Ancient Forest Friendly Tissue Products

Forest friendly tissues for your daily needs.

To send a strong message to Kimberly-Clark that ancient forest destruction doesn't pay, only buy ancient forest friendly tissue products. If your local grocery or corner does not stock these products, talk to the store manager and ask that they do.

Ancient Forest Friendly Tissue Products | Kleercut.Net

Maine Solar House

Why pay for home electricity and heating fuel when the sun offers a free alternative? Time to create your own energy policy.

Maine Solar House

design: e²

design:e2 (the economies of being environmentally conscious) is an original six-part series that explores the vitality of the environment through eco-friendly architecture. Narrated by Brad Pitt and masterfully shot in high-definition, the series introduces us to the inventive leaders and technologies driving sustainable practices worldwide in the design of buildings where we live, work, and play.

design: e² | PBS

Saved By the Sun

NOVA on PBS has a new show on Solar Energy tonight. Check local listings in your area.

"Saved By the Sun" probes how innovative technologies, new business models, increasing financial incentives, and a growing grassroots commitment to solving the climate crisis are driving a renaissance in solar energy around the world. Across the U.S., solar panels are capping more and more roofs. In Germany, a 'great wall' of solar panels lines the autobahn, feeding the Munich power grid. At Cal Tech, nanotechnology is spurring new solar inventions. Worldwide, solar energy is expected to be a $50 billion industry within a decade.

NOVA | Saved By the Sun | TV Program Description | PBS

Saved By the Sun: Ask the Expert

Have a question about solar power, photovoltaics, or other aspects of solar technology? Until April 25, 2007, the day after the premiere broadcast of 'Saved By the Sun,' we will collect questions from viewers for solar-technologies expert Steven Strong (see bio below). On April 30, we will post Strong's responses to selected questions. Please note your question may be edited for clarity.

Send in your question

NOVA | Saved By the Sun | Ask the Expert | PBS

This Solar House

Think you can't go Solar? Check out this site to see how one family actually did it.

Many people think to have a zero-energy* solar home, you need to start with new construction, spend a small fortune, and/or lose comfort or convenience. But we found that was not the case. In just over a year, we transformed our 1960s tract house in southern California into a solar-powered, energy-efficient home. While the initial investment was substantial, we funded it through an affordable home-equity loan. The makeover will pay for itself in seven years, after which the energy for our home (and our electric car) will be entirely free. And with these changes, we annually offset at least 21,000 pounds of carbon dioxide—a key pollutant in global warming—that our pre-upgrade home and car would otherwise have added to the atmosphere. In this feature, let us show you in detail how we went about our zero-energy retrofit, which saves money, energy, and the global climate.—Norma and Alan Williamson

NOVA | Saved By the Sun | This Solar House | PBS

Five Green Fixes for Your Home

Here a few quiet ways to make your home more energy-efficient.

1. Follow the EnergyStar
2. Mind the gaps
3. Do a blow test
4. Watch your water
5. Upgrade windows

Five Green Fixes for Your Home

How to Go Green

TreeHugger has some excellent articles on how to "green" our lives. Check them out.

We present below, a plethora of handy guides to help you green your lives with ease, while understanding why. Our aim is over 100+ guides so do come back to visit. And please tell your friends, family and colleagues! Most of us understand that we need to do something, some of us understand what to do but few of us are actually doing anything... Carpe diem kids!

TreeHugger: How to Go Green

How to find an eco-realtor

Green seems to be all the rage lately, and web sites are cropping up all over cyberspace to help green homeowners sell their houses.

Lighter Footstep - How to find an eco-realtor

Lighter Footstep: Sustainable Living Blog

This is a wonderful resource for people looking to reduce their impact on the environment.

Lighter Footstep is a web-based magazine dedicated to sustainable living: learning to thrive in our personal and business lives by making wiser choices.

Lighter Footstep - About Lighter Footstep

Want a free CFL for Earth Day?

Haven't tried CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs) yet? Would you give one a shot if it were free?

You'll have your chance this Sunday. Home Depot has earmarked one million CFLs for giveaway in observance of Earth Day. The offer is open to U.S. customers in the 48 contiguous states.

Lighter Footstep - Want a free CFL for Earth Day?

The MDI Air Car - the world´s cleanest car.

Welcome to the future! The car with a compressed air engine, MDI. Costs less than a penny a mile.

The MDI Air Car - the world´s cleanest car

Buy A Dell PC, Plant A Tree

Buy a PC, plant a tree. Sure, it's a gimmick, but as gimmicks go, it's a good one. I didn't see Michael Dell's 'Plant a Tree for Me' announcement at CES this year, but I was told the auditorium was pretty empty. That's too bad, because his program could go a long way toward solving a serious problem. We live in a culture that never powers down, and all that power takes a toll on the environment.

Buy A Dell PC, Plant A Tree

10 Eco-Friendly Gadgets

Every day is Earth Day with these eco-safe products, including a flexible solar panel, USB-rechargeable batteries, and a robotic mower.

10 Eco-Friendly Gadgets - Reviews by PC Magazine

One Man's Trash ...

World Computer Exchange collects unwanted systems from businesses, schools and even individuals. The group tests the systems, packs them onto container ships and sends them out to third-world countries. There, other nonprofit groups, schools or governments get the computers into the schools where they are needed.

One Man's Trash ...

Sharp & CitiMortgage offer home financing for solar energy systems

“We recognize that consumers have become more energy-conscious and are increasingly more receptive to solar power. In some cases they are even willing to pay a premium for a home that uses solar energy,” said Ron Kenedi, vice president of Sharp’s Solar Energy Solutions Group. “In addition to offering reliable and attractive solar solutions, Sharp will now work with CitiMortgage to provide a way for consumers anywhere in the U.S. to finance the purchase of a system, and start them on the road toward enjoying the environmental and financial benefits of solar power.”

Sharp| Press Releases

Green Water Bottles

Nalgene water bottles
These water bottles are durable, inexpensive, can be used repeatedly and are widely recyclable. For more information visit www.nalgene-outdoor.com.

New Wave Enviro Products
Corn-resin bottle with filter ($8.99) provides pure, clean drinking water and can be reused up to 90 times, and the bottle biodegrades in just 80 days. For more information visit www.newwaveenviro.com or call 800-592-8371.

SIGG water bottles
Using a premium reusable bottle like SIGG greatly helps reduce unnecessary environmental waste caused by plastic PET water bottles. Get more information at mysigg.com.

Via: Oprah.com

Saving Energy

BITS Ltd. smart power strips
Even after turning off a computer, power continues to flow to computer peripherals like printers and scanners. This power strip ($32.99) stops the energy from being wasted. For more information visit www.bitsltd.net.

Carbonfund.org and Terrapass
If your local utility company doesn't offer green power, you can reduce the environmental impact by purchasing offsets. In this system, you give money to companies like Carbonfund.org or Terrapass, which use it to develop renewable energy sources. For more on purchasing power offsets, visit www.carbonfund.org or www.terrapass.com.

Duke Energy
Duke Energy provided energy efficiency starter kits for audience members. The kits are available to their customers in Indiana and Kentucky who qualify for in-home energy audits. To purchase a kit, visit www.dukeenergykit.com or for additional information visit www.duke-energy.com. Check with your local energy company for similar ways to save energy.

GE Energy Smart lightbulbs
GE Energy Smart bulbs use 70 to 75 percent less energy than incandescent lightbulbs and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs. For example, by using a 26-watt compact fluorescent lightbulb—equivalent to a 100-watt incandescent lightbulb—users can save up to $59 on energy costs over the life of the bulb. Saving energy saves money and is better for the environment.

Via: Oprah.com

Green Shopping and Cleaning

Ecobags
Bringing your own bag when shopping saves plastic bags. Visit www.ecobags.com.

Method Home
Method offers some cleaners that are dye- and perfume-free, nontoxic, biodegradable, naturally derived and never tested on animals. For more information, visit www.methodhome.com.

Mrs. Meyers cleaning supplies
All of their cleaning supplies are made with natural essential oils, are biodegradable and phosphate-free. For more, visit www.mrsmeyers.com.

Seventh Generation products
Seventh Generation is one of the leading brands of nontoxic household products. For more information, visit www.seventhgeneration.com.

Shaklee
Find out how to get a discount on Shaklee's Healthy Home Pack. You can order the Healthy Home Pack starter kit by calling 800-225-0600.

Via: Oprah.com

Green Activism

American Forests
The average person is responsible for emitting 94 pounds of carbon dioxide every day. It takes four trees, which act as natural air filters, to offset the carbon dioxide each person generates in a month. For each dollar donated, American Forests plants a tree. For more information and to plant trees, visit www.americanforests.org.

Earth 911
Find information about environmental services and events in your community, visit www.earth911.org.

Engines Off
Lynn Romanek from Glencoe, Illinois, has organized parents at her childrens' school to turn off their cars instead of idling in the parking lot. Idling 10 minutes less per day can keep 550 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air every year. For more information visit www.enginesoff.org.

Greendimes
A group that reduces junk mail and plants trees. For more information or to sign up, visit www.greendimes.com.

Treehugger
For ideas on green living, visit www.treehugger.com.

Stop Global Warming Tour
Learn more about Sheryl Crow and Laurie David's tour and what you can do to find solutions for global warming. Visit www.stopglobalwarming.org for more information.

The Green
Simran Sehti hosts The Green on the Sundance Channel. Visit www.sundancechannel.com/thegreen for more information.

The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen
Simple things you can do to save the planet. Find more at www.readthegreenbook.com.

Via: Oprah.com

Go Green This Earth Day

To celebrate Earth Day, April 22, make 'going green' more than just a catchy line. Make it a part of your life—every day.

'In honor of our Earth, I love her, I'm asking all of you today to implement just one green idea to help the fight against global warming,' Oprah says.

Start by making small changes…it's easier than you think.

Related links:

• Shop smarter at the supermarket.
  
• Going green is Oprah's bag.
  
• The truth about water bottles
  
• The environment hits the road.
  
• Matt Damon's win-win solution
  
• A simple change you can make right now
  
• The Green Book
• Think green at the bank.
  
• One family's green conversion
  
• How did this family clear the air?
  
• Find out how to buy Shaklee cleaning products.
• Other organic cleaning options
  
• Simple ways your family can reuse and recycle
  
• Save the environment while saving money.
  
• Have a lightbulb moment!
  
• Recycling 101
  
• What you can't recycle
  
• Small steps, big strides
  
• Going Green 101: What Your Family Can Do Today!
• Resources and products that will help you get green

Go Green This Earth Day

Seven Continents, Seven Ways to Save the World

Watch 'Planet Earth 2007: Seven Ways to Help Save the World,' Friday, April 20 on all ABC News programs and platforms.

Related links:
Video - Planet Earth 2007: Extinction
Video - Planet Earth 2007: Water
Video - Schwarzenegger's Green Agenda
Video - Sneak Peek: 'Planet Earth 2007'
Video - Revelations, Deep in The Amazon
Sacred Tribal Ritual -- The Disease-Fighting Powers of Poisonous Ant Bites
Planet Earth 2007: China's Changing Landscape
Be Seen, Be Heard: How Do You Fight Global Warming?

ABC News: Seven Continents, Seven Ways to Save the World

Move Over Prius: Here Comes the Corncob Car

In a breakthrough that could bring methane-fueled passenger cars closer to being a fixture in American garages, researchers have created a way to store methane gas in slimmer, flatter fuel tanks, obviating the need for the bulky gas compression cylinders that take up precious trunk space and tend to turn off mainstream consumers.

RED HERRING | Move Over Prius: Here Comes the Corncob Car

Flying on Fat

Hog fat. Triglycerides. Cooking grease. Algae oil. These are among the latest ingredients being cooked up in what a team of researchers at North Carolina State University (NCSU), Raleigh, hope will become a green alternative to petroleum-based jet fuel.

The process converts low-grade fats and oils, including animal fats, into jet fuel by subjecting them to extremely high temperatures, reducing the original materials to fatty acids and removing carbon dioxide from those acids. Those fatty acids, called alkanes, are then reformed into the hundreds of different molecules that comprise jet fuel.

The result could be a cleaner-burning, renewable aviation fuel that releases far less soot and harmful pollutants into the great BIG blue than conventional, petroleum-based fuels, said project leader and NCSU aerospace engineering professor Bill Roberts. The low quality animal fats and oils that would be used to make this bio-jet fuel are 30 percent cheaper than the virgin vegetable oils commonly used in automotive biofuels, Mr. Roberts said.

RED HERRING | Flying Fat

Playing with Pond Scum

[A] small group of entrepreneurs—those who grow commercial algae—see biodiesel’s pain as an opportunity. The green slime is rich in lipids (read: oil), meaning it could theoretically yield far more oil per acre than veggies. Estimates vary widely. Some claim it could yield anywhere from 3,500 to 20,000 gallons per acre, as compared with about 680 gallons per acre from palm, the highest oil-yielding crop.

Even better, because it would require less land, and could be grown in factories or ponds—not on arable land—algae could help stave off criticism that biofuels threaten the food supply, and could slash prices for biodiesel. “It’s very exciting,” says Laurence Alexander, a vice president at the research division of investment bank Jeffries & Co.

RED HERRING | Playing with Pond Scum

Green Guide for Health Care

The Green Guide for Health Care is a best practices guide for healthy and sustainable building design, construction, and operations for the healthcare industry.

Green Guide for Health Care

Garbage 2.0

Meet startups that are making money by inventing new waste disposal methods...

By Jeffrey Gangemi

Forget the recycling bin. Meet the waste conversion pioneers-startups that reduce the costs and pollution associated with traditional waste disposal methods. These companies convert solid waste into marketable materials or energy sources, or sell services and equipment that improve the disposal process itself.

Read on for profiles of four such small businesses.

Hotter Than the Sun: Startech Environmental
Startech Environmental's pioneering technology sounds like something out of a science-fiction movie. Using a process that heats plasma to three times the temperature of the surface of the sun, the publicly traded company's device, called the Plasma Converter System, disintegrates waste by tearing apart molecular bonds. The device can convert nonhazardous and hazardous substances (including industrial byproducts, medical waste, and chemical industry waste) into valuable products such as ethanol and synthetic diesel fuel. Startech's first customer, the U.S. Army, bought one of the converters to dispose of chemical weapons. Today, waste disposal outfits and chemical manufacturers also buy the units.

Less Trashy: Seahorse Power
Seahorse Power manufactures the BigBelly, a solar-powered cordless trash compaction system. The efficient system's motor turns motorcycle chains that bring down a metal ram that compacts garbage, giving the unit about five times the capacity of a regular trash can. The company is also developing new systems for municipal recycling stations and for corporate clients.

Power Shake: Feed Resource Recovery
Instead of letting organic waste add volume to landfills, Feed Resource Recovery uses it to produce biomethane and a potent organic crop fertilizer through anaerobic digestion technology. The system essentially harnesses the natural process of decomposition, recovers leftover biofuel energy, then converts it into electricity. Feed Resource Recovery manufactures units that can be installed in stores, manufacturing plants, or restaurants, providing a seemingly endless pit for organic refuse, a power source, and a way to reduce garbage disposal bills.

Treading Lightly: Lehigh Technologies
Lehigh Technologies produces rubber powder from scrap tire and waste rubber feedstock. Its manufacturing process works like this: Scrap feedstock, which it gets for cheap from rubber recycling businesses, is cleaned of all residual steel and fiber, sent through a cooling tunnel where it is frozen using liquid nitrogen, then ground and pulverized. The end product is ultra-fine particles in various tiny gradients that can be sold to tire manufacturers, paint companies, and plastics companies as a cheap replacement for petroleum.

Garbage 2.0 | BusinessWeek

LAX Gets Green Facelift

Los Angeles' airport set to get a LEED-certified overhaul, ready by 2010

LAX Gets Green Facelift

Solar Lampion

This is beautiful. Hope there are more aesthetically pleasing green products available soon which will make them better than some of the mainstream alternatives.

The Solar Lampion is an aesthetically pleasing light that runs entirely on solar energy. It's a shining example of technology and design...

"The most innovative characteristic of the design is that instead of combining a lamp with a solar cell, he has created a lamp made of solar cells. This not only provides a large surface for capturing the sun's energy but gives the lamp its distinctive look."
Solar Star

Bricklin is Back -- With a Plug-In

Legendary automotive maverick Malcolm Bricklin is planning a luxury plug-in that gets 100 mpg with a Chinese-built lithium ion battery...

Bricklin is Back -- With a Plug-In

Meet the Solar-Powered Trash Can

Seahorse Power's BigBelly holds four to five times as much garbage as conventional receptacles. And it's cleaning up with local governments...

Meet the Solar-Powered Trash Can

Are You Being Greenwashed?

Good article that reminds us to be smart consumers and look beyond just the marketing and packaging when going green.

The green bandwagon is well and truly rolling. But what's genuine—and what's green spin?

Are You Being Greenwashed?

Recycle your cell phone; save a gorilla

Earth Day's less than 2 weeks away, and you've got a few no-longer-working cell phones rattling around in your collection of abandoned electronics. Dispose of those responsibly with the ECO-CELL program, which will recycle your phone and donate the proceeds to a good cause.

Recycle your cell phone; save a gorilla - Lifehacker

Silicon Valley's VCs are investing in green technology

Can Going Green be good for business?

The jolly green bubble: Fortune's Adam Lashinsky explores why Silicon Valley's premier VCs have that old-time eco-religion.

Silicon Valley's VCs are investing in green technology

British brides say I do to green weddings

Here comes the bride, all dressed in -- green.

White weddings might have been the dream of fashionable brides of old. But the trendiest British weddings are now at least metaphorically green as couples seek to reduce the impact of their nuptials on the environment.

That means everything from recycled wedding dresses and guests arriving by bicycle, to home-grown flowers and locally produced food for the wedding buffet.

British brides say I do to green weddings | Reuters

Building Green Blog

Check-out Kevin Contreras' blog for more information, post questions and concerns with building a straw bale house. This is a very good resource if you are considering building a "green" home.

CARE: Carpet America Recovery Effort

Check this site to see how you can recycle and reuse carpeting material, to prevent toxic materials from ending-up in the landfill.

Carpet America Recovery Effort (CARE) is a joint industry-government effort to increase the amount of recycling and reuse of post-consumer carpet and reduce the amount of waste carpet going to landfills.

About CARE

Building Green

If you are a Green Building fanatic, don't miss this new series on your local PBS station. Locally, in DFW it's on on Sundays @ 6PM. Follow along on the web with episode guides.

"Join us for Season One of Building Green and follow the adventures of host Kevin Contreras as he builds his dream house—out of $2600 worth of straw. The hills of Santa Barbara, CA, where Kevin lives, do not exactly scream eco-village—what will the neighbors say?--but Kevin is determined that his new home will not only keep up with the Joneses, but make them green with envy."

Building Green

Going Green: Program on the basics of eco-living

This program is currently airing on PBS. Check local listings to find out when it is being broadcast in your area.

"GoingGreen Productions and Eco-Home™ Network are pleased to announce that GOINGGREEN - Every Home an Eco-Home, a half-hour program that brings the basics of eco-living to your door, is distributed by Green Planet Films."

Going Green - Press Release

Eco-Home™ Network

Eco-Home™ is an on-going living research center that demonstrates ecological living in an urban environment. The Eco-Home™is a restored and retrofitted California style bungalow, circa 1911 that shows us how simple but wise property improvements can make your home warm, friendly yet environmentally sound and healthy. This historic home incorporates solar hot water heating, photovoltaic panels, ultra low flow water systems and other energy and water conservation measures. This "pioneering" home has hosted over 15,000 guests since opening it's doors to the public in 1988.

Check-out their articles on eco-renovation.

Eco-Home™ Network