Free to be Green
These days, products that add style to every room of the house while reducing your eco-footprint are everywhere. Take a peak.
Welcome to 2007, where living green is no longer a lesson in deprivation. Eco-friendly designers and manufacturers have developed ideas and products that make it a little easier to be green. We’ve filtered through the options – from the simple to the extreme – to offer you some suggestions for making your house eco-wise and healthy, from top to bottom.
In the Kitchen
Replacing existing countertops and flooring with green options, such as bamboo and cork, is a serious investment. Tossing your old cutting board and buying a bamboo one is a budget-friendly option, so buy two. Keep one for cutting meats, the other for veggies. Naturally antimicrobial bamboo is less absorbent than other materials, so they'll be less prone to bacteria. And because bamboo is a renewable resource, there’s no guilt in the excess purchase.
If you are up to your elbows in rehab, consider using recycled glass tiles for your backsplash.
In the Dining Room
Open the curtains. Wherever possible, use natural light to illuminate your meals, which is more flattering and costs nothing. When that’s not an option, try switching your regular light bulbs for compact fluorescent light bulbs. According to the Energy Star Web site, if every American home replaced just one light bulb with an Energy Star-rated bulb, it would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions from nearly 800,000 cars. These bulbs may be more expensive out of the box, but they last significantly longer, so they may cost less in the long run.
In the Living Room
Seek out one of Bird-Electron’s portable speakers made from all-natural bamboo. The best part? In addition to being much more attractive than most high-tech goods, the Japanese beauties use the natural resonance of bamboo instead of electricity. That’s right, no wires. Just plug in an MP3 player or other audio device and get eco-friendly, electricity-free sound.
In the Bathroom
If you’re able to do some rehab, consider recycled copper sinks, such as those from Native Trails, San Luis Obispo, Calif. Made from recycled copper pipes and wires, they’re eco-friendly from the start. But because of the nature of copper – like bamboo, it has antibacterial properties – you don’t need toxic household cleaners to clean it, so you’ll have more motivation to banish chemicals in exchange for natural alternatives, such as vinegar and baking soda.
In the Bedroom
Cover the walls with a new coat of low-VOC paint. Because they’re less full of volatile organic compounds, these paints release fewer toxins into the air than regular paint. This means they’re better for the ozone, and you’ll be less likely to get a headache when putting on a new coat of satin latex. Low-VOC paints are available from Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, Anna Sova and AFM Safecoat.
To keep the room warm and cozy in the winter, replace the windows in the house with high-efficiency, double-paned glass. If you don’t have the cash for the overhaul, green guru Danny Seo, author of “Conscious Style Home: Eco-Friendly Living for the 21st Century” (St. Martin's Press, 2001), recommends trying low-tech draft dodgers. Filled fleece fabric tubes stop drafty windows and doors from cooling a room.
Companies like Hunter Douglas, Upper Saddle River, N.J., now offer window coverings designed to reduce the amount of heat that escapes from your windows during the winter and keep heat from entering in the summer. In addition to trapping air and providing UV protection, many are made with natural fabrics and woods, so they are green in more than one way.
In the Family Room
A soapstone fireplace helps keep the room warm but doesn’t require harsh chemicals in order to keep it looking good. Those made by Finland-based Tulikivi are considered among the most efficient, environmentally friendly wood-burning fireplaces because they provide up to 24 hours of radiant heat after the fire is out.
In the Hallway
Nothing clears out stale or toxic air like a few happy houseplants. Author B.C. Wolverton, who penned “How to Grow Fresh Air: 50 Houseplants that Purify Your Home or Office” (Penguin, 1997), recommends Boston fern, English ivy and Peace lily, among others, as assistants in cleaning the air in your home.
In the Home Office
Eliminate some clutter by finally tossing those old cell phones, computer screens and other electronic toys you don’t use. Delete any and all personal information that may still be stored inside the memory and then take the goods to an electronics-recycling site. Most municipalities have electronics recycling events, as do many national office-supply stores.
Once all that clutter is gone, consider bringing in some bookshelves made from recycled or salvaged wood, such as those by San Francisco-based Woodshanti, which are made from salvaged forest-fire trees.
In the Laundry Room
Those with big budgets who want to cut back on hot-water usage might be interested in the Samsung SilverCare washer, a front-loading gem that injects antimicrobial silver ions to sanitize clothes rather than hot water.
Those with smaller budgets can scale back on energy usage by line-drying those clean duds rather than tossing them in the dryer. Try a drying rack that mounts to the wall for space-saving convenience. Then, you can line dry indoors, regardless of weather.
In the Attic
Insulating your attic or crawlspace is one of the most important things you can do to save energy in your home. But you don't need to use traditional, potentially toxin-emitting fiberglass insulation. New alternatives include recycled denim or other cotton batting, as well as cellulose, which is made from recycled newspaper, cardboard and paperboard.
In the Garden
Using sprinklers on your lawn is like throwing potato chips up in the air before catching them in a bowl – it’s not the most efficient way to get the job done. You can reduce your water usage by as much as 60 percent if you opt for an irrigation system over traditional sprinklers. Try watering flowers, shrubbery and other gardens with a soaker hose or Rain Bird’s The Gardener’s Drip Kit, which sells for around $50 nationwide.
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