Buying Green: 9 Goods for Sustainable Living [Slide Show]
Water-saving faucet adapters, green pet gear and more
![Buying Green: 9 Goods for Sustainable Living [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/96952203-B873-401F-B4138D90B448924A.jpg?w=590&h=393)
Buying Green: 9 Goods for Sustainable Living [Slide Show]
- 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. The bags are made from discarded bottles, and the flexible, water-proof solar panels will charge most gadgets in two to four hours.
www.rewarestore.com 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. It doesn’t toss the caps and labels either; those are remade into the cylindrical cores that carpets are wrapped around. The carpets are tough, stain resistant and feel good beneath the feet, and cost slightly more than standard polyester options.
www.mohawkflooring.com 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.
www.realgoods.com 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. The fluid requires some extra effort to mix but goes on like standard paint. Heavy wear or lots of water exposure can cause slight color fading, so aim for surfaces that are free of traffic and splashes.
www.realmilkpaint.com Courtesy of The Real Milk Paint Co. - 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. It might be cheaper to read up on driving techniques and spare the $299, but the Kiwi makes reducing carbon emissions almost fun.
www.plxdevices.com 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. The trick, it says, is a vacuum booster built into the nozzle.
www.savewaterus.com 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. Reusable Bags also notes that the typical container can be washed 30 times, cutting consumers’ expenses.
www.reusablebags.com Courtesy of Reusable Bags - 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. A gift box of five, 3.5 ounce soap bars in scents such as lemongrass-ginger and rosemary costs $10.50.
www.realgoods.com Courtesy of Real Goods
