1GreenProduct.com on Green Your Decor!

Occasionally, we have the privilege of contributing a guest post to a blog we admire.

Such was the case yesterday when our review of KAA Design Group's Alkira Lounge Chair appeared on Green Your Decor.

Technology - Targus Grove Computer Bags

So you're a modern business roadwarrior, but you care about the environment too?

Check out Targus' new line of Grove™ laptop bags. Available in four styles (Sling, Convertible Messenger/Backpack, Messenger and Topload), all the Grove bags are labeled PVC-free.

PVC (polyvinyl chloride) is a common plastic used to make everything from sewer pipes to clothing, but health concerns linked to PVC and the plasticizers (such as phthalates) added to the PVC have led to concerns over its continued use. Indeed, the California legislature has even considered a bill to ban PVC packaging.

Indeed, the Center for Health and Environmental Justice calls PVC "The Poison Plastic" and says that PVC cannot be effectively recycled. They claim that just one PVC container accidentally added into the recycling stream can spoil a batch of 100,000 recyclable PET (polyethylene terephthalate) bottles.

So basically it's a good thing that Targus has eliminated all PVC from the Grove bag. Instead, they've chosen to use recyclable plastic hardware. Theoretically, you can take the bag apart, remove the plastic pieces (i.e. the feet) and take them to a recycling center or put them in your recycling bin. (Though you'd need to make sure that your recycler could handle thermal plastic rubber used in the feet and the other types of plastic the bag contains.)

We should also mention that the stylish metal accents on the bags are nickel-free. Since some people are allergic to nickel and since the nickel refining process may be hazardous to the health of its workers (according to Environment Writer), this also seems like a good thing.

From a purely functional and design standpoint, Targus has done a good job with the Grove series. The olive and black color scheme with 'sedona' (i.e. burnt orange) accents looks rugged and stylish in an understate way. Lots more sedona coloring on the inside, good padding in the laptop section (holds up to 15.4" notebook) and a plethora of pockets and clips make the Grove bags both versatile and fun to use.

Is Grove the greenest solution ever to carrying your laptop? Probably not. You could always throw your computer in a organic cotton case like the ones from Passenger Pigeon (scroll down the page - sorry no direct link to product). But if you want something more rugged and structured, the Grove bags definitely seem like a Green step in the right direction.

Where to buy:
Purchase directly through the Targus website ($49.99 - $79.99) or offline at major nationwide retailers listed here.

Kitchen / Food and Drink - Soda-Club Fountain Jet Home Soda Maker

Happy Independence Day, America!

Of course, for many people in the U.S. of A., the 4th of July means barbecue!

If you're sipping a nice ice-cold soda while grilling today, think about all the plastic and aluminum required to hold your fizzy drinks. (Of course, you can recycle the packaging, but still...)

How can you kick the bottle and can habit? One solution (my first choice, actually) is to use tap water and tea bags to make nice big pitchers of iced tea.

But if you've got to have the bubbly stuff, at least you can ditch most of the packaging with a Soda-Club® home soda maker.

The Soda-Club machine basically consists of a canister of carbon-dioxide inside a plastic dispenser. You add tap water to the 1-liter bottles that come with the machine, inject carbonation into the water with the press of a button and then add whatever syrup or other flavoring you like. Voila - practically instant soda!

When you're finished with your soda, just rinse out and reuse the bottle. (That would section #2 of the famous "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle" slogan.)

As Soda-Club points out, if the Green movement doesn't want people buying bottled water, why is it OK to buy bottled soda? Why not just make your own soda at home with tap water, a CO2 cylinder and a dash of flavored syrup?

Well, for one thing, most people who drink soda like a particular brand or taste. IMHO, Soda-Club's flavors don't quite measure up to some of the name brand soda tastes that have been refined over decades. (On the bright side though, Soda-Club does claim that its soda mixes contain no high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and have 2/3-fewer carbs, calories and sugar than store-bought soda. We presume they mean non-diet kinds of soda...)

Also, if you're just an occasional soda-drinker, you may not want the hassle of mixing your own soda when you get an urge for a glass of the fizzy stuff.

Soda-Club could be great fun for kids who'll get to see what goes into making a bottle of soda, or it could even be a (minor) hit at cocktail parties, but be warned that the 1-liter bottles won't quench a thirsty crowd. You might want to get a couple of extra bottles if you do plan on using Soda-Club for a party.

Our verdict: For heavy soda drinkers who also want to play a smaller role in the plastic and aluminum waste stream, Soda-Club could be a Revolutionary product. But it still probably won't get its own public holiday.

Now go enjoy your fireworks.

Where to buy:
Online at Soda-Club's website. Offline at Boater's World stores nationwide and assorted other retail outlets.

Kitchen / Bath - Preserve

As hard as we try to minimize our use of plastic, there are always some corners of our modern lives where plastic endures.

Consider the toothbrush. Odds are, we're all using a plastic one.

(Random thought - What were toothbrushes made of before plastic became a common material? Where there wooden toothbrushes? Thanks to Google and Colgate, I now know the most advanced toothbrushes of the late 18th Century were made of cattle bone with swine-neck bristles. Yum!)

Anyway, these days if you can't avoid brushing with plastic, at least you can brush with a recycled plastic toothbrush. A company called Recycline® makes the Preserve® toothbrush by recycling Stonyfield Farm yogurt containers. (Containers that once held organic yogurt, natch.)

When your toothbrushes wear out, instead of chucking them in the trash, you can send them back to Recycline in a postage-paid package (download the label from Recycline's website). Your old razors will be reborn as plastic lumber for park benches, decks and other sturdy objects.

Recycline also makes Preserve razors. Not only is the handle made from the same type of recycled plastic as the toothbrushes, but the blade cartridge can be popped out and changed. (So you don't have to throw away the whole razor when the blade wears out.)

The newest Recycline products bring Preserve into the kitchen with cheery colanders, cutting boards, mixing bowls and storage containers. Most of these made-in-the-USA products are made from 100% recycled plastic and are also dishwasher-safe. The amazing Paperstone™ cutting boards are created from a combination of natural resins blended with 100% post-consumer recycled paper.

Frankly, the design rocks on all the Preserve products - especially the kitchenware. Credit the folks at Evo Design who partner with Recycline to give all the Preserve products an organic feel plus great functionality. Especially with the new kitchen products, everything looks great and is easy to use. Little cutouts in the Paperstone cutting boards, for instance, make it a pleasure to grab and carry a wet cutting board full of sliced scallions over to a pot of bubbling chili.

Or to give another example, consider the apple-inspired food storage containers. Yes, the design is adorable, but it's also well-crafted. Lots of storage containers use a pop-off lid, but the screw-top lid on the Preserve containers seems to fit more snugly. You'll probably preserve your food better and are less likely to make a mess if someone drops the container accidentally.

In regular use, all the Preserve kitchen products performed great while brightening up the kitchen. My only small gripe is that the the regular cutting boards seem to scratch a little easily. Recycline calls these boards knife-friendly, so maybe the softness is supposed to help your knives last longer? Anyway, I preserved the feel and the endurance of the Paperstone boards certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. (Plus it's just so cool to think you are cutting on a board made partially out of paper!)

One last bonus -- since Preserve tableware and kitchen products (except for the Paperstone) are all made out of 100% recycled #5 plastic, they can all be dumped straight into the recycling bin -- provided of course that your community recycles #5 plastics. Unfortunately, not all communities recycle #5 plastic, so you may have to search a while to find a way to get these items into the recycling stream. (Hint: Put "#5" and your location into the Earth911 search box to find someplace near you that takes #5 plastic!)

Where to buy:
Recycline says that Target has started carrying the Preserve toothbrush nationally (though we couldn't find it on Target's website yet). For now, Preserve Kitchen products are available exclusively at Whole Foods. If you're looking for anything else, check out this store locator and then call to make sure the product you want is in stock.

Fashion - Cosabella Bamboo and Eden Collections

For 25 years, Cosabella has been making some darn-sexy Italian-Floridian lingerie, swimwear and beachwear. (The collections are designed in Miami, handcrafted in Italy.)

This month, Cosabella introduces a collection that is as good for the Earth as for a lady's figure.

The Eden Collection is made from a blend of bamboo and micro-modal. Since both ingredients are natural, the lingerie is completely biodegradable. Cosabella guarantees that the fabric is fully-natural.

Bamboo, as we've mentioned before, has lots of green properties - it grows quickly (making it an extremely renewable resource) and usually requires little treatment with pesticides or herbicides. Modal is a fiber that is made from the pulp of beech trees.

Cosabella claims that this combination of bamboo and modal makes the Eden collections antibacterial, odor preventative, anti-static and 4x more absorbent than cotton.

As part of Cosabella's Fall '08 collections, Eden should ship this month and be available in stores through March of next year.

If the stores you visit are out of Eden, don't worry - Cosabella plans to make introduce new bamboo/modal blend lingerie each season. Looks like paradise isn't lost after all...

Where to buy:
Cosabella products are sold at Neiman Marcus, Bloomingdale's, Bergdorf Goodman, Henri Bendel and hundreds of specialty stores around the country. Click the "Where to Buy" link on the upper right corner of Cosabella's homepage. (Since Eden is just one of many Cosabella collections, you might want to call in advance to make sure the story has items from the Eden collection in stock and in your size.)

Home - Trane XL800 Programmable Thermostat

Happy July 1st!

Have you melted yet?

Let's assume you're blessed enough to have air-conditioning and would like to keep your house livably cool without running up your electricity bill or needlessly wasting energy.

That's where a programmable thermostat like the Trane XL800 comes in handy.

Here's what you can do with a thermostat like the XL800 - keep the house cool at night while you're sleeping, dial back the cooling automatically around the time you head to work, have the system start cooling the house down in the late afternoon in preparation for you arrival and then keep it cool all evening.

What's that? You only go to work on Tuesdays and Thursdays? Not to fret. You can designate different temperature settings for different days of the week with the XL800's 7-day programming capability.

According to the Alliance to Save Energy, a programmable thermostat that adjusts the temperature by 10-15% when the house is unoccupied can save you up to 10% a year on your cooling costs.

Save money, save energy and stay cool? That'll help you chill out and enjoy the rest of summer...

Where to buy:
Enter your zip code on Trane's website to find a dealer near you. Price and installation costs vary, but should run you about $250-300.

Technology / Office - HP Deskjet D2545 Printer

Sure, you recycle paper.

Way to go! Good job! (Pat on the back.)

But do you use a recycled printer? Hm? Thought not.

Well, thanks to HP's new D2545 Deskjet model, you can change your ways for the greener.

More than 80% of the total plastic weight on the D2545 comes from recycled plastic, including 100% of the printer's outer casing and trays.

Even better, the ENERGY STAR®-qualified D2545 comes in 100%-recycled product packaging.

Weighing just 6.2 lbs., the compact D2545 still has impressive performance specs: up to 26 pages per minute (ppm) black printing capability, with as much as 20 ppm in color.

One more green benefit to buying an inkjet printer from HP -- the company supports recycling of inkjet cartridges in 42 countries and territories around the world through a free postage-paid return-and-recycling program.

Want more details on all the D2545 product benefits? Download a PDF here.

And remember, even if you do recycle, you're not participating fully in the recycling chain unless you also buy products (like the Deskjet D2545) made from recycled materials.

Where to buy:
Purchase directly through HP's Home & Home Office store or via Walmart.com.

Bath - Caroma Sydney Smart Dual Flush Toilet

Australia - known for its shrimp, its beer, its beautiful beaches and its dual flush toilets.

OK, maybe not so famous for the dual flush toilets, but it should be!

Bathroom products manufacturer Caroma has been making dual flush toilets Down Under for 25 years. Put delicately, dual flush toilets use a little bit of water to wash away liquid waste and a more robust flush to cleanse the bowl of solid matter.

A number of Caroma toilets have made in stateside. In fact, Caroma claims to have the most EPA WaterSense approvals (36!) of any brand doing business in North America.

All of these WaterSense Caroma toilets are dual flush, high-efficiency toilets (HETs), meaning they use 20% less water than the currently mandated federal maximum of 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf).

But we're most excited about the dual flush Sydney Smart model. Caroma claims that the Sydney Smart offers "the lowest water consumption of any toilet now available in North America."

The little flush button on the Sydney Smart uses just 0.8 gallons of water, while the major flush lever swooshes 1.28 gallons around the bowl. Caroma says that these levels set "a new benchmark for water conservation in North America."

(If you needed any proof that North America needs water conservation, just check out these recent news stories from North Carolina, California, Georgia and even Hawaii.)

Where prior attempts to mandate water saving toilets resulted in reduced flush power, all WaterSense certified toilets are judged not just on water savings, but also on flushing performance. (If you have to flush a toilet multiple times to get rid of waste, you pretty much negate any per-flush water savings.)

Caroma says that the Sydney Smart's large trapway is virtually unblockable (please don't take that as a challenge), so one flush should be all you need.

Caroma estimates that the Sydney Smart can save a household more than between 18,000 and 30,000 gallons of water per year (depending on whether you're replacing a 3.5 gpf toilet or a pre-1980 toilet that may use as much as 5-7 gpf).

Some Green choices require us to make big lifestyle changes. The Sydney Smart gives us a chance to save thousands and thousands of gallons of water per year at the push of a button.

I'm not saying you should rip out your old toilet this minute and put in a Sydney Smart (though if you have an antique water-guzzling toilet, it might make eco-sense), but if you're building a new home or planning a bathroom rehab, the Sydney Smart seems like a very intelligent Green choice.

UPDATE (6/30) - On July 1, Caroma will release its newest high efficiency dual flush toilet, the Sydney Low Profile. Designed for bathrooms where space is at a premium and available in six bowl configurations, this HED uses 1.6 / 0.8 gpf, offering expected annual water savings of up to 18,000 gallons of water per year for a family of four switching from a single flush toilet. Two configurations of the Sydney Low Profile have already received approval from the EPA's WaterSense program. 

Where to buy:

Find distributors around North America through the "Where to Buy" page on Caroma's website. Designed for easy installation, the Sydney Smart has a MSRP of approximately $319.

Fashion / Baby - BabyBam Collection

Dream. Believe. Giggle.

That's the motto of the BabyBam Collection of bamboo and organic baby clothing.

And really, who wouldn't want to giggle at the thought of being swathed in a 70% bamboo, 30% organic cotton onesie with the inspiring message of "the World Awaits"?

As we've mentioned before on 1GreenProduct.com, both bamboo and organic cotton are fantastically green materials.

Usually we find independent 3rd party sources, but the BabyBam Collection has done such a good job of explaining the benefits of bamboo that a direct link makes sense.

We'll quote ourselves from a post we made a few weeks ago on the benefits of bamboo:

Bamboo is generally considered a star plant in the green world. Some sources (Undergear included) call it 'the fastest regenerating plant on Earth'. Whether or not that's the case, it certainly does grow incredibly quickly - at certain times, bamboo shoots can grow 12 inches or more in a single day. An incredibly hardy plant, some people describe it almost as a weed since it often thrives without pesticides or much fertilizer and can be harvested without needing to be replanted. There are environmental concerns about the chemicals used to process bamboo into clothing fibers -- but apparently these solvents can be reused in order to minimize environmental damage.

BabyBam Collection also emphasizes the fact that bamboo has natural hypoallergenic and anti-bacterial properties, preventing odor, allergies and skin irritations. I think any parents (or airline passengers for that matter) will attest to the fact that an irritated baby can be a fearsome creature. So if bamboo can prevent irritation, I think that's reason enough to give it some serious consideration for your little bundle of joy.

Apparently, newborn babies also have a hard time controlling their body temperature. The word on the street is that bamboo has thermal regulating qualities that can help you keep your cool in warm temperatures or stay toasty when it's nippy out.

As for the organic cotton that goes into the BabyBam Collection, once again the advantage here is eliminating the poisonous pesticides that are sprayed on conventionally grown cotton. Various sources, including the BabyBam Collection and About.com, also claim that organic cotton crops require less water than conventional cotton, an important consideration in a world where drought is a growing problem.

With all the benefits of bamboo and organic cotton, frankly it's just icing on the cake that the BabyBam Collection also happens to look and feel as good as it does. Frankly it makes me a little jealous that I was born about 32 years too late to get bundled up in some BabyBam Collection bamboo and organic cotton pajamas.

Maybe a little giggling will make me feel better...

Where to buy:
Even the stork probably shops online these days. You can too at the BabyBam Collection's Online Store. Offline, you'll find the BabyBam Collection at selected stores in New York, New Jersey, Arizona, Massachusetts, Utah and California.

Kitchen / Baby - Dapple dish soaps

The old saying goes that necessity is the mother of invention.

It doesn't say anything about mothers actually doing the inventing, but that's what happened in the case of Tamar Rosenthal and Dana Rubinstein, founders of Dapple™.

When Rosenthal and Rubinstein became moms, they found special mild detergents for baby clothes and gentle shampoo for baby hair, but no soaps especially designed for the bottles, cups, spoons and dishes that babies put in their mouths every day.

And so the Dapple twins were born -- Dishwasher Detergent and Dish Liquid! Made from plant ingredients and never tested on animals, Dapple has a non-toxic formula free of phosphates, chlorine, fragrance and dyes. The dish liquid in particular is also labeled as being free of SLES (sodium laureth sulfate) and phthalates.

Remember those old Secret deodorant commercials with the sexist tagline ("Strong enough for a man, made for a woman")? In this case, it turns out that a dish soap designed to remove the residue and odor of breast milk, formula and baby food is actually strong enough to remove chili or curry from the plates of two adults.

Based on our tests, Dapple really does seem to do a great cleaning job without leaving behind any of the soapy residue of other detergents.

Since babies tell no tales, I can only speculate that they would like to have their dishes, spoons and bottles washed with an all-natural, biodegradable soap such as Dapple.

Where to buy:
Pick up Dapple online at diapers.com. Moms and dads in the New York City region can also find Dapple in select retail locations.

Kitchen / Bath / Home / Pet - BioBag

I have a dirty secret. It's literally dirty because it involves my garbage.

For years, I've been using plastic bags to line the trash bins in my kitchen and bathroom.

Plastic bags! I mean, if God were doing the whole 10 plagues thing today, he'd probably find a way to include plastic bags somewhere between hail and locusts.

It's not like I was buying the plastic bags - I was just reusing the ones I brought home from the grocery store, the drugstore and other miscellaneous places. I wanted to break the habit and get a reusable tote (like this one we featured a couple of weeks ago from Timberland), but then I didn't know what to use in the trash can at home...

But now I've seen the light. (The CFL light, naturally.) I should have been using BioBags all along.

These 100% biodegradable, 100% compostable bags contain no polyethylene (chemical numero uno in the aforementioned plastic shopping bag).

Where plastic bags can take 100, 500 or even 1000 years to decompose, BioBag says that its bags break decompose in just 10 to 40 days in a municipal composting environment.

There's another big difference. From what I understand (largely from reading Alan Weisman's excellent The World Without Us), plastic bags and other plastic objects often just degrade into tiny pieces of plastic. It's not really clear how long it will take for these microscopic plastic granules to ever 'go away'.

BioBag's ingredient list, on the other hand, includes starch, vegetable oil and other renewable resources. BioBagUSA reports that its bags are certified by the Biodegradable Products Institute and that they meet new California legal standards for biodegradable and compostable plastic.

And just to make you feel even better about BioBagging it, BioBags also claim to be GMO-free and certified for use in organic agriculture. Heck, they say that even the inks and dyes on the bags are soy-based.

Thanks to Katy Layton of PetFinder.com for bringing BioBag to our attention. As Katy pointed out, BioBag makes bags perfect for picking up after your pooch or lining your cat's litter pan.

BioBag makes others specifically for kitchen trash, leaves and lawn trimmings,

Where to buy:
Many online retailers carry BioBag products. BioBags can also be found at many natural food stores nationwide and will soon be available in Petco stores nationwide.

Kitchen - STORViNO Nero wine storage system

I believe that there are two kinds of wine drinkers -- the snooty type who drink to show off their refined palate and the folks who drink because they like the taste.

The snooty kind might buy a fancy wine storage rack, but the down-to-earth types would probably dig the STORViNO Nero wine storage system.

Made in the USA of 100% post-consumer recycled plastic, the STORViNO is sleek, stylish and stackable.

STORViNO owners can also have fun telling guests that they're storing wine in racks made from former shopping carts, produce bins, retired milk crates and other materials that would formerly have ended up entombed in landfills (or turned into odd sculptures).

The STORViNO manufacturing process grinds all these carts and bins and crates into small pellets, heats them 400 degrees and molds them into wine storage cubes capable of holding six standard-sized wine bottles.

Another nice benefit of the STORViNO -- turn the cubes upright and you've got a rugged carrying system for transporting wine to parties.

According to STORViNO's media reps, less than 2% of plastic is recycled worldwide. By buying products made from recycled plastic, we create a market that encourages further plastic recycling. Remember, you're not fully recycling (even if you put paper, plastic and metal in recycling bins) unless you also buy recycled products.

Where to buy:
Pick up the STORViNO Nero wine storage system around the country at The Container Store or shop online at e-tailers like Wine Enthusiast ($19.95) and International Wine Accessories (4 or more $16.95 each).

Technology - Sony XEL-1 OLED TV

The Great Flat Screen TV debate - plasma or LCD? - just got a bit more complicated with the introduction of the first production OLED (Organic Light Emitting Diode) TV - Sony's XEL-1.

Why might you drool over the XEL-1?

• 3-millimeter thick screen.
  
• 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio (as compared to 30,000:1 maximum claimed contrast ratio for plasma displays and perhaps around 3000:1 for the best LCDs). Contrast ratios measure the difference between darkest blacks and lightest whites in an image.
• Very fast response times. Response times measure how fast a screen can refresh an image. Slow response times can sometimes result in 'ghosting' or noise. Plasma response times are supposedly better than LCD rates, but OLED is faster than either.

Why you might cringe before buying the XEL-1:

• 11-inch screen
• ~$2,500 price tag

Of course, the real reason we're featuring the XEL-1 on 1GreenProduct.com isn't because of its whiz-bang technical specs (or because we share the number "1" in our names).

We love the XEL-1 and OLED technology in general because it represents another step forward in energy efficiency for electronics displays. Since OLEDs don't require any backlighting (the Organic material in the OLED glows on its own), they use less energy than LCD screens.

According to GoodCleanTech, OLED needs just 1/4 the energy required to power LCD. (As for Plasma TVs, they're the bête noire of the thin-screen TV world, since they draw even more power than LCD screens - as explained by the HDTV Almanac.)

Of course, size matters too. Bigger screens naturally need more power than smaller ones. So in a green sense, the XEL-1's small size is beautiful.

Don't want to squint at a petite screen? Stay tuned. Word is that a Toshiba-Matsushita joint venture will come out with a 20+ inch OLED TV in 2009.

Oh and in mid-April, Sony showed another 11-inch OLED TV 10-times thinner than the XEL-1. Technology marches onward...

Where to buy:
Purchase the XEL-1 direct from Sony Style or at select retailers including Abt and J&R.

Kitchen / Lamps - Kichler Design Pro LED Lighting

In New York City, kitchen windows are a rare luxury.

My current kitchen has no windows - just one overhead light fixture (where I use CFL bulbs, naturally). Most of the time, this lighting is just fine, but there are occasions when I'm chopping vegetables for dinner when I feel like I should be holding a flashlight in my teeth to make sure that I don't chop off any body parts along with the onions.

It's times like these when I think that under cabinet lights would come in handy. If I did have under-cabinet lights, I would want them to have the attributes of Kichler's new Design Pro series introduced earlier this year.

The LED lights in the Design Pro series provide more than 40,000 hours of illumination (20+ years of typical usage) while using as little as 4-watts of energy.

And if you're worried that LED lighting will give your food a blue hue and make you lose your appetite, Kichler says not to fret. The Design Pro series uses LED chips that emit a softer, whiter light than past generations of LED technology.

Kichler claims that the Design Pro series has the smallest profile in the industry (just a half-inch), making it easy to hide the lights under any cabinet. Fixtures snap together to enable seamless lighting under multiple cabinets.

Of course, energy efficiency is one of the main reasons to go with LED lights. Each six inches of Design Pro lighting use just four watts of electricity. (Kichler Design Pro lights come in 6, 12 and 18-inch lengths that use 4, 8 and 12-watts of electricity respectively.)

LED lights may not quite as efficient as having a window in your kitchen, but here in Brooklyn, they're probably about as good as it gets.

Where to buy:
Use Kichler's website to find a dealer near you.

Outdoor - Sunlawn Push Reel Mower

Even though I've lived in urban apartments for nearly half my life, I don't hate suburbia.

In fact, unlike some urban snobs, I have fond memories of my suburban youth.

Sure, I wish there could have been a few more sidewalks and bike paths, but I loved having a grassy backyard for youthful frolicking.

What I didn't love much was the lawn mowing aspect of having a yard - especially when I got to be old enough to do the mowing. The heat, the fumes, the danger from the fast-spinning blade and the hard-to-control self-propelled monster soon had me swearing at the turf.

To be honest, I don't remember worrying much at the time about the pollution our gas-powered lawn mower generated, but now I know that gas-powered lawn mowers are a major source of pollution.

In fact, it's even worse than I thought. In 2006, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) asserted that "the average lawn mower emits as much smog-forming pollution as eight new cars traveling at 55 miles per hour."

UCS went on to give tips on making your gas mower run a bit cleaner and more efficiently or switching to an electric mower, but they noted that "you can eliminate pollution entirely by using old-fashioned manual tools such as push mowers..." (my emphasis)

Eliminate lawn mowing pollution entirely. Now that sounds eco-fantastic! And it's in that spirit that we feature today's Green product - the Sunlawn Push Reel Mower.

There's nothing old-fashioned about this push mower - except perhaps the idea of buying something that's made to last. Sunlawn says that the flame-hardened blade won't need sharpening for 8-10 years and provides a 2-year manufacturer's warranty to back up the overall quality of its products.

You just look at a mower like the LMM40 and think how its efficient design stands out. Sunlawn has stripped down the weight to less than 20 lbs, while still equipping the LMM40's with a five-blade cutting system that mows down a 16-inch swath at an adjustable cutting height of 0.4 to 2.2 inches.

Remember, there's no gasoline to buy, no pollution, not even the extra drag on your energy bill from an electric mower.

With a push mower, you can even mow your lawn at night or at the crack of dawn. No engine means no noise. (Sunlawn describes the Push Reel Mowers as 'whisper-quiet'.)

It all sounds great, but how does it work in practice? Unfortunately, we didn't have an opportunity to test the Sunlawn Push Reel LMM40 mower, but reviews on Amazon.com seem generally quite favorable.

The only way to find out if a push reel mower is right for you might be to give one a try - quietly.

Hey just think, if everyone on your block switched to a push reel mower, you'd finally be able to enjoy those long afternoon naps in the hammock. You lucky dog!

Where to buy:
You can purchase the Sunlawn Push Reel LMM40 mower (MSRP $179) directly through Sunlawn's website or at Amazon.com.

Offline, look for the LMM40 at True Value, Ace Hardware and other lawn and garden retailers.

Outdoor - Thomasville Nature's Retreat

The last thing you want to worry about when sitting at your seven-piece outdoor dining set is whether the wood used to build the furniture came from a clear-cut wasteland or from a responsibly and sustainably-managed forest.

You can rest easy sitting around Thomasville® Nature's Retreat dining set, built from FSC-certified Eucalyptus and all-weather wicker. Logging companies that want their wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) must respect the rights of indigenous peoples, preserve biological diversity, protect fragile ecosystems, monitor the health of the forest and use plantations to promote the restoration and conservation of natural forests. That's just the tip of the iceberg really. You can to go the FSC's website to read all about the 10 principles and 57 (!) criteria needed to get FSC-certification.

(Note that the FSC itself has come under criticism by some environmental groups as being too friendly with logging interests. The FSC responds by arguing the demand for timber makes logging inevitable and that the best solution is to use market forces to try to prevent deforestation by finding common group among business, social and environmental interests. It's a nuanced and complicated issue, but you can read an excellent analysis at environmental conservation and news site Mongabay.com.)

As for Eucalyptus, since they are fast-growing trees, they make a good renewable resource. The Greenfeet website has a nice summary of why Eucalyptus furniture is an eco-friendly choice. Since Eucalyptus is an extremely durable wood, Greenfeet says that Eucalyptus furniture can look beautiful for 50 years or more with proper maintenance. Of course it's better for the planet to buy one piece of furniture that lasts 50 years rather than 10 sets of furniture that last only five years each.

Where to buy:
You can find both Thomasville Nature's Retreat Dining Set at The Home Depot. Order online for $899 (with free shipping!) or pick up at your closest store.

Home - Dirt Devil AccuCharge

Dirt Devil® vacuum cleaners have a pretty wicked name, but from a green perspective, the newest Dirt Devils could be called "dirt angels".

A few months ago, TTI Floor Care North America announced that its newest Dirt Devil vacuums would be the first ENERGY STAR® approved cordless vacuums.

What makes these vacuums deliver a green cleaning experience? Basically Dirt Devil has dramatically improved the battery technology on these machines, letting them charge twice as fast as traditional cordless products and hold a charge longer. As a result of this new AccuCharge battery, TTI Floor Care says the new Dirt Devils use 70 percent less energy than a typical cordless vac.

How does the new charging technology work? Here's the 411 from Doug Sandler, TTI Floor Care's director of product development:

"The AccuCharge battery features a charging adapter that more efficiently coverts AC power to the DC batteries. Its special circuitry constantly monitors the battery charge until the maximum voltage is reached so no power is wasted. When the battery is fully charged, the power is reduced to a trickle mode to maintain the vacuum's charge and readiness."

Thanks for that explanation, Doug.

Personally though, I wonder if the vacuum could actually be unplugged between charges? Appliances can often draw energy even when they're not being used. See this study at UC Berkeley that found energy 'leaking' to unused appliances can account for up to 26% of a home's energy usage. For example, I rarely plug in my cell phone, since it can hold a charge for something like 15 days.

In any case, it's still exciting to hear about a Dirt Devil that uses less energy, charges faster and holds its charge longer? Now that's a handsome devil.

Where to buy:
Purchase online direct through the Dirt Devil Direct Store or from e-tailers like Amazon.com.
Find the new AccuCharge Dirt Devils at nationwide retailers including Home Depot and Best Buy.

Technology - BookSwim Online Book Rentals

For years now, I have been trying to clean out the bedroom in my parents' house. I've managed to give away, throw away or recycle most of the clothing, knick-knacks and junk, but two large bookcases remain.

For biblophiles, books are hard to discard.

Maybe that's OK. Maybe even green minimalists should have libraries.

But on the other hand, we know that the production of any object, including a book, involves pollution and waste. Trees are (often) cut down. Paper is (often) bleached. Electricity is used to print and bind and distribute and sell.

And yet many books are read once or twice and then sit dusty for years until someone carts them off to a local library (where they're probably pulped anyway since libraries have run out of space).

Wouldn't it be better to have a shared-use model in the mode of Netflix?

You may not think of Netflix as a green company, but think of it this way. Let's say that 100 people around America decide that they would like to watch The A-Team - Season 1 (just because it's an awesome 80's TV show) sometime in the next six months.

Without Netflix, these folks (many of them living in suburbia) either have to drive back and forth to the rental store or go out and buy the DVD. Let's say that 2/3 of them only want to relive these A-Team memories once. After that, the DVD will languish unwatched and essentially useless.

But instead of 100 people buying 100 DVDs or making 200 trips to the rental store (once to pick up the DVD, once to return it), Netflix shares perhaps half a dozen of these DVDs among the whole pool of interested viewers. No one has to make a special car trip because the DVDs come with the regular mail. And far less energy goes into making a few DVDs that are widely shared.

This same shared-use model - people only paying to use something as needed - has cropped up recently in car-share and bike-share models like Zipcar and Velib.

So why not extend the idea to books? That's the idea behind BookSwim - a book rental service that seems to work just the same as Netflix. You pay a set fee per month (starting at $14.99, ranging up to $34.99) to rent anywhere from 2 to 11 books at a time.

There are no late fees. You can keep books as long as you want, though obviously you'll get better value for your money if you're a fast reader. When you finish a couple of books, put them in the postage-paid envelope that BookSwim includes with each shipment and send the books back to the warehouse. Once your books are received, BookSwim will send out the next books you've stored in your 'Pool' (i.e. your list of requested books).

BookSwim's database includes more than 200,000 paperback and hardcover titles. And if you request something that's not in stock, they'll go out and try to buy it for you.

Frankly, it seems like a great system, especially if you usually purchase a lot of books per month.

It seems to me there are only two drawbacks:

1) Public libraries offer the same shared-use service for books and most of them do it for free. But libraries don't deliver. If you have to make a special trip or you live far away from the local library - or if you don't own a car and have to lug books home on foot or by bike, you might not mind paying $15 or $20 per month to get a steady supply of books delivered to your mailbox.

2) The other drawback is that books don't stay pristine very long. Two of the three books I received from BookSwim in my test order seemed a little ragged. People don't generally care what a DVD looks like as long as it will play OK, but many of us want our books to look at least somewhat clean and presentable. In a library, you can make an on-the-spot judgment as to whether a book looks nice enough to take home, but with BookSwim, your choices arrive sight unseen. It may be a little expensive, but I think BookSwim will have to discard books that start looking shabby and buy replacement copies.

Oh and by the way, if you fall in love with any of the books that BookSwim sends you, you can always decide to keep the book and pay a discounted retail price.

Where to buy:
Sign up online at BookSwim's website.

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