Eco Friendly House And Garden

Make some time to go to a show to get some top tips for your eco friendly house and garden!

The whole show doesn’t have to be uber green - just on the right theme, and then you can go and pick out the bits you like and put pressure on the companies that are not offering what you want!

Many tips and tricks for home redecorating or garden landscaping don’t have to be new-fangled and complicated - there are many things that we can do that are eco friendly without even trying!

Also at shows, you get to see products that aren’t found in supermarkets due to their ‘rules’ on listings, like biodegradable toiletries, organic foods and fair trade supplies.  You just won’t find these on the high street - so they bring them to the shows so you can get hands-on experience with them rather than blindly ordering things off the Internet!

1) The National Home Improvement Show - Earls Court, London
With over 18 exhibitors being from energy efficiency companies and talks and seminars from environmentally active lecturers and TV presenters - you know you could be on to a good thing here!

Take your pick from all the departments including renovations, kitchens, bathrooms and gardens as see if you can get some great advice on using the right resources, getting eco friendly appliances and other homewares as well as sustainable produced garden furniture and buildings.

2) The National Wedding Show - NEC, Birmingham
If you are even remotely thinking of getting married - then you must consider a trip to a wedding fair.  Weddings can cost at least £20,000 for a simple affair - so if you are after an eco friendly wedding, then you had better plan in advance to make sure that you get the best products and services booked up in advance - rather than have to settle for second best when you run out of time!

And, there are bound to be things involved with a wedding that you hadn’t really even considered looking in to like car hire and tablecloths!  At a show like this - they have already done all the thinking; just turn up with a notepad and pen and comfy shoes!

3) Mind, Body & Soul 2010 - Olympia, London
Take a day out to unwind from the stresses of life - and try out some of the great relaxation remedies, complementary therapies and practical sessions.

Find yourself surrounded by experts on stress, therapy, yoga and many other well known and well used techniques that could help you realise your potential and make some serious changes in your life, your work or your free time.

Raised Garden

4) Grand Designs Live - NEC, Birmingham
Covering everything from food to flowers, lofts to landscaping and from sash windows to sustainable sheds!

Seriously, it’s not just about buying a plot of land or derilict church and building a massive monstrosity on it like the earlier Grand Design TV Shows - its all about making things better, more eco friendly and long lasting - and not just for 1 home - but for whole communities.  

5) The Baby Show - Earls Court, London
Come here and find out about everything you will need for your little one before they arrive - and for your growing ones who need some new inspiration and equipment - or for yourself to help cope with the new lifestyle that is shaping your every day life.

Not only will your get the chance to try out all the existing products that are new to you - there will also be innovative products and companies out there with something new to the whole world!  Whether it’s a new eco friendly material, new biodegradable toiletries or organic baby foods - you can bet that it is all here!

So, what are you waiting for - make some space in your diary….

Could you live without posted flyers - and live with super fast mobile technology instead?

Imagine reducing the demand for paper-based realty advertising - and reducing the need to keep driving into their store to pick things up - and all the ink you will be saving as well.  It seems almost criminal that we haven’t thought about this sooner! 

I have found out about a product that would allow your local realtors to provide you with all the important details about a property to you whilst you sit in your car admiring the outside view! It’s like a mobile real estate system that has multiple benefits for the environment - and for selling your home!

It’s called House4Cell, and it can help the environment in more ways than you could imagine - so why not consider finding an estate agent that uses it when you come to moving home.

There seems so much ‘eco friendly-ness’ about this technology, that you should be pestering your real estate agents to take this on regardless of whether you are buying or selling your property!  And it is a simple as text messaging.

Real Estate Text Messaging Solution?
Basically, the realtor will put a normal ’For Sale’ sign outside the property that is listed with their contact details on it - but underneath this they will attach a further sign that says something like: Text: ‘This House’ to 55535′. It’s like a modern mobile answer for today’s home buyers. No more hanging around in the rain - or waiting until Monday morning to get the details!

With this technology, it allows the potential buyer to stay outside the house that they like and simply text the given number into their phone. They will then instantly receive the property details and up to 3 internal pictures onto their mobile phone or smart phone - even Verizon phones can receive these images!

This way, no matter what time of day it is, weekend, holidays or whatever - people can get the information instantly without having to drive around town trying to find the agents store.  It also reduces the need for all that printed paperwork that comes with property searches and the extra staff needed to sort it all out!

And, the sooner your can get moving after finding the right home! How many people just miss out on the home of their dreams after having to wait for details to come through the post!

What Else Does It Do?
Well, apart from all the eco friendly things listed above - this system could make house prices lower; or at least stop them rising. I mean if a lot of their work is now done automatically, then realtors will need less staff and resources in place to keep their business running.

And with lower running costs businesses can offer more to their customers as they are spending less time on the phone and printing off sheet after sheet of images! 

The company that developed the product - Cellit Mobile Marketing - have also added a few extras for the buyers. For example, they can text or email you further details on request, and can even offer updates on price reductions of homes you were interested in as well as other similar homes in the area.

So, if you like eco friendly technology - and you want to use less paper and waste less time and energy - then you should love this!

Low energy, CO2 reducing, HFC-free, natural materials, easy to maintain and fully compostable! 

Now that sounds a lot better than the high energy demanding, hydro-carbon filled, man-made material landfill site-filling drain on resources air conditioning units that we all know at the moment!

So if you are thinking of replacing or installing a new air conditioning system for your home or office, then maybe compare the benefits of this new system alongside the normal ones - and make you choice then.

The Financial Benefits Of The New System:
There are many many eco-friendly benefits of these new air conditioning units which I will list below, but there is also the financial costs too.  For example, the replacement filters can be fitted by you rather than having to call out an engineer, and the maintenance of the whole system is low from the start and it only costs about 10p per day to power.

You also need to input less energy into the units to keep them running as they transfer their energy very efficiently within themselves requiring less input from external energy sources.

And, they control the levels of carbon dioxide in your workspace.  Now we all know that a stuffy office is not conducive to work - and you normally fell like it’s time for a nap - but this is only due to the rise in the level of CO2 (the ppm count) with all those warm people breathing out!  So, if this level is maintained at a low level, everyone should be able to keep working and be more productive during the whole day.  And this mean better profits - essential for a small business!

The Green Credentials:
Here are some facts and figures from the Cool Phase website detailing the eco benefits of their great new invention!

• Each system installed could save around 800kg of CO2 a year.
• Units do not contains any ozone damaging refrigerants or contribute to excessive global warming.
• Outer casing is made from FSC approved plywood materials.  
• All materials used are natural, and so can be mashed up and composted at the end of their life.
• Units recover heat from their surroundings late in the day and store them until the following morning with no need for extra energy.
• If you live in the UK - this is a locally built product!

So, we should stop thinking of air conditioning as being a constant flow of freezing cold air into the workplace - but more of an ambient controlled atmosphere that actually does condition the air of your office, school or home for the better.

Better for the environment, better for your health and better for your wallet!

An eco friendly business doesn’t just talk about it - it acts on it!

Depending on the type of business that you run, or the company that you work for, there could be a certain amount of long-distance travel involved.  And long-haul means wasted time, staff not working and carbon emissions!

So Climate Care Day is asking: ‘Why not consider a ‘travel free’ day as part of your current business plan?’  This initiative supported by the WWF is trying to give you the opportunity to look at the alternatives, and make businesses more eco-friendly.

By asking you not to travel as part of your working day, they are trying to get businesses and individuals to think about the impact that their decisions can have on not only their business itself, but also on the wider environment.

What Are They Asking?
Basically, the idea of Climate Care Day is to get businesses to not arrange any long distance travel for that 24 hours.

So, on the 26th of March 2010, they are hoping that corporations will communicate via other means rather than face-to-face.

Whether this means individuals will communicate verbally by telephone, digitally via the internet or virtually with live video conferencing - it doesn’t matter.  As long as they haven’t flown or driven hundreds or thousands of miles to do it in person!

There are plenty of technological alternatives available to businesses today that can eliminate or reduce the need for business travel - and can save a lot of money in the process!

However, a lot of people are not thinking of these alternatives as they plod along doing everything as they have always done it.  Added to this is the problem of the changing market, where something that wasn’t really a viable option a few years ago is now readily and very often cheaply available.

Sometimes things that have always happened a certain way are seen as static - with no real reason to change it - well, if it has always worked like that - why change it?

But we have seen with the impressive speed with which cell phones have morphed into a huge array of handheld mobile technology gadgets that make phone calls, give you directions, display whole journals, film events, take pictures, search the internet and even play games.  Why would you still want to do all these things separately and as slowly as we used to do it?

Would you rather go to a library and scan through the paper index and individual paper journals to find a certain fact, when you could use the internet instead?  And why would you want to carry a camera, your cell and a laptop to review new products for your company, when a smart phone could do all 3 jobs in 1?

The same could be true for your business if you worked smarter - and it makes economic sense.  Save time, save money and reduce carbon emissions - but also create a better work environment and help society change for the better.

Why Do It?
Climate change is said to be the biggest threat to nature and humanity in the 21st century, and has now become a serious business issue.  Ignoring this could have detrimental effects on not only your own business itself, but on the way we work as a planet at the moment.

Coastal cities are having to make 25-year plans to move whole industries away from threatened coastlines.  You can’t just change the country’s infrastructure overnight!

And supplies and raw materials are changing - for example landfill sites are being raided for their raw ingredients which were buried in the past decades, and old computer parts are being harvested for the precious metals they contain.

We also know that in general things that stay the same are left behind.  I mean if you ran a business today that was based on using only dial-up internet- you would not be able to compete with others in the same market.

You don’t always need the newest inventions, or the most expensive - but you need a viable alternative that suits your business needs.

So, even if you can’t take part in this event, consider looking again at some business improvements - and become more eco friendly along the way.

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