Buying Green: 9 Goods for Sustainable Living [Slide Show]

Water-saving faucet adapters, green pet gear and more

TOTE THE SUN Reware Products’ backpacks and messenger bags sports solar panels that can power gadgets while you walk, in case a phone or laptop runs low on the go. The price may be prohibitive ($250), but you won’t have to buy that recharger or carry it around... Courtesy of Reware Products
WALL TO WALL Carpeting for a room or house consumes lots of material. Mohawk’s EverStrand carpet and backing are made from recycled plastic bottles; the company claims to use nearly three billion bottles a year... Courtesy of Mohawk
CITY SCRAPS Apartment owners can compost with this barrel, sized for a roof-top or small backyard. Spinning the composter ($199), done by hand, helps table scraps decompose faster. Real Goods claims the seven-cubic-foot-container produces as much as 85 pounds of odorless compost a year if used at full capacity--which might be a little much for your windowsill herb garden... Courtesy of Real Goods
CREAM OF THE CROP Paints containing low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) are becoming popular. But here’s a product that’s really all natural: Real Milk Paint ($46 a gallon), made from purified milk protein, lime, natural fillers and pigment... Courtesy of The Real Milk Paint Co.
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ECO-PUPPY Maybe Fido wants to go green. Harry Barker’s sustainable chew toys ($9) are made from hemp and stuffed with hypoallergenic fiber. The leashes ($22) are manufactured with 100 percent recycled plastic... Courtesy of Harry Barker
THE DRIVE TO SAVE Good driving techniques can lower fuel consumption. The PLX Kiwi driving monitor is attached to the dashboard and wired to the on-board diagnostics port. It shows the driver when gas is being wasted and what can be done to improve efficiency, and gives a score each time the car is driven... Courtesy of PLX Devices
MORE VACUUM, LESS WATER Save some money while saving some water. Aerators attach to your faucet and decrease water flow by limiting pressure. Yet Utility Savors claims its model ($27) provides more pressure while still reducing water use by up to 80 percent... Courtesy of Utility Savers
HANG ON TO IT A wooden bag dryer like this one ($15.95) may look unusual but it might encourage more people to reuse plastic sandwich bags. Just wash ‘em and hang ‘em. There really is no convenient replacement for such bags, but tossing out 20 million a day isn’t convenient for the environment... Courtesy of Reusable Bags
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CLEAN RIDE Various soaps are made from natural ingredients such as vegetable oils and organic herbs and spices. But these cleansers are also manufactured without using any electricity. The employees at Real Goods literally pedal on bicycles to power the machines that mix the ingredients in soap vats... Courtesy of Real Goods

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