Products and Reviews (17 links)

We wanted to include this eye catching device for your interest.  Biolite claims to do amazing things in terms of being a emergency or camp stove and producing electricity at the same time.  Review anyone?

I just love a simple & clever idea.  How about converting your old cassette cases into business card holders after you have used all the old tape to crochet hand bags.  Be sure to use basic precautions when working with the tape.  The tape can contain some undesirable stuff.

Simple urinal.  Works great for boy, but what about the girls?

Hey men, want to be super green but not into the mountain man look?  Try the Freedom Shaver.  We have one and fight over who's turn it is to wind it.  It feels a little cheep like it might not last but works surpisingly well and is easy to keep charged.  Comes with some good accessories.

We have a hard time finding products that meet our standards at Target so we do lots of online shopping.  The only trouble is finding one place that has all the things you want to minimize shipping.  Eco Ellie's is a good start.

We all have learned that plastic water bottles are no good for us or the environment.  I personally dont like metal water bottles.  I have had two that the coloring on the outside let go (thats not good) and they always make my water taste, well, metallic.  I have a copper one that I like but my favorite of all is a glass water bottle by Lifefactory I got for attending West Coast Green.  Its heavy but is easy to take care of and really clean tasting.   

When we renovated our home this summer.  We tried two different types of caulking.  The first was Eco-Bond and the second was GeoGreen.  Our GC liked the Eco-Bond better because it has undergone more rigorous testing.  Eco-Bond was very sticky and really seemed to grab and hold.  GeoGreen is less sticky and therefore a bit easier to work with.  GeoGreen performs like an inexpensive caulking similar to Alex acrylic caulking.

We recently installed a exhaust fan in our bathroom.  Previously serviced only by a window.  Since we did a great deal of sealing, a proper fan was going to be needed.  After spending a month looking for a second hand fan we gave up and started looking at new fans.  We found only one option of an exhaust fan with any eco-credentials.  The Whipser Green by Panasonic.  At $99, Im not sure its going to pay for itself in energy savings.  However we can tell you that it is very quiet and seems to do its job well.

Wall plates.  Sometimes (especially in kids rooms)  stating the obvious really helps.

Most people dont know that toilet designers are content to waist large amounts of water filling the bowl.   Most toilets over fill the bowl and the extra water just flows down the sewer line without you getting any benefit from it.  Here is a cool tiny plastic gizmo that allows you to control the amount of water headed for the bowl.  It may be plastic, but a toilet tank is a good place for plastic and its sure to save plenty of water for you.

This typewriter is so full of awesome I want one and I dont even have and iPad.  This is just the sort of funky recycling we love here at Greenknowe.org

I ran across this on ebay.  Anti-fatigue mats and door mats made of old tires.  What a great re-use idea!  I might need an anti-fatigue mat for my studio or a door mat for the front door soon.  How much better this is than going to Bed Bath and Beyond and buying something n-ew!  I only wish they were more local because I bet they are heavy to ship over land.

We are now buying tree free toilet paper from China.   They also made disposable plates etc.  We have reservations about buying out of China, but the carbon foot print of things coming from China is actually lower than things coming out of Canada.  The sugar cane paper plates are at least an improvement over corn based disposable plates.

If you are thinking about printing out anything from this website, go and download ecofont first and make it your default font.  I dont know about you, but the vast majority of printing we do is very casuall stuff.  Not too many business proposals or resumes going out these days so print quality is not a big deal so save yourself a little ink and spare the world just a little bit along the way.  http://www.ecofont.eu/ecofont_en.html

My favorite print resource is Natural Home Magazine.  Its wonderfully inspirational with gadgets and lots of articles about what people are doing with their homes to live a little lighter on this earth.  They have been criticized by their readership for focusing too much on giant green homes but I think they heard the complaints because they are running a lot more articles about tiny green houses and ways to do more with less.  Be careful not to get suckered into buying every new green thing they advertise though because there are heavy on the adds.  http://www.naturalhomemagazine.com/

Something I havnt tried but am temped by is Static Eliminator.  Since I also work as a costumer, clothing is a big issue.  I often run into people who are allergic to other anti-static products.  They claim is works without chemicals, is economical and reuseable.  http://www.staticeliminator.ca