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2010’s 10 Green Trends for the Home Here are the top 10 trends in green building for 2010 and beyond, according to research by The Earth Advantage Institute, a nonprofit green building organization: 1. Smart grid for the home A smart grid allows electricity suppliers and customers to monitor and control their home energy footprint. With the development of web-based display panels that show total energy usage in a home, homeowners will be more conscious of and hopefully change the way they use energy.
Ways to stay green while dining out _____________________________________________________________________ You may already carry your own reusable shopping bag to refrain from panic at the register as the cashier reaches for a plastic one. And if you have stopped going out to eat for fear of Styrofoam take-home boxes or eating all 5 courses to keep the plastic to-go bags away, fear no more. Green living covers almost every aspect of life, even ridding the need of those pesky containers.
As the holidays have come to an end and all of your presents have been received, it’s time to put ink to paper for a thank you card. Since 90% of American households purchase paper greeting cards, this time around consider these greener options for stationery and send your message with a low carbon footprint. Top Tips - Make your own paper. Gather up various household fibers such as denim, other papers, and even plants. Rip your gathered materials into small pieces and mix in some warm water until it is about the consistency of pancake batter. After...
Tags: Renewable-Energy
How to make your home a healthy place
Smog in urban areas often makes the news. But truth be told, air quality is often much worse inside our homes than outside. That’s because tens of thousands of chemicals, some synthetic and some found in nature, are used to make products commonly found in buildings. Many of these chemicals are benign, some are highly toxic, and most fall in that wide gray area in between. When it comes to indoor air contamination, the biggest culprit in our homes is VOCs, a large class of chemicals that can evaporate, or offgas, from stuff that’s all around us, like particle board, carpet, paint, cleaning products, and materials treated with stain-resistant and wrinkle-resistant chemicals. VOCs can aggravate respiratory ailments like asthma, and have been linked to cancer and damage to nervous and reproductive systems.
Tags: Sustainable-future
Huffington Post by Jennifer Schwab Excerpt: "To my surprise, I found the folks Down Under are ahead of us in a number of ways when it comes to going green. I stayed in the City Centre area of downtown, which is noticeably clean and tidy. Strange looking "Go Green" passenger-carrying bicycles with full canopies, kind of like the pedi-cabs in Central Park, periodically troll by. A natural gas powered fleet of city buses circulates regularly. Dual-flush toilets are very common in public places. Separate recycling containers are inconsistent but available. Apparently most residential neighborhoods are given three separate bins, for bottles and cans, compost, and regular trash. And unlike many U.S. downtowns, many building lights and signs are turned off at night to conserve power."
Tags: Green-Living Sustainable-Future
A large portion of the energy used during the holidays goes to power Christmas and other special holiday lights. This season, why not try eco-friendly alternatives that are still unique but save you money? Alternatives 
If you can’t go a Christmas without gazing at colorful, bright lights on the tree and outside the house, consider buying LED lights. LED lights consume less energy watts per string than regular lights. Admittedly more expensive to buy than regular lights, LEDs will save you money when it comes time to pay the electricity bill without sacrificing beauty.... For the complete list of alternatives go to this link.
Love being green? Love the holidays? Why not do both! Sierra Club Green Home has compiled a list of 25 Eco-Gifts for the holidays. From wind powered chargers to tree logs that play iPods. Not only are these ideas and gadgets cool, but they’re a great way to decrease your carbon footprint. SCGH is not endorsing these items as we have not tested or inspected them. ____________________________________________________________________ & nbsp; For the complete gift list, go to this link.
Come winter season, many people start shopping for clothes that will keep them toasty warm. To avoid that winter chill this holiday season, spend your dollars on affordable, sustainable clothing while saving energy. Follow these tips to learn how to be a greenie, even under the snowfall. When shopping, consider these guidelines: Sweaters - Wool and heavy cotton sweaters are best for insulating your body against the cold weather. If you prefer a fleece sweater look for those that are made out of recycled fibers, like Patagonia’s recycled polyester clothes.
 For the full article go here.
We usually look for the reddest tomatoes and the biggest ears of corn because we believe them to taste the best, but did you know that a good bit of the produce you purchase at the grocery store is genetically modified? Genetically modified foods (GM) are foods that undergo DNA changes through genetic engineering to enhance desired traits, such as nutritional value and resistance to herbicides and pesticides, while eliminating unwanted traits in the process. GM foods are fairly new to the market, first commercialized and marketed in the early 1990s. The first commercial GM produce was the tomato, genetically engineered to be more resistant to rotting. Then, in 1996, soybeans genetically modified to be more resistant to herbicides were released for commercial sale. Currently, GM ingredients make up the majority of all processed foods in the US. However, there are no laws in the US requiring companies to label their foods as genetically modified. Click here for full article.
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