LED lightbulbs will be greener, but right now they're pricey - while CFLs are usually less than $2 each. And it's a field of constant innovation.
Between $15 and $50 per bulb over 5 years.

Red-hot innovation. Remember burning holes in paper with a magnifying glass? These appliances focus the sun's rays onto your food and cook it as thoroughly as a traditional oven - without using a spark of electricity. So simple you can even make them yourself.
These replace the standard convection ovens which use around $0.10 of electricity an hour - and then there's gas.

There are mineral-salt-powered equivalents to washing powder, like the Ecoballs "flying saucers". And yes, they work.
$200-$400 per 1000 washes.

Over half of American homes don't have them: that's a lot of homes being heated when they don't need to be. Install one today (say, a Ventstar Flat Stat) and watch your heating bills plummet.
Calculate your exact saving here (Microsoft Excel spreadsheet).

They're wasteful and polluting - and avoidable. Use one of the newer brand of push reel mower - or, if you have some money to invest, solar-convert!
With a gas-powered lawnmower, an hour's grass-cutting is around 100 miles in your car.

You use the most fuel at low speeds and when you start your car. So short trips really aren't worth it - cycle or walk instead. Give yourself longer to shop (you can cut down on gym time to balance things) - and carry less by shopping more often. 
With rising fuel prices, you can expect any fuel economy savings to grow and grow.

Make sure everyone's in before turning the key. And waiting for someone for more than 60 seconds? Kill the engine. You're more likely to consume more fuel idling than restarting.
It's been estimated that idling Burger King customers waste 16 million gallons of gas a year.

Prepacked sandwiches: all that plastic, and how much money? So make your own: it's vastly cheaper and more fun (you get to choose the fillings).
Personal estimate: Making my own - $15 /wk. Shop-bought - $30-50/wk.

Tumble-drying needs huge amounts of energy (see below). So go for a combination of an eco-friendly spin dryer for when it's raining, and washing lines (standard or fancy) for when the sun's shining.
Tumble dryers use around 2.5 kwH of electricity per hour. Compared with the rest of your appliances, that's huge. Dry naturally, and you'll save $100s a year. Oh, and millions of tons of CO2.

If your room's a bit gloomy, don't just reach for the lightswitch. Think about how to get more daylight into your room - whether simply by moving furniture around, or guiding the light in with sunpipes or mirrors.
Banishing the lights for the night will have a significant impact on your electricity bill. Even turning them on an hour later than before will make a difference.

Catch rainwater in water butts or more sophisticated arrangements, and you have a ready supply of water for anything except drinking (you'd need fairly expensive filtration to make it safe).
Up to half your water bill.

We want to see the return of Victory Gardens, using every neglected square inch of everyone's back yard to grow vegetables. Food miles turn into food inches, and the results taste better than you could have imagined if you're been eating the mass-produced variety. Also, buy locally produced food - it's just other people's Victory Gardens!
Huge savings on grocery bills.

There's a great deal of concern about energy being invisibly wasted, particularly with modern devices that have a "standby" setting. So when you've finished with the electronic marvel of your choice - unplug it.
Anything from $50 a year upwards per household is spent on keeping those little red LEDs glowing.

It's cutting-edge, so it's certainly not cheap - but ground source heat pumps are the next big thing in eco-friendly house design. They run some of your water supply through the ground where it picks up natural geothermal energy. Result: toasty-hot water for free!
Your central heating bill will evaporate.

If you can find an alternative to using your electric A/C unit, use it - but remember that it's much less eco-hostile to cool the house down than it is to heat it up. So when the house gets cold, think layers layers layers.
See it as a challenge - to make your Winter electricity bill lower than the summer one!

As Allison noted a while back, 90% of the energy used to wash clothes goes into heating the water. Wash on a cooler setting, and you save energy...
...and that saves you money on your bill. Couldn't be easier.

Meat is the most expensive item on the average food bill. It's therefore ironic that we eat too much of it - and no, I'm not vegetarian (although that's an excellent argument against meat as well). Meat is a delicacy, not a staple - so don't be afraid of having a few no-meat days during the week.
500g T-bone steak - $20. Just sayin'.

If you're the average American, you buy four bags of groceries, and you throw one of them straight in the trash. No, really. So learn to make the most of the food you buy: soups, stews, freezing, composting, you name it.
One quarter (or more specifically, 27%) of your food bill, right there.

With technology, everyone loves shiny and new things - particularly us men (a genetic flaw, perhaps). But if there's a second-hand, perfectly functioning alternative, we should go with it. So become a retrophiliac, and always try to buy last year's technology, first- or second-hand.
Regarding full retail price, look at what happened with the iPhone.

There's no cutting corners on quality clothing - except when a professional tailor is doing it for you. If you want to look fabulous on a budget, trawl your city's second-hand options and find items that are near your size - then have them adjusted.
A guy's perspective: in this manner I saved $200 on a suit last year.

The Information Revolution has changed the way we work. Telecommuting is a much cheaper option to spending 3 hours in traffic. Videoconferencing beats the real thing in bucks. So find ways to avoid those costly long hauls to and from work. (Even if the company's paying!).
Or are you saying that your own time isn't valuable to you?

Always support your local traders - they're where you'll most likely to get the best-quality goods. But when it comes to the harder-to-get items...shop online. You save on packaging and (depending on the items) you save on gas, because it's delivered to your door by someone who was on the road anyway.
And yes, shopping online is almost always cheaper - if not quite as tactile and fun!

It prevents urban tumbleweed. It's stylish. And it's tougher than those flimsy supermarket  bags...
...which you're increasingly being asked to pay for (by companies that lack the nerve to ban them altogether).

Household cleaners are expensive. So don't buy them. Go for the natural, non-polluting options that are just as effective, available everywhere and cost next to nothing.
Miracle cleaners miraculously wipe out your budget. Lemons, on the other hand, are cheap.


In the bad old days, you paid extra for an eco-conscious lifestyle. Now, eco-friendliness is the norm - and in more and more cases, not choosing green is the way to overspend.
Choose green, save money, help the planet. There is no catch.

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The less optimistic among us love to point out that “green” is a trend, and, like all trends, that it will fade with time. I proudly say that I’m not green because it’s trendy, but because it’s who I am. I strive for beauty and balance in my life, and that means respecting the people, plants and animals around me. I’ve raised my standards and have come to expect a world where everybody cares about the consequences of their actions.

More than just an accumulation of ecologically-sound actions, being green has to be who you are. It’s an intuitive thing; it means taking into account your neighbors, the trees in your yard, the birds nesting in that tree, and the bugs that sustain those birds. It means being aware of the big web that holds this world together, and then letting your actions come from that awareness. Everything is interconnected.

Respect, self-awareness and future-thinking are at the heart of being green. Nobody can do it all, but all of us can do our best. I don't think green is a trend; I think we're all finally waking up to ask the important question: how will my actions affect the seventh generation?

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My treasured, vintage wooden picnic basket will be packed with a  conscience on Friday as my family heads to our annual Fourth of July celebration in downtown Sonoma. Instead of the ubiquitous plastic ware and paper plates that end up in landfills, we're opting for reusable picnic ware and some great vegan recipes, including a refreshing Island Chiller cocktail. 

Looking to make your spread more sustainable?

Well friends, when it comes to a picnic, I always share. Here's a blueprint for the red, white and greening of your 4th!

The Set-Up

If you're headed to the park or the beach, cotton blankets or patchwork quilts make for ideal intimate seating if you can't score a picnic table or don't own folding chairs. Check out the cute cotton throw at Orvis ($69). I personally loathe the vinyl spectator chairs with drink holders used by those professional picnic people (the same folks who when floating on canoes never crash into the trees). If you're gathering in your backyard, then you don't have to worry about seating. Instead, focus on a reusable tablecloth that you can style with red flowers from your local farmers' market.

The Picnic Ware

Avoid paper and plastic and opt for reusable bamboo bowls and either biodegradable or compostable utensils and containers, both available at Branch. I use retro green trays with compartments from Restoration Hardware that are easy to perch on your lap. It's also a good idea to go with cloth napkins, despite the allure of the patriotic patterns on disposable napkins lining the aisles of supermarket shelves. If you don't own cloth ones you like, try the fetching garden snail motif napkins ($26) at Ortolon.

The Vittles

Have you ever tried a vegan stars and stripes American flag pie? It's the sparkler on the great vegan Fourth of July barbecue menu  suggested by Vegan Paradise. The offerings include marinated tofu fingers and grilled tempeh steaks instead of fatty meats which are bad for the air. The fatty drippings release carcinogenic hydrocarbons that can spoil our fun. Shew, you yucky toxins! I also love the grilled veggies and corn and the Island Chiller cocktail made with mango, tofu and coconut milk. There's even a recipe for nutty chocolate bananas. Crazy!

Non vegans will find great gourmet picnic recipe tips at Fine Living including Caprese Bites ( a portable Italian salad on skewers), pesto chicken wraps, New Jersey Potato Salad and Lemon Bars. Have a look.

The Grape

For grazers content with a simple wine and cheese affair, you can have a delightful picnic overnighted to you from Diamond  Organics that includes red wine from an organic coastal vineyard, cheese from free range cattle raised with an ocean view, a fresh baguette baked in Santa Cruz and colorful organic fruit ($99). For a little extra, you can add wild smoked salmon and an organic bouquet. 

The Entertainment

Follow all of this by sneaking in a good post-parade eco nap (very good for my environment) so that you're rested and ready to sit under the stars for a fireworks display (not too much in the green department, there). Don't forget the good green bug juice, like Greenhead Insect Repellent at Stop Biting Me.

Happy birthday, America.

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Did I bring too much?

Lately, I’ve come across a lot of hype about packing lighter. Our fellow eco-friendly sites and publications have accepted the stance that less of a load is somehow better for the environment and are touting the idea in all of their tips and guides to a greener existence.

Good-natured and well-intended, this lightbulb-gone-off advice is driving me crazy. The airlines are laying it on thick in the way of hefty baggage fees, and our sister green authorities have fallen hook, line, and sinker (less luggage = less fuel = less emissions). Are the airlines at all concerned about the environment or are recently established fees just a way to compensate for the higher cost of fuel?

Sure, packing lighter may seem like a green idea in theory, but as any fashionista knows, this spartan plan will inevitably backfire. The less we bring, the more we’ll buy while away, leading to greater purchase of new goods. It’s a bit of a fashion catch-22 and the airlines certainly are capitalizing on it. If you're not a dyed-in-the-cashmere fashionista, packing light and avoiding the purchase of new goods may be a snap. (But then, I think there's a little fashionista inside you dying to get out...why are you at EcoSalon?)

So, rather than pack so lightly you're bound to buy more (admit it, you know you'll be tempted) just pack a little smarter. Here are my 5 top tips to pack smart - and avoid the temptation to splurge:

Create a master packing list—a personal blueprint, some might say—including essentials for any and all trips.

Choose a base color (the most obvious is black) so that you'll easily be able to mix and match.

If possible, opt for lighter-weight clothing. Fabrics like denim are heavy and bulky when you're tight on space. Quick-drying materials are also key.

Roll instead of fold. You'll encounter fewer wrinkles and will find that you can squeeze a lot more into one bag/suitcase.

Use accessories to diversify outfits. You may be wearing the same basics, but if you choose a belt one day and long necklace on another, you have successfully created two different looks.

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We accept that, by nature, politics is a slow business. We accept that major environmental initiatives take time to set up. (We'd rather they got it right). However, this is unacceptable.

But it's all change in politics at the moment. Whoever the next president of the United States is, he's faced with the challenges and opportunities arising from the changing world climate. First, he needs to be truly aware of them. The problem (as Ann Pettifor outlined for the BBC last month) is the lack of a single worldwide pressure group.

Here's one that's gathering momentum - 1Sky, created in 2007 and starting to make its mark on key Congressional districts. It's drumming up support in local councils (which understand the power of carrots) and local businesses, it's green-positive, and it wears its goals on its sleeve. Impressive stuff.

Let's hope Congress listens. Because in the debate on climate change, the last thing this planet needs right now...is more hot air.

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There's a vicious cycle underway, and we need to break out of it for the sake of some close relatives.

You'll have noticed fuel prices rising recently. Here's the reason. And now palm oil production has escalated (in that capitalism-out-of-control way that we're so familiar with in the West), and it's causing grievous ecological damage. As Grist reports, the habitat of the orangutan is being razed in a shocking programme of wholesale deforestation.

Greenpeace is on the case and lobbying the Bali government, amongst others. But in the meantime, the Rainforest Action Network are lobbying us.  The Problem with Palm Oil is a new site that takes a long, hard look at the products on our shelves in the search for unnecessary palm oil (personally, I think it's driveways that deserve the scrutiny) - and they want to make clear that the majority of agrofuels, as they are being produced in the world today, are not eco-friendly. (Saying otherwise is greenwashing of the highest order).

Is this the way to tackle the crisis? Have a read and let us know your thoughts.

Image: ianmichaelthomas

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We all know Method as one of the originators of eco-friendly cool. The masterminds behind this company turned the consumer packaged goods industry on its head when they came up with the idea to develop a line of cleaning products that were both green and stylish enough to openly display in the home. I’m guessing most of us have at least one Method cleaning product we swear by, but I’m not sure how many of us are aware of their body line. I’ve been using the lotion and shaving cream for a while now, so I was excited when I read that the team was giving their body line a little makeover.

The current collection offers moisturizing body wash, a body bar, and hand wash and introduces updated packaging (made from recyclable #2 HDPE plastic) featuring a sophisticated, quilted pattern. Fresh new scents include olive leaf, almond flower, and white tea.  Like other Method products, this line is made almost entirely of natural ingredients. Their body care contains no parabens, triclosan, or other dangerous additives and are never tested on animals. After giving the collection a test drive, we found that the body wash is particularly notable - rich and luxurious with a wonderful lather, leaving the skin nice and moisturized. Go on, lather up!

The line is available nationwide at Target stores.

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Sometimes it's easy to choose the greenest way forward. This is one of those other times. Artificial grass: once a novelty affordable only by the wealthiest sports-grounds, it's now set to conquer the domestic markets as a green product. But which grass is greener - the real thing or the Brady Bunch stuff?

Near-Zero Maintenance. Save reservoirs of water (can't get greener than that), doesn't get churned up into ugly bald patches, and has a longer "life" than grass. It doesn't matter how eco-friendly your mower is - ditch it.
Gets rid of unwanted plastics. You're standing on recycled tires. (And no, if it catches fire it won't burn for a decade).
Hygiene-Friendly. SynLawn recently released a version that's porous and anti-bacteriological - music to the ears of pet-owners. Extra chemicals? An estimated 70 million pounds of pesticides and fertilizer dousing U.S. lawns every year? Not on this.
Is that a gasoline-powered mower I see in your garage? Oh dear - and you call yourself green.


Lawns just don't help the environment - they are the environment (pdf). Cleaning the air, sustaining microbial life, providing worms for birds, and so on. Take lawns away, and our suburban ecology falls apart.
It's your garden - it's meant to be tended. That's how you develop a relationship with it, one where you both grow. It's a living thing, not an inanimate appliance. (You work in I.T., right?).
When the sun's out, plastic turf heats up something rotten - up to 160 degrees Fahrenheit, some say. Even if that insufficient to actually melt a plastic tire, surely the fumes will be toxic enough.
Lawns are carbon sinks: admittedly this is offset by their maintenance, but even so, the 40 million acres of American lawns filter in the region of 13 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually (estimates Brendan Koerner for Slate).

Difficult to know where to stand, isn't it?

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Read through all our articles for the week? At a loose end? Curl up with a few of these...
The home of Good Housekeeping over in Harlem, NY, has had an eco-friendly makeover. LEED-certified, the new building opens July 30th and is running tours of the premises shortly after. (Ecorazzi gave us the heads-up).
CFLs: great while they're working, not so much afterwards. That mercury is a problem for consumers and recyclers alike - so let's applaud Home Depot, since as Grist reports, the biggest DIY store in the States now collects CFLs for safe recycling.
Amanda Melodini's article here (great title) tells of the latest innovation in air filtration: it's called a plant. (In fact, the breakthrough is all about aerating the leaves and roots so the plant can filter as much air as possible).
Curling up with a good e-book? However eco-friendly, it's a hard sell - but Sony is amongst the companies trying hard to change our minds. Gabrielle at Daily Tomorrow got hold of the Sony PRS-505 E-book Reader. Have a read of her very thorough review - is it worth the $300 price-tag?
Is this the ultimate faucet? It's touch-free, and when the water comes out, it powers a turbine that generates electricity for the touch-free sensor!
With some people, it's shoes. But the latest chic-to-collect is the tote bag. If you're one of them (and you're not alone by any means), don't miss the Savior bags - decorated with a quote that you may recognize.
Here at Ecosalon we like to keep up with the latest in stylish and practical technology. May we introduce the Solar-Powered Bra. (And also point out that those two sentences have nothing to do with each other. Thank you). As usual, it's Environmental Graffitti keeping us abreast of things.
Being fans of Nigel's Eco Store, we were delighted to see the man himself has given an interview with Adam over at Life Goggles. (You even get to see him juggling flying saucers).
EcoStreet has 10 suggestions for looking swish as you cycle. Unsurprisingly and entirely correctly, "Not Wearing Tasteless Lycra Outfits" is right at the top. Wild applause.
Old wax crayons kicking around, edging nearer the trash? Grab them, read Hippyshopper's article, and get sculpting.

Happy reading!

Image: gripspix

It's summer!

Now, I'm not sure England is actually going to have a summer (we didn't have one last year), but the rest of you can safely stash away the heavy-weather gear, unfurl your limbs and head out into a fresh, spring-cleaned world waiting to be explored.

Carrying what? You'll need your water bottle (and we can recommend a Steripen to accompany it), a map - or GPS, if that's your thing - and a waterproof coat, just in case the weather turns English. And why not carry all these things in a rucksack that's as eco-friendly as the rest of your lifestyle?

The Hempmania H20 mini-backpack (essentially a "daysac") is produced by a Mayan family in the Guatamalan highlands using sustainable fair-trade practices, and is tough, back-hugging, has an adjustable water-bottle pocket and comes in a variety of colours including terra cotta (a delicious hint of sun-baked brick against your back, there). I like it because it's not too granola for hemp - in fact it looks rather high-tech. It's a perfect gift for a guy, as well.


All set? Go!

Hempmania backpack is available from DailyGreenProject for $30 + $5 shipping.

Image: code poet

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