image by dominicspics

Our recent poll showed that while most people have already started implementing green technology like CFL and LED bulbs very few have been able to start using Solar Power systems. The main reasons people avoid installing a solar panel system seem to be;

1/ Solar Panels are Ugly! (To Some People)

Many communities will probably frown on people installing large solar arrays on their rooftops and buyers seem hesitant to change their roof line with large solar panels. This should be cured as Solar technology advances and we see more systems that blend in with the shingles of a traditional roof.

2/ Solar Power is Complicated

Solar power systems require a certain level of home wiring updates with additional power panels and circuit breakers as well as the complex inverter technology. Most people are scared away by the challenges involved in installing a solar panel system. A large number of companies are starting to thrive as dedicated solar power system installers and if you search for local solar power installers you will be surprised how many there are across America.

3/ Solar Panels are Expensive

This is true, solar systems are expensive, but the price of solar panels is slowly reducing due in part to the mass production of solar panels in both America and Europe. Many European countries granted allowances for residents to install solar systems which prompted many new companies to start manufacturing solar panels and also meant that existing solar panel manufacturers increased production. Some of the countries which previously subsidized solar installs have since withdrawn these offers and so the price of solar panels has dropped considerably.

So is there an inexpensive way to start using solar power for the average Joe? Many people have started using semi-portable 15W solar panels to charge higher power items by trickle charge. These solar units are already very affordable and have fallen into the gift price range of $100 – $200.

by docentjoyce

Many manufacturers such as “SunForce” are selling their products on Amazon, we found this example below retailing for around $108. This will definitely be on my Christmas gift list, and who knows, maybe my next blog posts will be written on a laptop powered by green solar power!

SunForce – 15-watt Solar Charger with 7-amp Charge Controller

We found an amazing site “GoGreenSolar” and they have a really cool selection of solar and wind power accessories for every home, checkout their latest products below;

Did you know that nearly 1 trillion plastic bags are used every year and that an average family throws away approx. 1,500 plastic trash bags per year!

We wrote about a month ago about the developing trend for high street stores to start carrying bio-degradable trash bags. The closest store that our family could find was a local Sprouts grocery store but all that changed last weekend on a visit to our local CVS pharmacy! There are numerous CVS pharmacies in our local area so we are never too far away from being able to stop in to get supplies and on this particular weekend I was simply calling in to buy some allergy medicine. The pharmacist told me that my prescription would take about ten minutes to fill so I started browsing around the store…

Walking around the store I noticed an entire section dedicated to “green” products including recycled bathroom tissue, recycled kitchen paper and Bio-degradable trash bags. The CVS biobags are made by Perf and are actually the same as the ones I bought at the Sprouts store, except now I only have to drive less than a mile to purchase them.

The packaging is made from 100% recycled paperboard and each bag is made from 70% recycled material.

The CVS bio-degradable rubbish sacks conform to the ASTM D6954 standard. This ASTM D6954 plastic standard test method includes information for exposing and testing plastics that degrade in the environment by a combination of oxidation and biodegradation.

You can get into the “nitty-gritty” of how this test proves Biodegradability of the plastics here;

http://www.astm.org/Standards/D6954.htm

The CVS and Perf philosophy is captured by their catchy slogan “Green should last forever. Plastic shouldn’t.” We couldn’t agree more and we take our hats off to CVS and to Perf for ensuring that every American household has the chance to switch to using bio-degradable trash bags right now.

We took a quick look at CVS.com to see if these new biobags are available online but as of today, they are not, however most people should be able to easily find a local CVS store and purchase some them. The trash bags are 13 Gallon (49 liter) 0.85 Mil bags which we find fit perfectly into both our trash and recycle bins, they are plenty strong enough for a full load of recyclable material or just household waste and you can rest easy knowing that they will degrade into nothing within about a year as opposed to several hundred years for standard plastic trash bags.

We would like to wish a Happy Earthday 2009 to everyone who visits and reads our daily blog. Let us know what you did this Earthday by leaving a comment, we always like to hear how people celebrate this unique event. P.S. Let’s make everyday Earthday!

by woodleywonderworks

My wife and I do a lot of recycling and had long struggled with sorting our recyclables from the other household waste. We finally settled on a clever home recycle bin storage solution which quickly allows us to throw away our regular waste and to sort our recyclables all in one hidden unit. The Rev-A-Shelf storage solution allows two trash cans to be stored in a standard under counter cupboard.

 1. Choose a convenient cupboard

2. Install the guide rails

3. Drop in the tall kitchen trash cans

The installation is simple, you just need a screw driver (an electric drill is recommended). Simply pick a cupboard close to where you do the majority of your cooking and preparation. Clean out the cupboard and screw in the guide rails which the final rack will slide on. Fit the trash can rack in place and install the two tall trash cans.

We bought ours from our local Lowes store and the complete unit retailed for about $59.00.

We use the rear trash can for all our recyclables and the front trash can for other waste. Having two separate trash cans allows easy sorting right in the kitchen and the best aspect of all, the trash cans are completely hidden when the cupboard is closed!

Find out more at the Rev-A-Shelf website;

http://www.rev-a-shelf.com/

I was thinking about the impact of green news blogs and wondered how many of our readers had tried some of the green ideas and products we feature. Take our poll today to give us your feedback and show how many green improvements you’ve made…

Do you wish there was a greener way to take a shower? Everyone has heard of the new low flow showerheads which simply use a flow regulating device to provide a metered flow but have you heard of a showerhead which literally tells you when the water is hot enough for you to shower? Well that’s exactly what the “Evolve” range of eco showerheads does, the smart technology within the showerhead senses the water temperature and then limits the flow to a trickle once the optimum temp is reached until you get into the shower.

The showerhead automatically lowers the water flow down to a trickle once the water reaches the perfect bathing temperature!

The showerhead that we chose was a simple 1.5 gpm rated flow with a full body spray nozzle, we found it at our local CostCo store and it cost about $35.00 which is very reasonable for a showerhead. Evolve have calculated that the water saving technology would save the average American household up to 8,212 gallons of water per year, that’s a significant eco saving and it means you could be saving around $246 per year as well.

Installation was simple, I removed the old showerhead with a strap wrench, replaced the plumbers tape with the white plumbers tape contained in the package and then hand tightened the new Eco showerhead into place.

Switching on the shower I noticed that although the flow is limited to 1.5 gpm the showerhead still produced a great water pressure and it did not feel like a lower flow than before at all. The showerhead even contains easy clean non-clogging shower nozzles which can be quickly kept clean by rubbing your hand over the showerhead with the water running.

We installed the showerhead in our guest bathroom but we are strongly considering switching our rain showerhead in the master bathroom to an Evolve green shower as well.

You can view the results for yourself in our video below;

You can view the full range of showerheads at the Evolve website;

http://evolveshowerheads.com/index.html

Do you wish you could find some of the new LED lighting technology at your local stores? Well we finally found some near our home in Ft Worth, Texas…

On a recent visit to our local CostCo we found LED flood lights available and it was a pleasant surprise to see affordable LED lighting being distributed by a large chain. Maybe we will soon be seeing these super energy efficient bulbs in the local hardware stores as well.

These LED flood lights are made by Lights of America and they contain about 70 individual LEDs to provide a bright white light.

My first observation is that the packaging does not provide much damage protection and I wonder how many of the bulbs get damaged during transport? The second comment is that the packaging seems overly wasteful, the 4 inch bulb is held in a 10 inch by 16 inch cardboard package.

With the above being said we were still excited to try this new LED flood light in our home.

The bulb cost approx $11 and at hopefully if more retailers start to stock LED lights then this price will drop. We installed an incandescent bulb just to get a baseline brightness photograph and a 65W incandescent produced the following brightness;

A 65W incandescent produces a very bright and warm flood light but is very inefficient and our home does not contain any incandescents now but for the sake of a comparison we installed this bulb to show the results.

Now lets take a look at the LED flood light;

The LED flood light is clearly less bright but it only uses 3.5 W, that’s right, just three and a half Watts!

The light was definitely still bright and it highlighted our fireplace and the surrounding area sufficiently but it was also a very cold white light, we might try painting the bulb lens with some stained glass paint just to give the bulb a warmer color. Since the LEDs produce very little heat painting the bulb lens might actually work, in fact we could create any color we want!

We are going to buy more of these LED lights and install them strategically throughout our home, we already have all of our canned lights using 15 Watt CFLs but we can definitely still reduce our energy consumption further if we move to the 3.5 W LED floods, the only question is, can we afford them at $11 per bulb? The Lights of America company claim a 30,000 hr life so any bulbs that we buy will last a long time.