reviews”.

The earth and all it’s species survival is dependent upon the human species becoming more environmentally responsible to assure an ecological sustainable world. Human beings are a part of nature, we are but one of the millions of species on this planet. We share Earth’s resources with these other species. Our growth on this planet, the expanding human population, has resulted in the endangerment or extinction of thousands of species. We are now even threatening our own extinction.

Our use of the land for food, timber for homes and water that we use for crops and for drinking is depleting the global ecosystem production. The ecosystem is extremely fragile and needs balance, replenishment and care.

We need to preserve Earth’s ecosystems and curb biodiversity loss through conservation. As stewards of this planet we must ensure that the ecosystem is naturally sustained. Our survival, and that of other species, depends on a healthy ecosystem to provide basic needs such as clean water, clean air, food, medicine and even the weather and climate. Global warming affects our ecosystems and their ability to adapt. The ecosystem is fragile, it interacts and is interdependent upon a myriad of factors which we are only beginning to understand. It is our duty, to be socially & environmentally responsible, to change our behavior to ecological sustainable practices and preserve the Earth’s resources.

We must find ways to use renewable energy, reduce our carbon footprints, use eco-friendly green products in our daily lives and practice responsible recycling. Going Green not only improves the health of our planet, but it also improves the health and survival of all earth’s species.

“If there is a danger in the human trajectory, it is not so
much in the survival of our own species as in the
fulfillment of the ultimate irony of organic evolution: that
in the instant of achieving self-understanding through the
mind of man, life has doomed its most beautiful creatures.
And thus humanity closes the door to its past.”

E.O. Wilson, Diversity of Life, 1992

Make every day Earth Day! Buy and use green products, turn off the lights when you leave a room, start an organic garden, compost your scraps, recycle, car pool, and plant a tree! Practice sustainable living every day and help save the earth.