Appealing ideas are often simple: how much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability? After extensive testing with all kinds of shapes, the best results were achieved using small circles. After lots of late hours (and coffee) this resulted in a font that uses up to 20% less ink. Free to download, free to use.

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Green Roofs – Photo Gallery – National Geographic Magazine

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In order to find out where your home energy supply comes from you’ll have to do some investigation. Start with phoning your energy supplier and asking them. There are many different possible sources of the energy you rely on every day, some are more sustainable than others, and they all differ in their environmental impact as well.

Since so much of the energy we use, whether it’s electricity or fuel in our automobiles is derived from fossil fuels this article was written to provide you with some insight into exactly what fossil fuels are, and how they were created.

Fossil fuels are powering the worlds economy. Without these fossil fuels, development would come to a halt and the economy, as we know it now, would crash down. But there is a trade-off here; at least with the removal of fossil fuels there will be less impact on the planet’s environment. That is the issue with fossil fuels – it powers the world, but at the same time affects us in another aspect.

Fossil fuels refer to coal, oil and gas. These fuels are formed from the organic remains of plants and animals. Decomposing plants millions of years ago were covered by layers and layers of rock, mud, and sand, in the process fossilizing them. And from these, the fuels are formed.

Fossil fuels are considered as non-renewable energy resources because these fuels will take millions of years to form. And the reserves for these fossil fuels are fast being depleted with no or little new ones being formed. Based on the estimates provided by the Energy Information Administration, the world’s economies are powered primarily by fossil fuels. As of 2006, world consumption is focused on oil with 36.8 percent share, coal with 26.6 percent share and natural gas’s share is 22.9 percent. Oil and gas are formed almost the same way.

Oil and gas are formed from plankton and plants that lived millions of years ago in fresh water and these organisms were buried under the rivers and the oceans. The formation of the oil and gas started when the water receded back. With the introduction of water, the pressure and the bacteria then combine to make the natural gas and the oil. These fuels then rise up from under the ground, but the pressure from the cap-rock prevents the spillage of the gas and oil to the surface.

The moment petroleum companies conduct their explorations, target the right spot, and drill down the cap-rock, oil and gas will ooze out from underground and these are the fossil fuels that are used right now.

Coal is formed in a slightly different manner. This fossil fuel is from the dead remains of trees, ferns and other plants. By some estimates, these trees and plants lived over 400 million years ago. Coal used as a fossil fuel is usually found in swamps that are covered by seawater. Since saltwater is rich in sulfur, this substance remains in the coal when water has receded. Sulfur will only be released once coal is burned.

Fossil fuels may be the driver of our nation’s economies, but a lot of concerns are raised against these fuels. The challenge is on for the players to make fossil fuels less toxic, or to find ways to cut dependency on these fuels.

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I hate to think how many unwanted sofas and chairs end their days rotting in landfill sites. All too often, they are thrown out simply because their owners decide they no longer like the colour or the fabric is a bit worn or faded. It’s a shame, because so many of these items have plenty of life left in them and could easily be recycled with the help of some slipcovers.

Furniture slipcovers are designed to fit over the top of existing upholstery to give furniture a completely new look. They offer a green and economical solution if your old sofa looks like it’s seen better days but is still perfectly comfortable to sit on. They are held in place with elastic or ties to give a tidy, fitted appearance, so that it’s hard to tell they are covers and not upholstery. Slipcovers are also great for dog and cat owners, as they are machine washable. If your pet is in the habit of jumping onto your couch with muddy paws, it’s much easier to wash a fabric slipcover than it is to scrub dirt out of upholstery by hand!

If you’d like to give your living room a makeover, but your green principles and limited budget won’t allow you to buy new furniture, it’s worth considering slipcovers. The energy involved in manufacturing and delivering a brand new sofa must be considerable, especially when you take into account the carbon footprint of disposing of your old sofa as well. In contrast, a fitted slipcover is relatively inexpensive to buy and can prolong the life of even very old furniture by many years.

Yes, of course there’s energy used to make a slipcover, but the impact on the environment is much less than the alternative of replacing an existing sofa with a new one. There are many readymade slipcovers available that are made from cotton. Cotton is a natural fibre that is preferable to man-manmade polyester. Organically-grown cotton is an even greener choice, although I have only managed to find one slipcover company that carries organic products. Sure Fit organic slipcovers are a recent introduction and come in two different sizes, to fit 3-seat sofas and 2-seat loveseats. As covers can be made for most types of seats, including dining room chairs, wing chairs and ottomans, I hope that Sure Fit and other companies will add more choice of organic slipcovers to their range in the near future.

With regards to using slipcovers, as they have a standard “one-size-fits-all” design, sometimes you will need to be creative to get them to fit certain styles of furniture. For instance, if you’ve “freecycled” an armchair only to find it’s an old-fashioned sort with wooden arms and legs, a regular chair slipcover would be very loose over the arms. Slipcovers are designed for furniture with padded arms. However, it is easy enough to overcome this problem by wrapping an old towel or blanket around each arm and securing it in place with string to add sufficient padding for the slipcover to fit snugly. Another trick to use, if your slipcover is just slightly too baggy all over, is to tuck all the excess fabric into the cracks around the edge of the seat until you get a smooth fit. Then, roll up some old magazines, secure them with rubber bands, and insert them into the cracks to keep the slipcover in place and stop it from becoming untucked.

Hopefully these ideas will make you think twice before sending your old furniture to landfill. Using slipcovers is an inexpensive and easy way to give your home a new image whilst doing your bit for the environment.

About the Author:
Caroline Smith writes about green living for a number of websites. She believes in being environmentally-friendly and saving money at the same, especially when it comes to interior design. She runs Get Slipcovers, where you can find more information on the organic products mentioned in this post.

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Here are some tips to reduce those costs.

1. Closing your curtains and blinds on the sunny side of your house will help keep it cooler when temperatures are high. You can also apply window film to your windows. This will cut radiant heat and still allow you to see the view outside. Painting your house a light color and using window awnings will also help reduce heat inside your house.
2. If you use a window air conditioner, put it in a window that is located on the shady side of your house near the center of the house. Cooler air outside means cooler air inside.
3. Make sure that your cooling system (and heating system in winter) is working efficiently. Have your systems checked by a reputable maintenance company at least once yearly. Change the filters on your furnace and air conditioner monthly.
4. Turn off your air conditioner or furnace when you leave home for short periods of time. Of course, if you live in a desert or severely cold climate, you would turn your thermostat a bit higher or lower than you would normally have it.
5. Plant trees and shrubs outside your house to shade it. Be sure that shrubs placed near air conditioning units are trimmed so that they have sufficient air flow. And of course, the more trees you plant the more carbon dioxide they will absorb and turn into oxygen. While just about any kind of tree or shrub is better than nothing, consider planting fruit or nut trees. By growing your own food, organically, you’ll making an important contribution to the environment in more ways than one.
6. Electronics that are turned off may still use electricity. Make it a habit to unplug them when going on vacation or when leaving your house for an extended period of time, or even when you go to bed for the night. For other electrical units like razors or hair dryers, plug them into a power strip that you can switch off when you’re not using them.
7. Use energy-saver bulbs instead of standard incandescent bulbs. Incandescent bulbs use many times more power than the new energy-saver bulbs and they will burn out much quicker too, costing you more in the long run and contributing more to your local landfill.
8. When you are shopping for a printer, scanner or other computer equipment, look for those that will automatically go into “sleep mode” or turn off when they aren’t being used.
9. When you’re deciding between the microwave and electric stove to cook a meal, choose the microwave. Not only does it use 90 percent less energy, it will not heat up the house – thus using even more electricity to cool it. Better yet, if you’re keen to experiment, you can buy a solar cooker or try making a solar oven.
10. Replace appliances that are older than ten years old. Older refrigerators and other major appliances cost more to run than newer appliances. Modern appliances must conform to “Energy Star” efficiency and are ten to twenty percent cheaper to operate.
11. If your electricity should go off during a “brown-out” or “blackout,” turn off or unplug as many appliances as you can. Otherwise, when everyone’s power comes back on at the same time, another transformer could blow out.

Using some of these ideas will help keep your electric power bills lower. The more ideas you use, the lower your costs will be. Save your pocketbook, and your environment, by conserving electricity.

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What I discovered was that using a wood stove for heating has a neutral carbon footprint. The ‘cost’ of burning wood as fuel offsets the benefits of the tree growing and absorbing carbon dioxide during it’s life. So, it’s actually a green alternative to coal powered electricity (which is what we get through the power grid here). Considering we use the stove top for cooking as well, instead of using the slow-cooker, it’ turns out it’s pretty efficient after all. So if you’re interested in making the switch to wood heating, read on for some good tips to comparing and buying a wood stove.

Many things need to be kept in mind when you decide to use a regular wood burning stove or choose a corn or pellet burning stove. It’s essential that you know the type of fuel that your exact model of stove can burn and what types of fuel you cannot use safely. You also need to be aware of the reason your model of stove uses the fuel type that it does to burn.

Although regular wood stoves do burn very hot, they don’t burn nearly as hot as other alternative stoves like those that burn corn or pellets. Because regular wood stoves don’t burn as hot as the alternatives you need to be sure to consider all of your options if you plan on using your stove as the primary heating method for your home.

Radiant heat is what is responsible for the efficiency of wood burning stoves. Corn and pellet burning stoves give off heat using an electric motor that blows the heat produced from the burning corn or pellets into the room that the stove is in. The exhaust from corn and pellet burning stoves is normally vented to the outside through exterior walls.

Although in our descriptions we’ve been treating corn and pellet burning stoves as one in the same that does not mean that they are interchangeable. You don’t want to automatically assume that you can use corn in a pellet burning stove or vice versa. You need to be fully aware of the manufacturer’s requirements before interchanging corn and pellets. Although using corn in place of pellets or pellets in place of corn will probably work it may void your manufacturer’s warranty so you need to be very careful or you may find yourself out of luck if you have technical problems in the future.

One huge mistake some people have made is in buying a stove for which their preferred fuel method is not available in their area. Imagine how bad it would be to buy a corn burning stove, have it installed in your home and then coming to realize that corn is not available in your area in the appropriate form to be used in your corn burning stove! Normally you will only have this problem if you live in a small town, especially one in a desert climate where corn must be imported, but it’s something to research before buying just in case.

There are now several stoves on the market that burn both corn and pellets, either at the same time or separately. If you are undecided this may be an option to consider.

The most important thing you can do before buying a stove is EXTENSIVE RESEARCH! Once your stove is installed in your home it is not easy to remove or replace with another model so do your homework before jumping into the wood burning market.

After your new wood burning stove is up and running, enjoy your lower heating bills!

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It’s a common misconception that you have to spend more if you want to live a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. With regards to furniture, it is true that many eco friendly products are substantially more expensive than their conventional counterparts. However, I believe that being green goes hand in hand with being thrifty and can actually save you money.

One of the mantras of green living is “reuse, reduce, recycle”. Therefore, rather than buy new furniture, why not look at what you already have and see if you can reuse it? Alternatively, you could join your local Freecycle group and see if anyone is giving away some secondhand furniture that you could use.

Of course, we all like our homes to look nice. We don’t want to furnish our rooms with tatty, mismatched or outdated furniture. Fortunately, there are a number of things you can do to give old furniture a green makeover, even on a limited budget. To illustrate, here are some of my ideas for how to transform kitchen bar stools using eco friendly, frugal methods:

Cleaning

It’s amazing the difference cleaning can make to well-used bar stools. If you like the original color of your bar stool frames, rather than painting or staining them, the simplest option is to simply give them a thorough clean. Aim to use non-toxic, natural cleaning products that you may already have rather than buying chemical cleaners.

A good way to bring shine back to stainless steel or chrome bar stools is to simply sprinkle some baking soda onto a damp cloth and wipe it over the frames. Remove any residue with a clean, damp cloth and bring out the shine using a dry cloth.

Baking soda can also be used to tackle stains on wooden bar stools. A paste made from baking soda and mayonnaise (yes, mayonnaise!), can be rubbed onto water marks to get rid of them. Alcohol stains can be removed using a mixture of baking soda and linseed oil.

Once you’ve succeeded in removing any stains, you can polish the wood using just olive oil and a drop of lemon juice. This is a much cheaper, greener alternative to synthetic spray polishes.

Refinishing

If your wood bar stools have been stained or painted and you would like to completely change the color, you could refinish them. This will involve more effort on your part, but the results should be worth it. To do it in a green way you will need to avoid conventional VOC-emitting products, such as paint stripper containing methylene chloride.

For instance, you could save money by making your own non-toxic paint stripper, mixing up a paste of washing soda and water. If you spread the paste all over the wood and leave it overnight, it should loosen the finish so it’s easy for you to scrape off. Some finishes can be sanded off by hand. However, if in any doubt you should use an inexpensive lead testing kit to check whether the old paint contains lead. Avoid sanding if it does contain lead.

To prepare the wood after stripping and sanding, wipe off any remaining dust or dirt with a mix of 2 parts vinegar to 1 part water. Unless you can find someone with some leftover eco paint or wood stain, you will need to buy a new tin. Water-based earth friendly paints and stains, made from natural ingredients rather than chemicals, are becoming more widely available and are much better for your indoor air quality and health. Another option would be to use beeswax or linseed to bring out the natural tones of the wood.

Covers & Cushions

If you’re fortunate enough to have upholstered seats, it’s fairly easy to re-cover them. You can use any material you like, although it’s best to use a hardwearing fabric if your stools get a lot of use. You could try your local thrift store for cheap secondhand fabric such as old curtains or denim jeans that you could recycle into covers. You will need to remove the original upholstery and secure the new fabric in place using a staple gun.

For stools with solid seats, you could make them more comfortable by buying some tie-on cushions. Or you could make your own by recycling some old fabric.

Hopefully these ideas will help inspire you to look at old items of furniture in a new light. It can be very satisfying to give your furniture a unique new look. It may take a little time and effort, but reusing what you have is often the greenest and cheapest way to give your home a makeover.

About the Author:
Caroline Smith is passionate about green living and interior design. She enjoys finding thrifty and eco friendly ways of decorating her home. Caroline has contributed to a number of green blogs and is co-founder of www.GetBarStools.com, where you can find a small but growing selection of eco bar stools.

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If you are able to, re-using materials is even better than recycling them. Often materials that can’t be recycled can be re-used. But what if you really don’t have a use for something? That’s where FreeCycle comes in. It’s an online trading site for free stuff. Because after all, one person’s garbage is another person’s treasure.

Currently over one million members in almost 3,000 communities world wide are sharing their unwanted goods. The catalyst that facilitates all the getting and giving of unwanted items is an organization called Freecycle. It’s a grassroots movement of people who give stuff for free in their own towns. Each local group is run by a local volunteer moderator. All of the trading is done online. Membership is free. Freecycle is open to individuals and non-profit organizations.

The Freecycle Network was originally started in Tucson to promote waste reduction and help save desert landscape from being taken over by landfills. That was in May 2003. This world wide phenomenon has spread throughout the globe.

The process is quite simple. Go to www.freecycle.org and find a group near you. If there’s not one in close proximity, consider starting one yourself. Then when you want to find a new home for something you just send an e-mail offering it to members of your Freecycle group.

Some groups have restrictions on what you can and cannot post, however most limitations are simply that it needs to be completely free, legal and appropriate for all ages. It doesn’t matter what you have to offer; computer parts, couch, clothing, an old window, broken car, perfume, etc. If you have it and it’s unwanted, almost guaranteed, someone else can put it to good use.

If something is posted that you’re interested in obtaining, all you need to do is respond to the member’s offer. It’s up to the giver to decide who receives the gift and to set up a pickup time for passing on the treasure. Sometimes it’s as simple as “I’ll leave it on the front porch of 123Main St., come by anytime.”

Many local networks also allow WANTED: posts. If you’re looking for a 10 gallon aquarium, check with Freecycle first. Odds are great someone may have one sitting in their basement collecting dust. While each individual network may have slightly different restrictions, most are run similarly. There are generally four types of posts and these words must appear in the subject line of your email: Wanted: xxx, Offer: xxx, Taken: xxx or Found: xxx.

It is generally recommended to elaborate a bit on your emails as to why you are in need of something or why you are interested in picking up the item. Don’t go into your entire life story, but responses like “I’m interested” will likely get deleted. Whereas something like: “I’m a single mom who just moved here after my divorce. I would love to pick up your wash machine tonight. I would greatly appreciate not having to squeeze in time to go to the laundry mat after work.” will likely get consideration. Just be sincere – don’t make up a woeful story in hopes to get something.

The intent of Freecycle is to help others by giving and getting. It’s a great, fun organization.

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Small farmers are at a disadvantage these days. They simply cannot compete with large scale farms that sell to major grocery store chains. Small farmers usually have to sell to their neighbors, at the roadside, or at farmer’s markets. They have had to work hard to find a customer base and unlike large agribusiness operations, small farmers might find themselves out of business the very first time their crops are destroyed or fail to thrive. Realizing that small farm operations might soon be gone with the wind some of them got creative and decided to extend an invitation to their local communities in the form of CSAs.

Local consumers have answered their call. The offerings of a large chain store have often traveled thousands of miles from farm to plate and this certainly impacts their freshness, taste, and nutritional value. The transportation of food across the world also impacts our planet negatively, contributing to pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases that cause global warming. The importance of eating fresh, local foods is more apparent then ever and the CSA arrangement is helping meet this need.

CSAs work when farmers pre-sell a portion or a share of their harvest to local residents. The residents usually pay a fee seasonally and in return they get a box of fresh, farm fruits and veggies every week. The farmers have more freedom, security, and flexibility when their costs and products are paid for up front. The consumer benefits by having continuous access to local and healthful foods. The consumer also absorbs some of the risk involved in farm management because if the crops fail or are destroyed by natural disaster or some other unforeseen circumstance the farmer has already been paid and he or she will not be forced out of business. The consumer, although unhappy to see no product for their investment, is satisfied in supporting his local community and protecting his local food sources.

Some CSAs also allow you to pay for your farm share or a portion of it in trade for labor. You might be put to work weeding, harvesting, packaging CSA boxes, or delivering food. This arrangement keeps costs down for the farmer and the consumer all the while helping the consumer to connect with the food cycle that feeds him or her in an intimate way.

Other benefits of joining a CSA include the opportunity to eat new and different foods and to try new recipes so as to exhaust your weekly share before a new one arrives. This usually means the whole family starts eating healthy veggies and leafy greens more frequently. Joining a CSA in your area might be one of the best things you can do support your local economy and make a commitment to healthy eating!

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Buy Local

An important guiding principle should be that whenever possible, you should buy your food from a local source. Much of the motivation for adding preservatives to food, picking fruit when it’s ridiculously green, and in other ways extending its shelf life has to do with the need to transport that food over long distances and have it still be presentable by the end of the trip. If you buy your food locally, you eliminate the need for your supplier to have the food he sells you subjected to all that abuse. If many people make a point to buy their food locally, the market will eventually catch on (though don’t hold your breath). There are, of course, exceptions to this, like if you want wild salmon and don’t live anywhere near Alaska. So, buying local is a guiding principle, not a rigid law.

Farmer’s Markets

There are many ways you can start buying locally. One is to shop at farmers’ markets. Farmers’ markets are where local growers set up a booth at a specific time, usually weekly, to sell their produce. It is often in season fruits and vegetables, but it can also be meat, honey, dairy products and even art work. When shopping at a farmers’ market, you are usually buying food directly from the grower, so you can talk to the grower about how that food is grown. Rather than relying on a label such as “organic” you can learn exactly what cultural practices go into producing the vegetables or meat you are eyeing. You will undoubtedly find that while many small growers won’t go to the trouble of getting themselves officially labeled “organic,” they are organic for all practical purposes.

Community Supported Agriculture

Another way to shop locally is to become a member of a community supported agriculture farm, also known as a CSA. You buy one or more shares in the CSA and that entitles you to a weekly portion of fresh fruits and vegetables that you can pick up at the farm or another prearranged pickup location. CSAs can also deal in dairy products, flowers, honey and other things. Most CSAs are organic, and you can speak to the grower about the specifics of how the food is grown. By buying a share of the CSA produce, you are assuming part of the risk for the grower. If it’s a great season, you will enjoy your piece of a bountiful harvest. If it’s a poor season, the weekly pickups will be smaller. Of course, CSA farmers do their best to ensure a good harvest, but the fact that they share the risk does allow them to put more effort into producing quality over quantity. They can also try to grow different crops and use different cultural practices without having to shoulder the entire burden of risk. As a participant in a CSA, you will become more educated about what goes into producing the food you eat.

Grow Your Own

Of course, the ultimate solution would be to grow your own, or at least a portion of what you consume. You don’t need a lot of land or equipment to get started. In fact, you can easily grow herbs, sprouts and micro-greens right in your kitchen. It may not seem like much, but the taste and superior nutritional value you get from eating fresh harvested food that you grow yourself is well worth the effort. If you have a yard, no matter how small, consider turning a bit of it into an organic vegetable garden.

Take An Active Role

As a general rule, taking a more active role in your food production is an important step to improving its nutritional value. Part of the reason food quality has been allowed to decline so much is the increasing separation of the consumer from where the food comes from. By reconnecting with the source of your food such as by shopping locally at farmers’ markets or becoming a member of a CSA, or by growing your own, you can have much more say over its quality.

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