Give your dated, energy suck of a kitchen a thoroughly efficient makeover.

Talk about ravenous. According to the National Association of Home Builders, residential electricity use accounts for approximately 20% of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, the lion’s share fuming from our kitchen appliances. The fridge is a particularly hungry beast, chomping up 17% of the electricity used in a typical American home.

Replacing outmoded appliances with newer eco-considerate ones can save you money in the long haul, and make you feel a little less guilty about wasting (your) energy during late-night food recon missions in front of an open refrigerator door. So what are you waiting for? Shop for efficient ice makers and appliances today!

The Ice Cool is undoubtedly cool. It relies on a hybrid cooling technology, which is up to five times more efficient than major consumer brands on the market. Mason anticipates, “the reduced energy demand of 5,000 of my fridges would save one whole power station, and it would be like shutting down another one when they run passively.”

The washing machine is another kitchen-realm appliance that could use an energy makeover given that 70-90% of the electricity required is used to heat the water alone. This washer from Hoover, with a 22 lb drum size, can reduce the number of loads you do by half. Plus it weighs laundry and adjusts cycle times, water and electricity usage accordingly.

Feast your eyes on the picture below:

Perhaps you have no idea what you are looking at? It’s called FlexInduction, a stovetop innovation that allows you to heat pans of any size positioned anywhere within the zone. What that means is this: it’s like watching water boil, but more efficiently because pans are heated from the outside in.

The FlexInduction system from Neff also features an LED display and timer, automatic pan recognition and power management function.

If you like to whistle while you sauté, the SolarDAB portable radio is for you. Situate it on a sunny windowsill and the batteries will recharge themselves for up to 27 hours.

The Nahamer T450 calls itself “the first environmentally sustainable toaster.” It’s a lovely little bread conductor that’s 20% faster than its cohorts and uses half the energy. Anyone who’s ever had a toaster will appreciate that the Nahamer is designed to be disassembled and repaired instead off tossed out and replaced. What’s truly sleek is the Toast Drop system, which slides your toast straight onto your plate. Better than butter.

The food processor is often touted as one of the most used appliances in the kitchen. I’m addicted to my Bosch, but this multi-use, foot-pedal-powered blender/coffee grinder/chopper and cutting board has me drooling.

Christoph Thetard’s eco-friendly concept features built in storage for all of its various and sundry attachments. The flywheel, meanwhile, mounted inside a finished wooden case, can generate 350 watts of power per minute.

Finally, coffee: the guts and brawn of your morning. The solar energy coffee maker by Gun ho Lee appears to be in development, prompting an internal reminder that patience – like fair trade beans – is a virtue.

As is this design:

If you’ve come across any sleek, eco-friendly appliances EcoSalon should know about, tell me about them at emily@ecosalon.com or tweet to @ecosalon.

Image: Marco Calderisi

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If you’ve wandered through the aisles of an appliance store lately, it’s hard to miss the labels proclaiming the newest line of behemoth refrigerators or three-tier convection ovens are “eco-friendly.” But are they, really? Let’s take a quick tour of appliance labels and separate what’s useful from what’s just marketing-speak.

You know those bright yellow Energy Star stickers on the front of new home appliances? That’s the brainchild of the Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. They’re designed to clue you in on how much your new dishwasher or washing machine will cost to operate over the course of the year as well as help you estimate how much electricity it sucks up. The Energy Star logo means the appliance is deemed better for the environment – and uses less energy – than standard models.

Sounds awesome, right? Just go to the store, find the product with the lowest operating and electricity consumption costs and take it home. Not so fast. The problem is that it’s up to appliance manufacturers to determine whether their products are “better” than other standard models. Now, we’re not suggesting that manufacturers intentionally mislead consumers with the Energy Star labels they slap on the products they sell, but independent verification is always a good thing.

The next time you’re out shopping for a home appliance, look for additional labels or published information from third-party verification organizations like Intertek. When this independent product testing company confirms a clothes dryer or icebox meets multiple environmental regulations, it certifies the product with a Green Leaf Mark so consumers know the manufacturers energy-efficiency claims line up with reality.

Consumer Reports suggests manufacturers take eco-label transparency a step further:

All certification standards should be developed with input from multiple stakeholders including consumers, industry, environmentalists and social representatives in a way that doesn’t compromise the independence of the certifier. For example, industry representatives can play an important advisory role without having direct financial, decision making or management ties to the certifier.

Bottom line? The next time you’re in the market for a new washer/dryer combo, make sure you look for more than just the Energy Star certification so you don’t get taken to the cleaners.

Image: Tom Raftery

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When the economy crashes, the knee-jerk reaction delivers a painful blow to the design industry. How many  remodeling and decorating projects have been put on hold? How many clients tell their designers they can’t spend another dime?

Showrooms in design centers throughout the country are struggling to hang on due to inactivity. The industry trickle-down effect dries up the business for architects and interior designers, especially in the middle-income sector which is playing it safe while riding the tide.

Does that mean no new appliances, landscaped yards, carpets or lighting? Not entirely. In many cases, homeowners are going the green route which also means the more energy-efficient and cost-saving path to boosting their environments without over-investing.

With that in mind, a Denver, Colo. firm is launching the first online Green Design Summit June 29-30. Gail Doby, co-founder of the Denver-based Design Success University, is hosting the two-day educational series, which is expected to draw 800 to 1,000 participants, according to ASID. Industry pros will enlighten participants with knowledge of how to go green stylishly. Plus, we all know green marketing is the new key to success.

“The green training may help these professionals’ finances to stay in the black,” observes Doby, who has lined up 10 speakers immersed in different realms of the eco-renaissance.

Gail Doby, co-founder of telesummit

They include authors, like Cassie Walker, The Green Office Handbook, Michael Port, Think Big manifesto –  Think you can’t change your life? Think Again, and Penna Bonda, green blogger for Interior Design Magazine and author of Mother of Green Interiors.

Also lending guidance are eco-friendly product designer Robin Wilson,  HGTV star Libby Langdon, and Tom Hamilton, Senior Product Manager for Philips Color Kinetics.

Tickets go on sale June first for the summit ($297) being delivered by webcast beginning both days at 11 a.m. EDT. Members of the home industry aren’t the only ones who will benefit from the huge endeavor.

Proceeds will aid the town of Greensburg, Kansas, which was leveled by a huge tornado in 2007. May 4 was the second anniversary of the disaster. It  was commemorated by townspeople with a dedication of the first LEED Platinum John Deere dealership.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, left, and Gov. Kathleen Sebelius along with Mayor Bob Dixon take a walking tour of Greensburg, Kan., on Wednesday

As in post-flood New Orleans, this small city is using its rebuilding effort as an opportunity to green public facilities, including the city’s theater and museum.

Greensburg Mayor Bob Dixon says his city will greatly benefit from five percent of the telesummit’s profits, in addition to a request for material donations being sought by the design summit organizers.

“We’d like to see Greensburg become the eco-tourism capital of the world,” says the mayor. ” Companies can bring their customers here to see sustainable building products and all kinds of eco-friendly businesses.  We want to be a living laboratory.”

Images: Orlin Wagner, AP;

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