Composting can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. From piling green and brown things in a corner of the yard

Compost bins need aeration, like this metal mesh enclosure. (Photo: Bureau of Environmental Services, Howard County, Md.)

to buying that perfect compost bin, you’ll generate the same end result.  Those of us who turn and nurture our piles can expect more compost in a faster time period, but regardless our gardens will benefit from a little or a lot.

There are a variety of containers and methods to composting. They include:

• Plastic bins/barrels.

• Wire mesh enclosures and loose piles.

• Worm composters.

• Indoor composters, even motorized filter composters.

Gardening experts lean toward the simpler methods of piles and outdoor enclosures. Closed systems require more turning because there isn’t as much air and water.

The enclosures and bins are mainly to prevent rodents and other animals from getting into the compost, which may be more of a concern in dense urban areas. Homeowners in the suburbs or rural areas can use compost piles without much animal interference.

If you use the pile method, experts say to add dry materials around the outside of the pile to reduce smells.

Sam Hartman, program coordinator for The Ecology Center of San Francisco, suggests a simple approach. Begin with a 3 foot by 3 foot square area in your yard. Enclose it with wood posts and wire mesh.

The University of Missouri extension service  provides illustrations and instructions this type of compost pile, and others, including using an old barrel to make a spinning composter. The churnable composter will work more quicker.

But because it may be easier to stick with a looser routine, many gardeners say stick close to the ground with this earthy process. Like Hartman, Georgia gardening expert, author and television show host Walter Reeves also advocates simplicity. He suggests homeowners pile compost in the corner of their yard where two fences intersect.

But Reeves cautions gardeners not to rely solely on compost to create a bountiful harvest. Make sure to add soil conditioners to your garden beds.

“(Compost) is a component of your garden, but it will not produce the volume to satisfy all your needs. Adding compost to the soil is gonna really jump start the flower bed or vegetable process,” he added.

Getting Started

After you’ve secured a container, you’ll need a pitchfork or large stick and a pail to collect kitchen scraps.

A bamboo scraps collector that could pass muster in the neatest kitchen.

Once you start collecting food scraps, you may want to make a small investment in a composting pail. These pails, which include carbon filters to destroy any smells, are pretty enough to sit on your kitchen counter and start around $20. Some choices can be found at Gardeners.com, or any of a dozen gardening supply stores online.

Clean Air Gardening offers a bamboo scrap pail with a place for charcoal filters in the lid, a nice combination of design and sustainable materials.

Get your pipe fittings ready, next week is Fix a Leak week, starting March 15.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsors the annual five-day blitz to promote repair of leaks and replacing appliances with those that have WaterSense labels, the EPA’s designation for low water use products. Did you even know that some faucets are engineering to use less water without a reduction in flow. That’s how they get the WaterSense label, and you can find qualified models at the WaterSense website.

So look for local events sponsored by the EPA and local governments, plumbers, retailers, manufacturers and organizations. An average American home can waste 10,000 gallons of water a year from running toilets, dripping faucets, and other leaks.

For details see the EPA webpage on Fix a Leak Week.

Not so long ago, Mr. Clean and company were considered the good guys, the go-to-gang for a deep house cleaning. But in the past several years, alarms have been sounding about chemicals used in conventional household products.

Be they phosphates, sulfates, bleach, ammonia or phenols, certain ingredients are causing strong concerns among consumer-protection groups, federal and state governments, and even a few manufacturers. The new conventional wisdom asserts that many household cleaners contain compounds that pose environmental risks and can lead to health conditions such as asthma, nerve damage, reproductive damage, even cancer. (See our GRN guide below)

Greener cleaners are non-polluting, indoors and out

Complicating the issue, however, is the fact that many companies refuse to disclose all ingredients in their products, stymieing consumers’ ability to make informed choices. We may be seeing more disclosure, however. The non-profit group Earthjustice recently filed a lawsuit in New York State citing a little-known Empire State statute (circa 1976) that requires makers of HH cleaners to disclose their contents. Filed in February, the suit claims the Commissioner of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation has the authority to require such disclosures. The lawsuit has obvious national implications, considering that the cleaners used by New Yorkers are the same as those sold in the rest of the states, even the world.

Earthjustice notified several companies about the never-used law last year. SC Johnson and Simple Green responded by agreeing to list ingredients in their products for New York state consumers. Other major manufacturers like Proctor & Gamble, Colgate-Palmolive, Reckitt-Benckiser and Church and Dwight, have refused.

Get the risk out, with eco-friendly cleaners

In the meantime, a new crop of  greener cleaners has emerged over the last two decades, offering consumers healthier alternatives. Companies like BioKleen and Seventh Generation debuted in the late 80’s and early 90’s. Shaklee greened its cleaners and started selling concentrates, saving on bottles. Lately this movement has gone mainstream, with Clorox producing its Greenworks line and Safeway offering the eco-aware house brand, Bright Green. SC Johnson has taken some if its best-known brands, like Windex and Shout, and reformulated them into an eco-friendly variant as part of its Nature’s Source line.

These are but a sampling of the eco-friendly cleaners on the market today.

Design for the Environment is a new EPA endorsement program for safer cleaners

So popular is green-cleaning that the Environmental Protection Agency has just (in 2010) introduced a new Design for the Environment/Safer Product Recognition program, in which manufacturers whose products substitute harmful ingredients with safer ones become DfE “partners” and their products are labeled with DfE seal of approved. (The Design for the Environment program also provides a list of those making the grade.)

For now, consumers seeking green cleaners still need to look carefully. Cleaners that call themselves “organic” or “all-natural” can carry questionable chemicals. Clues to the most eco-friendly products can be found by looking for these words on labels:

• Plant-based cleaning agent — generally gentler and not from petroleum products.

• Biodegradable — which means the ingredients break down when exposed to water, air or soil, generally within days, into simple elements that can be absorbed by the environment.

Readers also might find this list from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works helpful. It categorizes HH cleaners that can be hazardous and warns residents to dispose of them in accordance with new county guidelines. The products to watch out for are conventionally formulated:

• Ammonia-based cleaners, like window cleaners

• Oven and drain cleaners

• Floor care products

• Aerosol cleaners

• Furniture polish

• Metal polishes and cleaners

• Tub, tile and toilet bowl cleaners

All these can be hazardous to waterways, wildlife, soil and air when dumped in the trash or down the drain; not to mention the irritation and health effects to humans breathing their vapors or coming into skin contact with these harsh chemicals. (See more details below.)

As you get ready for the annual war on weeds in your front lawn this spring, you can choose to load up on conventional weed-and-feed and launch a chemical offensive, or you can call the local lawn service to begin the assault on your behalf.

Clean Air truck with solar panels charging lawn mowers (Photo: Clean Air Lawn Care.)

Or…you can skip the harsh chemicals and the usual services and find an organic lawn service.

Organic lawn care companies are pushing into the market. So much so, that even Chem Lawn, a king of the old guard, now goes by TruGreen and offers an all-organic plan. These days a check for “organic lawn care” will usually pop up someone in your region, if not your exact town. And a search for do-it-yourself organic lawn care products, like corn gluten pre-emergent weed killer or composts for fertilizing, will turn up products at hundreds of online and off-line retailers.

But we only know of one lawn service, the Clean Air Lawn Care franchise, that is aiming for green on a multiple levels, greening lawns with organic materials while also making its operations sustainable by using solar power and electric mowers.

Clean Air Lawn Care is a pioneer in its industry, based in Fort Collins, Colo., wants to live up to its name, offering customers a chemical-free lawn, mowed by electric mowers that are charged by solar panels mounted on the company trucks, offering a clean, quiet, non-polluting alternative.

“We’re providing sustainable lawn care; it take all facets into consideration. By using electric equipment we’re not contributing to emissions, to climate change, those type of things. We’re also quiet. In a neighborhood, you won’t even hear us. The noise pollution (reduction), that’s a huge issue,” said Skip Vest, owner of the Raleigh, N.C., franchise.

Vest has been an organic lawn care expert for years. His master’s degree from the University of Montana is in natural resources management. For years, he worked restoring natural habitat for industrial construction projects. He decided a lawn care franchise would keep him closer to home, so he searched for the right opportunity.

Green, the color of organically treated lawns (Photo: Clean Air Lawn Care.)

He hit pay dirt with Clean Air Lawn Care – a company devoted to improving lawns by caring for the soil organically and reducing not only pesticide pollution, but lawn mower exhaust also. Franchises use electric lawn mowers made by Neuton and Black and Decker.

Emissions from lawn mowers and leaf blowers are not regulated. According to Clean Air, electric mowers emit 5,000 times less carbon dioxide than gasoline powered lawn mowers, and zero emissions when they are recharged from clean energy sources. (Even electric mowers charged on the grid, with a coal-fired electrical plant or two providing the electricity, still come out with emissions far lower than gasoline models.)

A gas lawn mower operated for one hour emits greenhouse gas emissions comparable to running 40 cars for the same time period, according to the EPA.

So Clean Air comes by its name honestly. And people are noticing. Founder and CEO Kelly Giard was named Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year by Entrepreneur Magazine in late 2009.

The only not-green aspect of the Clean Air program has been that there are no electric light-duty trucks available for crews to use, says Vest. He is looking at buying hybrid trucks, Toyota Tacomas, but until then, all the crews can do is drive responsibly.

They can do much more in yards, where they reclaim a healthy environment by adding organic fertilizers that feed the soil and ultimately, sustain heartier grass. Crews also mow the grass at a higher level than other services, leaving taller grass to shade out weeds and form drought-resistant roots. And they leave clippings on the lawn, providing a free nitrogen boost.

“What we’re after is the soil,’’ says Vest. “And what we’ve seen is that by doing this (enriching the soil) after a while, you almost work yourself out of a job.”

Daniel Whittaker, owner of Green Planet Catering in Raleigh, is a customer of Clean Air Lawn Care. He started the service after scouring ads for an organic lawn service to revive and maintain the small front yard of his downtown area house.

Whittaker appreciates that when the Clean Air crew arrives to mow outside his bedroom window early in the morning, they don’t even wake him up. But his lawn is waking up after nearly a year of organic care.

“As far as the results, it’s a twofold thing,’’ he said. “One, the lawn looks really good and it was in horrible condition when he (Vest) started; it was nothing but crab grass and clover. He put down some organic pre-emergents and reseeded with some organic seed.”

Even casual visitors have noticed the turn-around.

“One guy said he stopped and ran his hands thru the lawn because he said it looked so soft.”

• To find a Clean Air Lawn Care service in your area, see the website location tool.
• Other organic lawn services are available, including  Natural Lawn, with more than 20 years in the business, and the green wings of TruGreen and Scotts Lawn Service.
  (Warning: Some of the organic lawns services are only partly organic because they kill pests like fire ants chemically, though sometimes with “safer” chemicals.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

The modern consumer’s penchant for buying the latest electronic gadget has certainly contributed mountains to landfills worldwide and led to other ecological sins, from chemical leaching to demand-driven, warp-speed obsolescence of products.

But the electronics industry once again showcased several eco-conscious items at the recent Consumer Electronics Association tradeshow (known as the Consumer Electronics Show or CES). Aside from lower energy TVs, the newbie offerings foretell of a world where we will control the power we use, much like we control personal electronics now, but with more precision and far less waste.

Here’s a look at some of the most intriguing green offerings:

A 52” LED LCD TV by Sharp that consumes less power than any LCD TV on the market. In fact, Sharp’s LE700 series of full array LED LCD-TVs beat out competitors in all screen size classes for power consumption.

These TVs include sensors that measure the ambient  light in the room and adjust color and brightness, delivering the appropriate picture for the setting, and saving energy.

The LEDs have a listed life of 100,000 hours, and the screen can be viewed from 176 degrees. See more on the TV’s specs page. The 52-inch version is available for around $2,300.

Winter is not when we typically think strategically about trees. We may notice the glittering displays of icicles draped from their branches as we re-stack the firewood pile and shovel the front walk. But tree maintenance? It shifts to the bottom of our checklist.

Ice-glazed trees may need expert attention. (Photo: Green Right Now)

And yet, the winter months are an excellent time to train an eye on our arboriculture — to check for cracking or peeling bark, identify broken branches and address damage from ice and snow storms.

Let’s consider first those broken branches. There are likely to be many this winter as the nation endures repeated onslaughts of arctic winds and weather.

The first thing to do when seeing a tree in trouble, says Arbor Day Foundation arborist Robert Smith, is to carefully assess the damage, and be realistic and safe in how you deal with the problem.

Smith often advises homeowners to take a binoculars out and examine large trees for immediate weather damage, as well as existing problems that may not have been evident when the tree was in full foliage. But he stresses that a tree owner should stay grounded.

“If you’re going out and inspecting the tree, the first consideration always is safety,” Smith said. “If it’s a young tree planted in the last couple years that’s out on your property and there’s some damage and there’s work that could be done from the ground… you could remove cracked or down branches.”

If you find yourself heading to the garage for a ladder,  however, stop yourself, says Smith. Taller trees require the expert attendance of a certified arborist, who will have the appropriate equipment.

Not only do most homeowners lack the proper saws to make the necessary clean cut needed so the tree seal off the wound, they probably have no training in safe arbor care, and many have been seriously injured or killed in falls, says Smith. (Those saws, btw, are available for sale at some hardware store, but always at specialized tree care retailers like Sherrill Tree for those who have smaller trees to manage.)

Even though it’s winter, don’t hesitate to call an arborist, says Smith, because a tree expert can actually get a lot accomplished in these chilly months when the trees are in their latent stage.

Trees can be successfully pruned in the winter,  and may even do better being pruned in advance of the growing season.

Most importantly, a certified arborist can best advise you about how to proceed with a tree that’s been damaged. Often there’s a way to save the tree, and that’s not just tree-hugger talk.

Hold Off! This tree can probably be saved. (Image: Arbor Day Foundation.)

Smith remembers an early season blizzard that slammed Lincoln, Nebraska, where Arbor Day is based, 12 years ago. It began with a sudden freezing rain, hitting trees that were still green and growing. Within 24 hours, they were coated in ice and weighted with snow. Many of the trees must have looked beyond recovery, to the unstudied eye, he said. But more than a decade later, Smith can see many that survived that early winter blast. They’re the ones that were properly trimmed and given a chance to continue growing.

So don’t give up on 20 or 30 years of natural shade unless you’re certain the tree has been fatally compromised. A key to helping the tree recover is that clean cut.  “Trees don’t heal, they seal. They actually wall off or compartmentalize injuries. They don’t heal like you and I do, they don’t heal, they actually wall off injuries,” Smith said.

Arbor Day offers specific guidance on cutting trees limbs. The tree advocacy non-profit also issues guides on assessing damaged trees, such as its step-by-step Can They Trees Be Saved guide (see image, right), to help tree owners determine how to proceed with an impaired tree. This guide acknowledges that sometimes trees are injured beyond help, and offers depictions of what that sort of damage looks like.

The group also issues tips on what Smith calls “tree triage” or first aid for trees.  This guide urges homeowners to approach the problem with caution, gives specifics about pruning branches and argues for a conservative approach to save trees when possible. It advises:

• Removing the jagged remains of smaller sized broken limbs is one common repair that property owners can make after a storm. If done properly, it will minimize the risk of decay agents entering the wound.

• Smaller branches should be pruned at the point where they join larger ones.

• Large branches that are broken should be cut back to the trunk or a main limb by an arborist. Cut first a short distance out from where the branch meets the tree; then closer in. (See details at Arbor Day’s webpage on pruning. )

Some other dos and don’ts from Smith and the Arbor Day Foundation:

• Don’t let a passing work crew “take out” your damaged tree before you can have it professionally assessed. The tree might be salvageable, but the people soliciting your business are likely to be more interested in earning some quick cash than the long term viability of your landscape.

• Recognize that you don’t have to make an immediate decision about whether a tree should be removed. “There are times when people can come in and prune a tree that’s been severely damaged and then evaluate the health and condition of that tree over a period of years, then with an arborist make a decision whether or not it should remain in the landscape,” Smith said.

• Water trees in winter? Sure. Even better, deep water them, around the fall line away from the trunk, in late autumn, says Smith. That’s when you also should place mulch around the base, though not up against the trunk, which can invite pests. Mulch keeps soil moist and warm in the cold season, just as it helps during the summer to moderate the soil temperature. If winter is dry and windy where you are, water trees just as you might in warmer weather. You can also shield trees, especially new ones, from winter winds by surrounding them with a mini-fence of chicken wire, set out from the trunk, and covered with burlap, as Smith does.

• But when it comes to extra pruning, just say no. “Topping” a tree by cutting its canopy, can be harmful to decorative trees or any specimen. “Topping trees is always a bad idea,” says Smith. It never helps, and often hurts the health of the tree. Even those crape myrtles in the South are damaged by the winter shearing that many undergo. In the business, Smith said, this popular but ill-advised practice has been nicknamed “Crape Murder”. Read more about shearing back on shearings at the website Plant Amnesty.

So tend to those trees in winter — on calm and sunny days, and you may be rewarded with a bounty of spring foliage.

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by GRN Network

Got a refrigerator that’s not so chillin’ anymore? A washer that’s approaching its last spin? When that appliance goes kaput, or maybe beforehand, you’ll want to check out your state’s federally funded appliance rebate program.

Energy Star Front Load Washer by Whirlpool

That’s right, you may be able to get a federal kickback, courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, just for replacing that old appliance with a new Energy Star one. But you’ll have to check your state’s guidelines.

Under the $300 million U.S. Department of Energy appliance rebate program, each state was allowed to design its own plan. So you’d be eligible to get a rebate on a variety of home appliances in Illinois starting right away because the first phase of the rebate plan begins this month. But if you live in New York, you’ll have to wait until February. And if you live in Texas, you’re looking at April before you can heave off that rattly dishwasher for a shiny new one. Several other states also are starting the program in April, to coincide with Earth Day festivities.

Each state also has developed its own list of eligible items. In Texas, a wide range of appliances, from an array of hot water heaters and heat pumps to refrigerators and freezers are expected to qualify for rebates. But in California, only three items made the list. Refrigerators, clothes washers and room air conditioners will qualify for rebates in California, where the program is set to begin in March.

Many of the states will be requiring that old appliances be recycled, or will be offering additional money for those that are recycled. Still, the program has raised questions about whether it will mimic the Cash for Clunkers experiment of last summer, which was criticized for encouraging people to buy new automobiles, in some cases for only modest efficiency gains. Clunkers did require that new cars meet certain mileage minimums, but they weren’t as high as the market could have provided.

The trade-off, junking a car (the Clunkers vehicles had to be crushed) to obtain a higher mileage vehicle, didn’t make sense to those who ascribe to the green principle of using something until it wears out.

The appliance program will require that all new purchases be Energy Star-qualified. These models are 20 percent or more efficient than the norm, depending on the class of item being purchased.

Appliances do matter. The DOE estimates that more than 70% of the energy used in our homes is for appliances, refrigeration, space heating, cooling, and water heating. Which means that the other 30 percent is comprised of the energy used to heat the house and run electronics.

As for the dollar amount of those rebates, that too will vary, depending upon the item and the state plan.

A sampling:

• The proposed rebate for clothes washers in California is $100, which is in addition to state rebates that can run as high as $250 (offered by LA Department of Water and Power for a select list of efficient washers). So that $1,000 front-loading energy and water efficient washer could come down to $650, a sweet deal. Find other California energy incentives at the website Flex Your Power.
• Texas residents can look forward to a federal rebate of up to $225 to 255 for a clothes washer with proof that the old one has been recycled; but they’ll come up empty if they’re looking for an extra kick from the state, which doesn’t currently offer a rebate for clothes washers. See all the planned Texas appliance rebates here.
• Florida will be offering rebates on six major appliances, with rebate amounts set at 20 percent of the purchase price before taxes, with a cap of $1,500. See the state’s Energy and Climate website for details.

Many of the programs will run for a pre-set period of time, sometimes just two weeks, to avoid the disappointment that attended the Cash for Clunkers program, which ran out of funds after just a couple weeks.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

One thing we learned in 2009 is that you can’t wait for big institutions to take the green lead. For every clean tech entrepreneur, there’s a climate change heel-dragger. We’re thinking of Copenhagen obstructionists, Congress and entrenched fossil fuel interests, as examples.

You can, however, do what you can.

And in that spirit, here are 11 ways to lower your carbon footprint this New Year. Adopting even one of them can help reduce the pollution that’s leading to dire consequences. And while some New Year’s resolutions are hard, and cost you money (gym fees aren’t going down you know), these resolutions are likely to save you money, reduce your exposure to toxins and help you lead a healthier life. We’ve included only those ideas that really make a big impact, and scuttled those that we consider to be “boutique green” — those non-starter nice ideas that matter, but just a little bit.

To help make this list something you can really use, we’ve included some nifty online tools that can help you find a greener track in 2010.

(Photo: Green Right Now)

1 — Drive Less. If you live in the city, or in a small town, you can accomplish this easily. Hop on the bus. Use the corner grocery. Walk. In the suburbs, which were designed to disperse us, it’s trickier. But you can group errands, your kids may be able to walk to school. And maybe this is the year that you ask your employer about working from home one day a week, to cut your commuting costs.

Here’s some ammunition: If you work for a large company, it may soon be inventorying its greenhouse gas emissions. New EPA rules will require some 12,000 of the country’s largest emitters to inventory their GHGs in 2010, and while this mainly concerns utilities, power companies and other heavy industries, it is likely to launch a new era of transparency. Companies across the board could soon discover that a friendly work-at-home policy would cut their carbon imprint, as well as yours.

In the meantime, you can find many Ride Share programs already up and running.

Another sign that things may turn your way: Insurance companies may reward temperate driving with better rates. Check out MileMeter, a company based on giving preferential rates to those who take it easy on their wheels.

If you’re in the market for a new car, find the most economical ones at fueleconomy.gov.

Breakdown of U.S. power sources (Image: EPA)

2 — Buy Green Power. Do this and drive less and you’ll have cut a big slice out of your personal or family energy consumption total. Many power companies now offer menus where a consumer can select a green power package, or even power generated specifically by wind (especially in big wind generation states like Texas, Iowa and Minnesota). Some companies offer cleaner power packages that focus on hydro-power — not the greenest, but better than getting your electricity from a coal-fired plant. Use the EPA’s map finder to see what’s available by state. The EPA also puts out a Guide to Green Power.

You’ve probably heard by now that buildings — commercial and residential — account for nearly 40 percent of the greenhouse gas emissions produced in the United States. That’s largely because they use electricity produced by coal-fired plants, the most carbon polluting of all electricity sources. See the chart above, which shows that about half of our electricity is fueled by coal, the cheapest and dirtiest source of power. So hooking up with a green provider really does make a difference. You’ll reduce your personal carbon footprint, and you’ll be helping shift the market toward cleaner options that your children and grandchildren will need.

3 — Connect with Congress. Send your senator or representative a letter that you support action against climate change. This might take a little time, but the net, aggregate effect could be big. You could point out your personal efforts to conserve; special needs for clean air (like we all don’t need that) and maybe mention the kids and grandkids that you hope to protect from catastrophic changes brought about by human greenhouse gas emissions that are melting the glaciers, turning the oceans acidic, ruining habitat and agricultural lands. Congressional leaders are pretty easy to find these days on the Internet. Congress.org helps you connect. Just type in your zip code and voile! Congress.org also chronicles environmental bills, and their many permutations on its news pages.

4 — Buy Local, Organic Food (when possible). Used to be that this was touted as a way to strengthen the local economy, which frankly didn’t much concern most Americans over the past few decades as groceries burst forth with more and more far-flung, highly engineered foods and treats. But rather than get started on that, let’s just say that getting back to basics can be good.

Farmers Market (Photo: Green Right Now)

There are two main points in favor of going local and organic: The first is better nutrition. Even though experts still debate whether organic produce is nutritionally superior to conventionally grown (with pesticides) food, this debate will soon go the way of the one over whether cigarettes are damaging. A 2008 review of recent studies comparing foods, found that organically grown produce and grains are indeed more “nutritionally dense” — which makes intuitive sense because organic farming doesn’t poison the soil with pesticides, allowing plants grown there to take up the full nutrient load from the ground. The study was done by the Organic Center, a group with a bent, but check out the candlepower of the experts involved and you may be swayed.

The second argument for buying local is indisputable. If you want to lower your carbon footprint, or your “foodprint” as it’s now called, buy food that comes from closer to home. It will come with fewer “food miles” and have contributed less to greenhouse gas emissions. And by the way, it will help the local economy.

5 — Reduce Harmful Chemicals. Step back from some of the toxic chemicals you buy for household use, and those you use to “treat” the lawn and you will be contributing to cleaner indoor air and healthier ground water, especially if you use no-phosphate laundry and dishwasher detergents, now widely available. Consider, too, trying Soap Nuts, the natural laundry soap that is highly concentrated and comes from, well, a nut. We also like Dropps, an eco-laundry detergent packed in individual pouches that dissolve in the wash. Presto — packaging gone!

Outside, try using corn gluten as a pre-emergent weed killer. You will be restoring life to the soil, which can then better sustain life. We won’t get into the debate about whether organic lawns look better than chemically greened turf, some do, but often they don’t have that same ethereal green glow. But a healthy organic lawn can look pretty good, and the availability of organic options in mulch, weed suppressants and other organic compounds is growing.

6 -  Reduce the Personal Paper Products You Use. One word here: Forests. We need to cherish them again, not plunder them to wipe our noses. Look for personal paper goods made from recycled and unbleached paper. This simple step, if we all made a concerted effort, can go a long way toward saving forests. Even Kimberly-Clark, maker of virgin fiber Kleenex, is offering recycled tissues and paper towels and has pledged to take sustainable steps (after a three year tussle with Greenpeace). We’ve printed it before, but it’s worth mentioning here that the Natural Resources Defense Council has put together a guide to the brands using recycled paper. The list of environmentally conscientious products is growing! And one other thing, instead of even using paper towels, try a washcloth. We use one that’s made of hemp, which is naturally germ resistant.

7 — Buy in Bulk. This reduces packaging and can make shipping easier and more efficient. Look for large laundry boxes, wine in boxes and soup… in boxes. The packaging is more degradable and you can buy bigger, storable portions. Bulk products can help conserve energy in many ways, even beyond the savings in packaging. They can make shipping more efficient, and when the carton is degradable, recyclable or reusable, it can save on landfill space and pollution.

8 — Invite Wildlife into the Yard. This can be a tough concept for people who’ve spent a lot of time keeping wildlife out. And we understand. We don’t want moles or armadilloes digging up our garden either. But there are ways….set aside a brushy area in one corner of the yard to serve as a haven for small critters and birds. Plant native plants that feed butterflies and birds, and don’t forget shrubs that produce winter berries.  Construct a water garden to support amphibians. The hows and whys here get pretty deep. We can recommend a book, Bringing Nature Home, for people with yards. People in apartments can do their part by hooking up with a local conservation project.

9 — Conserve Water. We assume you don’t let the water run when you brush your teeth or shave. This year, pledge to take shorter showers or install rain sensors for your lawn sprinkler. Set the dishwasher on economy and see if it doesn’t get the job done; wash only full loads of clothing. We found a new way to conserve this year by using waterless products to clean cars. The Baye’s High Performance Waterless Wash/Detailer produced a great shine — and used NO WATER.

10. Generate Your Own Power. This is still a pricey proposition, but the cost of residential solar installations came tumbling down this past year. And we saw neighborhoods incorporating solar power in ways that don’t even show, with tiles that mimic shingles. On-site wind is a growing option for homeowners with the space and the gusts to try it. Some wind installations have gotten more compact. And don’t count out geothermal, also available on a residential scale.

Michelle Obama oversees an education day in the White House Garden (Photo: White House Photographer Samantha Appleton)

11 . Grow Your Own Food. Take a look at your yard, it’s probably not working for you, but it could.  This past year saw a boom in home gardening led by the First Family, who installed a bountiful food garden at the White House. Without the Park Service to help, you might have to run with a smaller scale project, but even if you’ve only got a condo deck or windowsill, you can grow a few herbs and tomatoes. Urban dwellers also can find a rooftop garden to help with, like  Brooklyn’s Rooftop Farms for instance. Or, provide the patch of ground and hire the garden help, as detailed in this story by KGO-TV.

Happy Harvest and Happy New Year!

Copyright © 2010 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Just as we were getting ready to list our green ways to unfurl the holiday mess, came a timely tidbit about using  cedar spray on holiday decorations to discourage critters and insects from feeding on them in the off-season.

(Photo: Green Right Now)

Naturally, this bit of advice arrived from the CedarCide company in Spring, Texas. Still, it sounded like as good a place to start as any, and frankly, we’ve failed in the past to seal up keepsakes well enough to fend off tiny invaders. Sure, we’ve used cedar blocks and scents in the closet, but it just never occurred to us to spray it on attic storage. According to the website, Cedarcide can be lethal to dust mites, bed bugs and fleas. It’s unclear whether is will deter rats and squirrels. Still, it smells considerably better than the fox urine that some people use to dissuade squirrels from attic camp-outs.

A caveat: We can’t endorse CedarCide’s program in which a homeowner blasts the lawn with CedarCide, killing many tiny living things. This would needlessly destroy the balance of nature in an organic yard. We’re talking here about using the scent on boxes and possibly on pets to keep harmful pests at bay while forgoing more toxic options.

But back to the post holiday clean up.

Here’s the checklist for winding down greenly, after the holidays, which is a great time to reduce, recycle and reuse:

• Go ahead, put the folderol in plastic boxes, the better to keep it in the attic or basement. Use cedar blocks to deter moths, and watch out for food items on wreaths and homemade goods, they’ll attract unwanted guests.
• Mulch that Christmas tree. Check your city website for times and details. If those are hard to come by, the best directory of Christmas tree recycling centers can be found at Earth911. Get ready — Earth911 reports that Jan. 3 is the most popular day for tree pickups. By the way, congratulations Chicago for topping Earth911’s list of the cities with the most Christmas tree recycling programs.
• Now, about those cardboard boxes you’ve accumulated this season. Most cities will gladly pick them up on bulk recycling day. It’s helpful – in some cases necessary – for you break them down and present a flattened layer for pick up.
• Another use for cardboard, however, is as a weed blocker in the garden. If you’ve got trouble spots, plain, matte cardboard can block sunlight to emerging weeds in early spring, and it’s completely degradable, so you don’t have to worry about that weed blocker sheeting sold in stores leaving a synthetic residue in your flower or veggie patch. Granted, mid-winter is not the best time to lay down the cardboard, so you’ll have to store it until early spring. When you do use cardboard, mulch over the top, and punch through for plantings.
• One more thing about boxes. It’s a no-brainer, but we’ll mention it anyway. Those US Postal Service boxes that can be mailed for a set fee, can be reused and reused. So find a spot for them.
• Wrapping paper, obviously, can be refolded and saved for next year. (Just keep buying smaller and smaller presents!) We’ve been saving bows and paper for years and find that the collection makes a nice pastiche. This year, one of our gift recipients remarked on what a nice bag her gift came in. We didn’t mention that it had once been hers!
• Hang on to that wreath. If it’s got live needles, you can collect them for mulch in the garden. If it’s faux, it can be reused for years and refreshed with holly leaves and berries and bows next year.

• Got leftover club soda? Plants apparently like it, once it has gone flat. It provides potassium they need. We stole this idea from Real Simple, which has printed an interesting list of wind-down holiday ideas. This caught our eye because it seems to be a cousin to another recycling practice we promote: Using leftover beer as a hair conditioner. Of course, you’ll  want to be selective about which post-party beer you choose for this personal haircare treatment. Don’t need any extras with the beer. This natural treatment cuts through the gunk that accumulates on your hair and leaves it nice and shiny; especially good for hair that’s more naturally oily.
• Got leftover energy? Take the opportunity to cull old sweaters and clothing while hanging up the new duds you may have received. Donate the stuff you’re not going to wear again right now, while it’s in season. At least you’ve likely got a ready box. And you could spritz it with cedar oil! If you don’t have a local place you use for donations, check out Freecycle.com.

Would you feel guilty if your toilet was “phantom flushing” or slowly leaking gallons of water a day?

Leak Alertor

We would, and we’d be concerned about the costs on our water bill too.

A Philadelphia-area company feels our pain. The company, nth Solutions, has invented the Leak Alertor to let you know when the water closet is out of control, so you can get in there and fix the flap or that other thinga-majig that makes the toilet behave.

Nth Solutions’ staff has done a lot of research on this topic of wasted water too. They report that at any given time, one in five toilets in the US is leaking. So in the US, where the residential person-to-commode ratio is pretty high, 50 million toilets might be silently leaking.

That info comes from the American Water Works Association, an industry association that is committed to clean, safe water (and a thriving water industry). If it’s true, and we’re guessing the AWWA is in a position to know, you can start to see why you might need a Leak Alertor.

Still, we asked Eric L. Canfield, president of nth Solutions, to give us a little more to go on and he did.

Leaking toilets, he said, are the number one cause of high water bills and the average leaking toilet can waste hundreds of gallons of water a day or enough to fill a couple swimming pools if left to leak away for a year or so.

Yikes, you’d have to take a lot of one-minute showers to pay back that water debt!

But, still, we respectfully prodded Canfield: Wouldn’t I know it if my toilet were leaking? Wouldn’t it wake me up at night with a faint little whiney sound?

No, he said, it wouldn’t necessarily alert you. (But the Leak Alertor would, with a little red light.) Many leaks are silent. Furthermore, he explained, many people with less than perfect hearing might not catch a leaky toilet, and others, who do hear that “phantom flush” misinterpret it and think all is well in water closet land.

And so, Canfield has the solution, a water-conserving, made-in-America solution that’s a bit of a hard sell in these times, but does only cost $19.95: The Leak Alertor, installable in less than a minute, without tools.

Who knew?

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The next time you take a stack of old newspapers to the recycling bin, you might be helping make your home a more comfortable — and efficient — place.

Cellulose Insulation. (Photo: National Association of Certified Home Inspectors)

Cellulose insulation – made from recycled newsprint and other kinds of paper – has emerged as a legitimate choice for homeowners trying to combine environmental consciousness with good business. Like any insulation option, it has its good points and not-so-good ones, but it is something to consider when you decide to make your house a little cozier in the winter and a bit more comfortable in the hotter months.

What makes cellulose an attractive choice to homeowners thinking green?

For starters, you are re-using paper products that might otherwise turn up in landfills, where they decompose and give off greenhouse gases. For another, cellulose requires less embodied energy (the total energy required to transport raw materials, manufacture and distribute the product) than comparable insulation materials.

So, how does that compare to those nice pink rolls of fiberglass insulation, the ones that remain the most popular option?

Fiberglass is cheaper, but it also is difficult to work with and may create some health issues. Cellulose, despite the comforting notion that last year’s Sports section might be this year’s guard against costly energy leaks, isn’t completely green, because chemicals are added to keep all that paper from catching fire, or contributing to a blaze that started elsewhere.

Confused yet? Google “green insulation” for an afternoon, and you probably will be. While some alternatives get better reviews than others, there doesn’t appear to be a consensus as to who’s No. 1. In most cases, it simply depends on who you ask or what part of the equation is more important to you. While most of us would prefer to be green, overall performance and cost are considerations, too.

Insulation is evaluated in terms of thermal resistance, called R-value. That measures resistance to heat flow. The R-value of thermal insulation depends on a variety of factors: Type of material, thickness, and density. The higher the R-value, the more effective the insulation is.

If you combine layers of insulation, the R-value is the sum of the individual values. Keep in mind, however, that compressing insulation diminishes its R-value, so forcing too much into a space is counterproductive.

Simply by reducing the amount of energy required to heat or cool a building, insulation is environmentally friendly. How you go about it can increase (or diminish) the amount of good you are actually doing.

Here’s a quick look at some of the options:

Cellulose: According to the Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association, cellulose has the highest level of recycled content in the industry, up to 85 percent. Scrap also can be recovered and recycled on the site of an installation, another plus. Cellulose is a loose-fill product blown into spaces with pneumatic equipment, making it easier to use in hard-to-reach spots. It also provides a tighter fit than rolls and batts, or blankets. And, simply by using a recycled product, you are going a little greener.

Natural Fibers: Ever wondered what happens to leftover material at the blue jean factory? These days, some of it is going into attics and walls. According to manufacturer Bonded Logic, Inc., UltraTouch denim insulation “contains 85% post-industrial recycled natural fibers making it an ideal choice for anyone looking to use a high quality sustainable building material.” Unlike cellulose, it comes in batts, so completely sealing a space can be more problematic. In contrast to fiberglass, however, it doesn’t cause itching or other irritation and is easier to handle. Like cellulose, it also has the green advantage of finding a new use for recycled material.

Polyurethane foam: Doesn’t sound very good, does it? The Spray Polyurethane Foam Alliance – yes, there really is such a thing — begs to differ. The organization contends that SPF “is environmentally friendly, contains no formaldehyde or ozone depleting chemicals, saves energy and reduces the use of fossil fuels, thereby reducing global warming gasses. It also assists in providing good indoor air quality, requires less energy to produce than the leading insulation, and reduces the amount of energy required to transport and install it.” After it is applied, the foam expands to fill the space allowed, improving overall protection. One downside: It’s highly toxic during the installation phase, and you’ll probably need to steer clear of the premises for several days after.

Cementitious: Al Gore put Air Krete in his home. The National Audubon Society used it in its building. How can you go wrong? Air, seawater and formaldehyde-free cement are mixed to create this blown-in insulation option, which again serves to make for a tighter fit and a hostile environment for insects and other pests. Its non-flammable nature is a nice feature, too.

Fiberglass: Would the Pink Panther install something dangerous in your house? Even the leading manufacturer, Owens Corning, features pictures on its Web site of average folks installing their own batts of fiberglass insulation…wearing protective clothing, heavy gloves, and a face mask. Hmmm. Fiberglass remains the cheapest and most common form of insulation, but it’s worth considering that packages of the product also carry a cancer warning. Still, according to the American Lung Association, fiberglass insulation “is safe when it is properly installed.” Eye, skin, and throat irritation is common among installers who don’t take proper care.

Whichever way you go, this may be a good time to do it. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act provides for a federal tax credit for installing insulation of 30 percent of the purchase price, up to a total credit of $1,500.

Before you jump in, make sure your improvements qualify for the credit. Check out the fine print at energytaxincentives.org. For state and local information, visit dsireusa.org.

Already, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is predicting lower heating bills for the winter of 2009-10, based on lower fuel prices and the anticipation of milder weather. In its Winter Fuels Outlook, the EIA projects average savings of about eight percent per household.

“Heating accounts for 31 percent of the typical home’s energy costs,” Alliance to Save Energy President Kateri Callahan said. “So using energy efficiency measures to lower those heating bills will keep real money in consumers’ pockets. Simply tightening up your home and insulating sufficiently to avoid sending precious warm air ‘out the window,’ for example, can cut yearly heating bills by up to 20 percent.”

For a different look at these and other insulation choices, visit the US Department of Energy.

For another side-by-side comparison, check out a table provided by the Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association.

The Oak Ridge National Laboratory put together this Insulation Fact Sheet.

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

When it comes to clogged drains, it’s been a struggle to find an effective alternative to the many harsh chemicals that most people rely on to break up trapped debris. But a Houston company has developed a product that is brilliant in its simplicity and has the added benefit of being as green as you can get where brownish goop is involved.

The PermaFLOW Self Cleaning Drain by PF WaterWorks has already won the Best of What’s New Award from Popular Science. It replaces an existing P-trap — that curved section of pipe just below your sink — with an improved version that has been engineered to eliminate the need for secondary maintenance products and procedures such as plunging, caustic drain cleaners and messy drain dis-assembly.

We installed one in about 10 minutes and found it to be easy and effective. The PermaFLOW has a couple of unique characteristics that are hugely helpful. The first is that it is made of clear plastic, which allows you to actually see the problem you have or — more importantly — see the problem that you are about to have. Second, the device includes a swiper that you turn with a knob, which helps you sweep through debris before a major clog can occur.

These are improvements that are “duh” obvious and yet no one else appears to have re-thought the classic P-trap in this innovative way. (PF WaterWorks has a patent on the design).

Created by two serial inventors who are happy to remain behind the scenes, the PermaFLOW has one other critical design detail. “The shape of the plastic generates significant turbulence and actually pushes debris out, so you don’t have any debris settling in the trap area,” says Sanjay Ahuja, vice president of PF WaterWorks.

He also points out that the design works particularly well with low-flow faucets, something that most environmentally-aware consumers eventually get around to installing.

And while we were unabashedly impressed by how well the PermaFLOW works, Ahuja says he gets fan mail and calls for the new product all the time.

“I had a woman who called me from the West Coast and she said, ‘I want to order two more of these. One for me and one for God,’ ” says Ahuja, laughing.

The PermaFlow is available for $29.95 through Amazon.com. You also can buy directly from the PermaFLOW site. Ahuja says Home Depot is rolling it out in select stores and he expects it will be available through most major home improvement retailers by early 2010.

Related video:

View a demonstration of the PermaFLOW: