Eco Friendly House And Garden

photo credit: comedy_nose

If you live in what is called a ‘hard water’ area, you may consider changing to ’soft’.

Now it’s not like you can change the bedrock of your house, so it would mean fitting a water softener to your existing water pipes to make the change.

But why would you go to that trouble and expense if you didn’t really have to - I mean the water still runs like normal, is clean to drink and washes dishes etc?

But there is a massive difference between the 2 types of water - and the soft water option can help you to live a more eco-friendly life.

How Can It Really?
Well, hard water contains magnesium and calcium that it picks up from the rocks on it’s path from falling as rain until it reaches your tap.  And these minerals can cause some serious damage to your plumbing and smaller white goods in the kitchen - not to mention your boiler and washing machine!

This build up of minerals in the water is then transferred into your pipes as it sits there waiting to be used - and can reduce the amount of water getting into an appliance, and cause permanent damage to the pipes as well.  Replacing either is a squeeze on natural resources and a costly exercise to boot!

And, with the capacity for water flow reduced, this can sometimes cause the appliance or boiler to have to work harder to keep the same level of function - or use more energy but give a poorer performance!

Soft water doesn’t contain any of these minerals, so leaves your pipes clean and working at their best!

How Can I Tell The Difference?
It isn’t immediately obvious which water you have got based on watching your boiler or feeling your clean clothes - but just using the water from your tap will show which water you have.

These minerals show themselves in water residue in the form of ‘lime scale’, so if you have a white patchy deposit on your shower head, grey residue left on your glass shower curtain, blobs of white ‘chalky’ stuff in your kettle, the list goes on…..

Sound familiar?

Now think of all the chemicals, cloths, scourers and time you have to spend keeping your bathroom and kitchen clean - then think of all that chemical waste!

And, think about washing your hair, hands and body.  Washing in soft water creates a lather more readily using less toiletries - and gives a more thorough clean.  People say that washing in soft water makes their skin feel better and hair look shinier!

How Big Is A Water Softener?
They will easily fit under your kitchen sink in smaller flats, or anywhere in a larger home - even a garage will do.

Basically it works on the main water pipes going in to your home or offices and changes the composition of your water before it enters your home.

Most water softeners are easily fitted and will pay for themselves within around 5 years due to the better efficiency of your heating and hot water systems, as well as in the reduced reliance of cleaning chemicals and toiletries!

And your appliances will last longer and stay efficient throughout that lifespan - and don’t worry about your appliances if you have been using hard water - as the softened water running through will eventually clear all the existing limescale!

So, taking the minerals out of your water could save you a lot of time and money.

Thinking of getting married, but want to try the eco friendly alternatives?

Well, what better to start with first than the photographer?  Not only are they going to preserve your special day for eternity - but they are going to be using the most chemicals to do it!

Yes, all their shots might be digital now, but your printed album and their electrical equipment is going to contain an awful lot of resources.  So why not search for a green wedding photographer that can balance this side of the equation out by being eco friendly as well?

The Benefits Of Digital Photography:
Since the advent of digital cameras there is a lot less waste in the industry - particularly in terms of the chemicals used to process the pictures for you to see them and pick your favorites.

Today it is quite easy for anyone to view all their photographs immediately after taking them on the mini screen on the digital camera itself - or within a few minutes these can easily be downloaded onto a laptop, pc, Mac or even TV screen full size for everyone to see. 

This means that you only need to print out those you really like for your wedding album rather than waste ink, paper and electricity printing out dozens to make your selections from.

Digital cameras also offer the ability of the photographer to check to make sure that the important pictures are gotten right before you move away (something you just had to hope for before) and they can take many, many, many more pictures of your every move without ever having to stop to ‘change the film’!
 
Processing Your Pictures:
Before digital processing, your images would have had to have been developed using many different chemicals including animal-based celluloid, to allow you to see your images - but now it couldn’t be easier and more eco friendly, and many eco friendly companies send out a disc of images for you to browse through for this exact reason.

Many eco friendly photographers are also able to source very ethical and environmentally sensitive products to process your images for you - like recycled and reduced chemical paper - so you don’t need to worry about anything ‘green’ on your big day.

Is It A Green Wedding Photographer?
It is sometimes not clear which services are eco friendly as they want to be (ethically minded); which are eco friendly as they want you to think they are (green-washing) or those who only find eco friendly ‘benefits’ when they know that’s what you want them to be (liars).

However, there are some that stand out.  One wedding photographer in Nottingham, England I recently found actually has a page on their website detailing their ‘Green Pledge’ and detailing the changes they have made (including several of those mentioned above) and making your choice a lot easier. 

Pledges make a big differences as any other company can answer your questions with a green twist if they know that is what you want to hear - but by stating it for all to see - you can tell that they are proud of it!

They also include to buy up and preserve several acres of pristine rainforest for each couple - giving them the certificate or purchase as their wedding gift!  Imagine the feeling of knowing what a difference that could make bearing in mind you are going to have your pictures taken anyway. 

Why choose a wedding photographer that didn’t do that when you have the choice?

So if you want to learn more about Nottingham Weddings, then this is certainly one of the photography companies that should be on your short-list!

Choosing The Right Font For Your Printing & Help Save The Planet!

Well, I’m not saying that this new invention will drastically reduce levels of methane in the atmosphere, nor will it clean up the oceans and help coral to re-grow - but it will make a difference to your contribution to other environmental issues haunting us today.

It will save ink - lots of it.

What Is This Great Idea?
Basically it’s a typeface - like Verdana or Tahoma - that has got holes in it!

It’s called EcoFont, and at normal printing sizes (size 10 for example) it looks just like every other mainstream font. Perfect for printing your emails or on-line receipts.

You can’t see the holes in the letters until you make the font larger - for example up to size 32, but for normal use you won’t really notice them. So you can carry on as normal.

Apparently the Dutch company that invented this EcoFont are called Spranq, and they say that this will save a fifth of the ink used in similar fonts - that is a lot of ink for personal uses.

And let’s be honest, there isn’t a lot of personal printing that needs to be in perfect font, apart from the odd letter to the bank or a job application. The rest of the stuff you print won’t do any harm if it’s a bit ‘holey’ will it?

What Can You use It For?
Well, you can download the font free from ecofont.eu and get a good look at it and see what size you are happiest with - or whether the holes at the larger sizes even bother you that much anyway.

And it can only be used for printing drafts of homework and things at the last minute anyway. I mean, you can write you essays or reports in your preferred fonts and sizes, and only when you want to print the draft can you highlight the whole thing and change the font to EcoFont before printing.

After you have printed you can hightlight it all again and return it to your nice fancy font for the final report. That way it doesn’t have to be your ‘new font’ for ever - it can be your new printing font!

And why would the kids mind if their things were printed in a font with microscopic holes in it anyway?

Think of the money saved in ink-cartridges and the reduced pressure on natural resources by using a fifth less ink than you currently do!

Add this to other eco-office inventions such as the Eco Printing Software and recycled paper and you could be eco friendly and money-saving at the same time!

Whether you are buying crisps, pet food or office equipment - look for the logo!

The Ethical Accreditation Scheme has been running for many years, helping to identify the most ethical companies in all areas of the market.  All those who pass the basic criteria can then display the Good Shopping Guide Logo on their products and websites so that you know you are choosing from the best out there.

For example did you know something as simple as choosing Sainsbury’s over Spar or Teacher’s whisky over Bell’s could be affecting the environment and even peoples lives?

What Is The Scheme About?
The Ethical Company Organisation runs the UK’s leading ethical accreditation scheme to help identify companies and brands that are one step ahead of the competition in terms of their impact on the environment, animal welfare issues if applicable, human rights, responsible marketing and suppliers and their ethical investment policies - amongst other criteria.

The ’scoring’ takes into account many aspects of trade and staffing, and then allows for full accreditation if all categories are met.  It also allows for other companies to be listed as ‘almost there’ and those that are no good at all really!

The History Of Ethical Shopping.
In the past 2 decades - ethical shopping has come along in leaps and bounds.  People as consumers are actually asking where their ’stuff’ comes from.  And are finding out that Brother make more ethical products than Samsung or Xerox for example.  Where products are not that different in appearance of function - it’s good to know that your choice can help make a difference.

Picking one brand of toaster could help support the sale of armaments and abuses of human rights where as another could be preserving habitats and helping to encourage fair trade.  The difference to you could be just 50 pence, but the difference to the whole chain of people associated with the raw materials and production could mean life or death!

1986 saw the boycott of General Electric for it’s involvement with nuclear weapons, 1989 saw Avon in the public eye for animal testing, then in the 1990’s Nestle were forced to rethink their Baby Milk marketing after the truth was exposed.  1994 saw the timber trade in the spotlight and France itself had to do some serious ‘fixing’ after it’s nuclear tests were thrown into the news during the following year.

Since then, there have been some serious changes in policy for most major areas like animal testing, the timber trade, marine and dolphin fishing, fair trade coffee and chocolate becoming mainstream and many many more - including the new palm oil certification.

Consumers want to know everything - and they know that they can make a change now.

Visit www.gooshing.co.uk for some information that can help you decide if Hula Hoops are a more ethically responsible choice than Pringles; whether your cooking oil manufacturer is supplying weapons to troubled countries or whether your sewing machine is harming animals!

Take a look……

Watch this short video - and it will jolt you into reality!

Where do you think all your stuff comes from?  What happens when you get that new phone?  How can we get our stuff so cheap?  What is the real cost of our spending?

All these are answered in this lively, well animated and well written short video by a well traveled, very experienced environmental investigator specialising in health and justice issues across the globe.

It is filled with some scary facts about what we are doing to our planet - or in reality what we are not doing to help our planet.

It highlights - with a fact-packed dialogue - what we are allowing to happen or are being coerced into thinking is ‘OK’.

Annie quotes that the US represents just “5% of the world’s population but uses 30% of the resources and makes 30% of the waste”  Is that right?  Or is that just how it ended up because no-one has really ever thought it was wrong?

Think about it!
She certainly makes you think about everything you are going to buy - or anything you have recently brought.  And it should certainly make you think about anything you are planning to throw away!

The cost of something shouldn’t be the value that the store attributes to it.  For example the $4.99 radio she talks about in her video could not possibly have only cost $4.99 to make. 

Firstly, the store has to make a profit and it needs to be packaged up and shipped across the world from where ever it was made.  So none of that is what it actually cost to make either - so we are down to about maybe $3.00 or less to make?

And how long would you think 1 single radio takes to make from it’s basic parts? About 30 minutes?  No, that would be stupid, right?  But would you work for less than $6.00 an hour? I don’t think so.

So, how much money do the people that build these get paid?  And we haven’t even started on the people it took to mine the raw materials and the time it took to shape them into the component parts.  And what about driving and shipping costs?

And we haven’t even started on the cost to the environment…… 

Yet to some people, throwing out an un-needed $5 radio is not a worry to them - it’s only $5. They don’t even think about what was destroyed or who was exploited to make it in the first place.

And you can be sure that many people do not think about what happens to it after they throw it out!

Well, Annie explains all in her hard-hitting fact-filled docu-video - but keeps it fun and a bit funny even.

And you can help out by showing people, schools, social clubs or anyone else this video to help change that!  Check out the resources on the site for more information.

There is now a water-saving, carbon-reducing, fuel-efficient, cost-effective and longer-lasting way to keep your windows clean!

Using advanced IT software and a specially designed solution, an established window-cleaning firm in London can now offer you just that. Whether you are a home-owner, tenant, tower block owner - or looking for commercial window cleaning in London - you can make use of their services.

It was quoted that a well known local car firm is now saving over £3000 each year on window cleaning by using this new technology to clean up their showroom!

Who Are They?
They are called NCPM247 and have been trading in the city since 1985. They are aiming to become the most eco friendly and technologically advanced window cleaning company in London.

They have become very aware of the restrictions on water use, the congestion in London, rising fuel costs, environmental issues and carbon emissions and also the ‘working at height’ government regulations and sought to find a way to work within these guidelines and still offer an excellent service. And, with an eye to the future.

They have also taken on board modern IT technology to improve their existing company. By taking advantage of the current rise in the use of and accessibility to satellite imaging software including Google Street View, they are able to offer instant (and exact) customer quotes.

Rather than arranging to drive to the customers property to give an accurate quote, they can offer a full quote while on the ‘phone during the first call, therefore booking the first appointment straight away. No extra journey needed - and no time out of your day to show them around!

What Makes Their Cleaning Different?
Firstly, they offer the ‘quote on the phone’ service as above to save time and money from the very start.

Secondly, they drive through London in their fleet of environmentally friendly cars!

Thirdly, they use their unique hydrophobic cleaning materials to keep your windows cleaner for longer. This ’secret ingredient’ coats your windows in a protective - and eco friendly - layer that actually repels water from it’s surface.

Therefore, when it rains, the rain itself is forced away from the glass and washes off any dust and dirt from the window! It creates virtually ’self-cleaning’ glass.

As a result of this, your windows will stay cleaner for longer - usually about 3 months longer - but can be as long as a year! Thinks of the savings in money with only 4 visits a year - and those reduced visits saving on fuel, time and carbon emissions! Things you won’t find with other greater or central London window cleaners
Check out their website for more information and to get a quote yourself!

Fourthly, the way the windows are cleaned actually uses only a tiny fraction of the water that would normally be used for window cleaning. Treatment of all windows (inside and out) with NCPM247 takes only about 1 litre of pure water for an average 4-Bed house. With standard cleaning techniques this rises to about 25 litres! Virtually unacceptable these days.

Add to this that the same house only needs about 4 visits a year to stay clean - that is only 4 litres of water a year. The same house would need cleaning at least every month with an ordinary window-cleaner - that’s a staggering 300 litres of water!  Not to mention all that driving!

There are many more things that are not eco friendly based that make this company stand out, including fully insured cleaners, security-checked staff, use of protective footwear when cleaning interior windows, abseiling staff for taller buildings, 9 meter cleaning poles to save use of noisy machinery and so much more.

Whether you care about the environment, the cost, or just a great first impression of your business from the street - it’s all in one here. You can’t go wrong!

Window Cleaners, London

It really is a light for your garden powered only by the wind!

Imagine sitting outside in your garden or on your balcony and you are being mesmerised by your spinning light! Sometimes it is a solid tube of color and other times it is a pulsating spiral of energy!

How Does It Work?
Well, there are 14 LED lights embedded on the edges of the product which are powered by the spinning of the FireWinder in the wind.

The Firewinder itself is made of 100% recyclable materials and is moulded in the shape of a helix. This way it can catch the wind from any angle and any strength.

Any breeze over a few miles-per-hour will spin the helix around - giving the illusion of a rising edge and in daylight this is more like a mobile than a piece of cutting edge eco-technology!

However, what makes it light up are the 14 LED ‘bulbs’ or ‘patches’ spread out all up the outside edge of the spiral which are powered by the tiny turbines inside.

As it is the outer rising edge of the FireWinder that has the lights on it - when the wind picks up, these lights spin around really quickly forming a continuous band of rising light around the lamp: See Light Spinning.

In slower winds the light pattern is mesmerising and moves upwards around the FireWinder at differnt speeds, sometimes throbing in the breeze. But at higher wind speeds, the lights stay solid and so you will have a what appears to be a static column of light 14 bands high!

It really is something to just stare at for hours!

Is It More Of An Ornament Then?
I suppose you could say that. I mean it is not going to be bright enough for you to read books by or offer home security features - but it will be a welcome edition in gardens during those warmer summer months.

FireWinder is I think the first and only wind-powered outdoor lighting product - all the others on the market are solar-powered - and offer a less fun form of lighting! However, if you don’t get a lot of wind then you best opt for these!

One great eco-friendly product for garden lighting are the solar-powered ‘rock’ lights. As their name suggests, they are plastic ‘rocks’ that have a tilted and so hidden solar panal on the top. By day they look like a simple stone and by night they emit a quite powerful beam of light.

These come in a range of different sizes and offer a more continous and reliable solid light in the garden than the Firewinders, but are not so amazing to watch!

There are of course plenty of more light-looking solar powered lights for your garden - some white, some colored and even some color changing lights - but you can’t beat the spiral effect!

So, you have read about the benefits of having a residential wind turbine to create your green energy - but are you going to buy a ready-made one or build your own?

Well, I have found a few helping hands for you if it’s the build your own option, from people who have been-there-and-done-that. Obviously every household has different energy needs and hopefully there will be something here for everyone.

The following ebooks can be downloaded straight to your home computer, so no need for all that paper or books to be made and posted out to you - you just read the information and only print the essential pages that you need!

Right, lets get going:
Green Energy 4 A Green Earth: Simple secrets to building your own wind turbines and also solar power energy. All this from a man with over 30 years electrical experience! Click Here!

Energy2Green: This is a really easy to follow and well laid out guide to making your own ‘windmills’ where you can start creating energy straight away - and therefore saving money! Filled with testimonials about it’s easy and effective techniques - you can get your wind turbine started for as little as $200 rather than costly ‘ready-made’ wind turbines. Click Here!

Homemade Wind Generator: from a couple who did it themselves and who are now live ‘off-grid’ and generating all their own energy - and if you are quick - they are currently offering you all their wind energy advice for just $10! They also offer other information about solar energy and building your own gas-free car! Click Here!

If you are still not sure about building your own wind turbine, and don’t mind paying the extra for peace of mind and for an instant result - then try a quick look at these 2 sites for ideas and prices:

In the UK: The Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) offer small windchargers starting from as little as £300 - and many books as well. You will of course need to check the type of turbine you will need for your individual energy needs, as the smallest one may not power a larger or more energy consuming environment!. Orders over £40 in UK are free - but higher prices for worldwide delivery.

In the US: There are a whole load of energy companies that sell small residential wind turbines and this extensive list will certainly set you on the way to your purchase - US Small Wind Turbines

Finding a local manufacturer will also cut down on transport costs - as if you fly one from coast to coast it would take ages to ‘earn back’ the energy from the journey with just your wind output!

Let me know how it goes!

Small Scale Wind Turbines - Are They Worth It?

The simple answer is ‘yes’ of course they are - but the reason many people don’t buy and install large or small scale wind turbines is because too many reports base their decision on whether they are ‘cost-effective’ rather than whether or not they save ‘energy’.

This slightly detracts from the idea that we as a society are all supposed to be ’saving energy’ and turns it into whether or not you personally are ’saving money’.

If you genuinely want to live a more sustainable life then you should either buy or build your own wind turbine to reduce your dependence on fossil fuels - and help reduce the need (or excuse) for the government to build new coal-fired power stations.

I am well aware that there a financial constraints for all areas of our lives - including kids, holidays and mortgages - but if you have made a conscious effort to reduce your energy consumption then a wind turbine will of course take ages to ‘earn it’s cost back’ - as you are using less energy!

Wind turbines are more ‘cost effective’ if you use a lot of electricity on washing, drying, console games and heating and plan to continue to do so - as you will see the savings rack up a lot faster than those who are more energy-conscious.

So in my book, if you want to have an eco-friendly house - the cost shouldn’t be the main issue.

So, How Do Wind Turbines Work?
It all depends on something we have a lot of - and it’s free and carbon, nitrogen and methane free!

Wind turbines - as their name suggests - harness the power of the wind (which is free and ever coming) which in turn, rotate specially shaped wind turbine blades. This rotation transfers the energy from the blowing wind down into a turbine which changes it into another energy - electricity.

Depending on the size of the turbine and the strength and continued blowing of the wind you will produce more or less energy. I have seen small wind turbines on canal boats and residential wind turbines on garage roofs and sides of houses, larger ones in stables and in gardens, and of course ginormous wind turbines in large scale establishments or in wind farms.

Now, you can use that energy as it is created and store ’spare’ energy to use later in special batteries or, you can let excess electricity be pumped back into the National Electricity Grid - and get paid for it!

Advantages And Disadvantages Of Wind Energy:
Depending on how fussy and detailed you want to be with your own argument, there are a few for either side.

Advantages:

• Cutting your Carbon Footprint - wind energy is green and renewable.
• Cutting your energy costs - wind energy is free.
• Cutting your reliance on large companies - no need to pay for their advertising!
• Becoming more self-sufficient - you can use as much or as little as you want.
• Saving the environment - you are no longer digging up the earth or the ocean floor.
• Living a sustainable lifestyle - you are only creating and using what you need.
• Being generous and sharing - you can offer/sell someone else any excess ‘free’ energy!
• Voting with your feet - you will be telling the government and larger energy companies that you no longer believe that their policies and actions are acceptable and that you would rather ’step away’ than fund their activities.

Disadvantages:

• Not 100% energy cover - depending on your location, you may need top-ups from elsewhere.
• Costly initial expense - some wind turbines are expensive to buy or install.
• Planning permission needed - you may need to apply to your local council for permits.
• Ongoing maintenance - it won’t be expensive, but will need regular checking.
• Interested neighbors - you may find them staring at your wind turbine as they pass by, or keep asking you lots of questions about it all the time!

Join me in a few days time for my next article, which will have details on several small wind turbines that you could use in your garden or on your roof, and also some information on building your own wind turbines!

See you there.

Are you serious about saving energy in the home?  Are you thinking about constructing an eco friendly house or other property?

Then maybe you should consider a holiday to Wales!

Over the first weekend of June 2009, there is the Greener Homes and Buildings Show - pitched as ‘..the UK’s one stop shop for green building solutions’.

Or, ‘cartrefi ac adeiladau gwyrdd - siop un stop am atebion i adeiladu gwyrdd’.

Wales is already the home of the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT) in Powys - as well as one of the most amazing scenery and adventure landscapes!  So why not combine a visit to this region with a trip to the show?

What’s There?
Well, all of the seminars from last year are available online at this years website: Greener Homes & Buildings so you can see if the topics covered will suit your needs this year.

Whether you are renovating an existing property or building from scratch, there will be something for you to learn here.  With over 25 companies exhibiting and many professional seminars taking place over the weekend, you are sure to come away all the more knowledgeable about your interests.

CAT will be there to answer your questions, offer advice and products as well as details for their year-long programme of sustainable living and green building courses to continue your learning.

What Else?
The show takes place in the Royal Welsh Showground in central Wales, so you are in prime position to explore the beautiful landscapes of the Cambrian mountains, Snowdonia National Park and the Brecon Beacons.  All great reasons to show why we are trying to live more sustainably and preserve these landscapes!

Visiting such areas of outstanding natural beauty also makes us realise how we can seriously influence what happens to the land - no matter how great its size. 

What we do to change our lifestyles and the way we build and use our homes can prevent local, national and global changes that are for the worse - and shape them for the better.

What Now?
So, book your tickets for the show before the 15th of May to get and early bird discount and pay just £6 entry.  Kids under 16 go free!

Then, get online and find accommodation for the long weekend or the whole week and start planning your adventure!  Don’t be shy - if you are saving the landscape - you may as well go and enjoy it!