Let’s show we care about our country by making this July 4th much more green.  The usual 4th consists of spending a day at a parade or festival, barbecuing and celebrating a fireworks display to finish off the evening.  We can be more conscious of our environment throughout this day of celebrations in a variety of ways.

Reuse and Recycle

Just as with our day to day activities, reusing and recycling should be an integral part of the day.  If going to an event, be sure to recycle anything that can be.  This is especially important when it comes to food.  Things like soda cans, bottles, aluminum foil and cardboard containers can all be easily recycled. One way to really save money at events is to take your own reusable drinking bottles such as an Otterbottle or Klean Kanteen.  You won’t need to buy expensive drinks and you will be preventing another bottle or can to be used.  If having a barbecue or going on a picnic, you can get creative by reusing fabrics that you would normally throw out and make them into something useful like napkins or even an entire picnic blanket.

Eco-Friendly Dinnerware

How often do you see plastic utensils and styrofoam plates being used at a typical bbq or picnic?   There are so many eco-friendly options on the market with competitive pricing so you don’t have to buy these types of products.  Bamboo and corn starch are just a few of the safe and biodegradable materials used to make dinnerware. If you don’t want to go out and buy disposable items, why not just take a chance with some of your own plates, utensils and cups.  You may end up with a few less pieces because of clumsy friends, but you will generate much less trash.

Local Foods

Buying local foods should be a must to creating or enjoying fantastic 4th of July meals.  Attend local farmer’s markets or farm to get a great selection of produce, meats and dairy products. All will be fresh and tasty.  Most local foods are naturally born/grown and will be far healthier for your family and friends.  If there are any scraps of food leftover, be sure to send those to the compost bin so that they won’t contribute more waste to our packed landfills.  Don’t let any meats or dairy products end up in the compost as that can attract unwanted guests.

Cooking

There is no better way to spend this holiday than outdoors and this means lighting up the grill.  Be sure to use a variety of green grilling practices so by cooking with clean natural gases or natural charcoal products.  Cleanup can also be green by using homemade or natural cleaning products.

Fireworks

Fireworks can be a huge polluter because of the amount of smoke and chemicals it can put into our environment. To get the color mixtures that we like so much, toxic metals like barium, strontium and antimony are needed. These metals can have dangerous effects on the environment as well as our health. I’m not saying you have to avoid fireworks shows, as there is sometimes no way to avoid them. There are various options of eco-friendly fireworks such as the biodegradable fireworks that Disney uses in their displays every night. As more research is done, the prices will begin to go down on fireworks such as these. Let whoever does you local fireworks show know about these options and they may end up making the switch or are already using them.

How are you going to make this 4th of July a little more green?

While still in beta, the application hopes to one day provide extremely accurate and relevant suggestions. If you are not familiar with tech terminology, an application being in beta den0tes that it is still in development.  The application is able to be used, but it is still be refined before being finalized.  The recommendation engine behind Hohm will use data and feedback received from its user to ensure that relevant recommendations are provided.  The application will grow and provide better results as more and more people begin to use it.  Just as with other sites like Google and Amazon, lots of data is required to improve the recommendations.  If not enough data is available, it can still use local and national averages to give similar results.

Another great feature about Hohm is that allows you to compare you energy usage with others in your local area.  If you energy consumption is much higher than others in your area, it must mean that there are potential ways to reduce your home’s energy use.  It could also make people more aware that electric device in their households are using much more energy than it should.  This application can also allow you to connect directly with other members on Hohm to get more ideas on how to save energy.

All that is required to be able to use Hohm is a standard web browser.  No special equipment is required and the application itself is completely free.  So why exactly is Microsoft generously providing us this application?  At least for now, they are making their money off of online advertising.  It looks to stay that way in the long-run and try to make money off of energy companies.  I’m going to give this application a test run and see how it performs.  Check out this video of Troy Batterberry, product manager for Hohm, about all the details of Hohm:

Don’t worry, I’m not promoting some lame credit card scheme. Nor am I trying to convince you to buy stock.

I readily admit that I am trying to convince you to do something, though. And I’m not very subtle about it, either. Ready? Here it is:

DON’T BUY JUNK.

Buy good quality stuff instead - stuff that will last for a long time and spare you unnecessary hassle and searching for replacements.

But quality is expensive!

Yes. And no.

Most of the time, high quality will cost you more than low quality, at the time of purchase. However, as long as quality - rather than brand -  is the reason for the increased price, you’ll end up saving money anyway.

If you buy cheap stuff of questionable quality, it’ll break or wear out. Probably in a relatively short period of time. Which is annoying.

Even more annoying is the fact that you’ll have to spend more money to get a replacement. And, to add insult to injury, you’ll even add to world pollution and energy use in the process.

Good quality stuff will outlast low quality stuff many times over, and cost you less in the long run. As an added bonus, you avoid annoyances and reduce your impact on the environment.

Not convinced?

Ok, here’s an example that illustrates my point:

I’ve had a home office for some time now; about 14 years. Within that period, I’ve had two office chairs.

The first one was a cheap affair from IKEA. It offered acceptable seating comfort, but not much in the way of ergonomic adjustments. No armrests or headrest, either.

About one year down the road, the back was coming loose, holes were appearing in the seat cushion cover and the chair had developed a rotten sense of humor: I would sit writing or playing a computer game, and every time I was concentrating really hard, the chair would go pssscht! and I would find myself sitting about four inches lower, concentration broken and mood foul.

My second chair was - is - a HÅG chair. It has fantastic seating comfort, armrests and a headrest. It can be adjusted to match any seating preferences perfectly.

It has seen more than twelve years of daily use, is still great to sit in and shows no sign of giving up. It did cost me about five times more than the IKEA chair, but has still saved me money by lasting about twelve times as long - so far. And sitting in it has been a pleasant experience for the whole period.

A slight lie

I’ll finish off with a slight admission: I lied - just a little - in the previous paragraph.

The cover for the seat cushion finally succumbed to my butt’s relentless pressure after eleven years.

That only serves to illustrate my point further, though. With quality items, replacement parts are usually available. With cheap stuff, repairs are often either impossible or prohibitively expensive.

I had no trouble getting a replacement seat cushion cover for my HÅG chair, so I was easily able to follow my own advice of repairing stuff to save both kinds of green.

About the author

Thomas Winther is the editor of and main contributor to Renewables At Home. There he provides tips about what individuals, households and neighbourhoods can do to reduce their impact on the environment without breaking the bank. When not blogging, he works as a programmer. He’s also an avid reader of hard science fiction, an enthusiastic, medium-skilled downhill biker and is interested in nearly everything.

These great little water bottles hold 10 ounces of any cold liquids ranging from water to milk.  They are made from high grade food grade stainless steel, making them durable drinking bottles in even the toughest of situations.   Kids can take them to school, sports or camps.  All plastic components of the bottles are made from recycled materials and are BPA-free.  Unlike plastic bottles, they are easy to clean and will not stain or have a bad taste after washing.  You can hand wash them or stick them in the dishwasher (only the actual bottle though).  All bottles are also tested thoroughly to ensure that the products are completely safe for our little ones. On top of all thee great things, they retail at just under $10.  That’s a great price for drinking bottle that will last for a long time.

The best thing about these bottles for kids is that they have such color and fun designs for both boys and girls.  Just look at some of the great designs in the above picture and it’s no surprise that kids love these drinking bottles.  They have a wide range of designs from firetrucks, dinosaurs and vehicles to butterflies, sunflowers and horses.

I was fortunate enough to receive some of these bottles and give them to a few kids of friends and family.  It came to no surprise that all the kids absolutely loved these bottles.  The best story from this is that one little girl carried her horse drinking bottle all over the place with her.  She would not let it go and even slept with it :)  The parents all were happy that they kids were excited to be drinking more liquids, especially water and milk.  They also praised how strong they were and that it was nice they were dishwasher safe.

I applaud Crocodile Creek for making such a great product that kids love and will enjoy to use.  It would be great to one day see every kid in school have stainless steel drinking bottle in their book bags.  Drinking bottles are not the only thing that Crocodile Creek makes.  They also have similar designs that are on their bottles on other great products for kids including lunch boxes, back packs, puzzles and bibs.  Whether your a parent or a retailer looking to stock their products, check out all the great products they sell.

Carpooling to work everyday is an easy way that you can reduce your daily gas consumption.  It is also great way to not only save money on gas, but also reduce the amount of wear on your vehicle.

Approximately 10% of all works nationwide carpool to their work every day.  That’s a much higher number than I expected, but still lower than it should be.  It doesn’t make sense that several people going to the same place at around the same time are all traveling in different vehicles.

I know what you are thinking, you don’t know anybody that works with you to carpool with.  It may be weird to drive with people you don’t know, but there are other people out there that are willing to carpool to work so they can save a little cash as well.  Two websites provide a way to connect with people just like you who are looking for a carpool to join:

• Carpool Connection: Put in your daily route to work and you can find others who drive that same route.  If nobody is on that route, you can leave a message to find other to carpool with.
• GoLoco: Share trips with your family or friends and will connect you with potential carpoolers.

Please share you carpooling experiences or if you have used website to connect up with others to carpool.

Deceiving Marketing

The biggest problem in the pet food industry is that there is little to no standards in the quality of the food. Often times, pet food manufacturers market their product as contain top quality ingredients, especially when it comes to meat.  Have you taken the time to actually read the label of any of the popular brands of pet food?  Let’s take a look at two very different brands of pet food to see what the difference is.

Popular Pet Food Brand

Healthy Pet Food

It’s pretty clear from the labels which is better.  I have seen many commercials for the first brand of pet food and look at what’s the first ingredient, ground yellow corn.  Do you think that are pets needs corn as the first ingredient in their food?  There are also tons of artificial flavorings and colorings that our pets just don’t need.  If you take a look at the second one, you can see all natural meats for the first 5 ingredients and quality carbohydrates and fruits and vegetables there on after. The above labels are from dry cat food, but you will find similar results with can foods.  The only difference you will find is low quality meats in place of high quality ones in better brands.

Why the low quality?

The main reason that many popular brands of pet food use such low quality meats and carbohydrates is the cost.  Many of these companies make us feel that their food is the top quality so that they can sell more of their food.  They don’t care about the health of our pets.  These brands of food may be much cheaper than some top quality foods, but it shows in the ingredient list.  Just think of it in terms of a human diet.  It’s like the comparison between fast food and natural foods.  Fast foods fill their foods with tons of fat and low quality ingredients just to keep the cost down with little concern for our health.  It frustrates me that these pet food companies make such outrageous claims about their products when they are further from the truth.

What they need

Cats and dogs may be domesticated, but still require a similar diet to their wild ancestors.  Have you ever seen a lion or dingo in the wild eating corn off the cob or large amounts of rice and wheat?  Our pets have similar protein requirements that wild cats and dogs have.  If you look at the protein levels in low quality foods, they will be far lower than our pets actually need.  They also try to substitute non-meat ingredients that contain low quality proteins to keep their costs down.  This same requirement is also necessary in other small animals like ferrets.

Pet Food Diets

There are several different types of pet foods that can comprise our pets diets.

Dry Food

Dry pet food or kibble is the most popular variety and is sold by so many different brands.  Dry food in general should not completely comprise our pets diets since it difficult to contain the high levels of protein our pets need.  When choosing to buy dry food, make sure to thoroughly inspect the labels and follow the top 5 rule.  If the first few ingredients do not contain any meat or contain low quality ingredients, you will want to avoid that product.  Just as with our food, if the ingredient sounds artificial or unhealthy, then it probably isn’t good for our pets.  Some key ingredient names to avoid include:

• Meat-by-product: Leftover meat parts like intestines, liver and others.
• Ground Corn: Our pets don’t need corn.
• Wheat gluten: The main reason for the big pet food recall 2 years ago.
• Brewer’s Rice: Low quality rice with little nutrition.

For a great definition list of all pet food ingredients, check out all natural pet food Natura’s Ingredient Search.

There are many brands of dog and cat food that contain high levels of quality ingredients including:

• Natura Pet Food including EVO, Innova, California Natural and others.
• Wellness
• Eagle Pack
• Orijens

Canned Food

Canned foods contain much high levels of protein than dry foods simply because they are moist.  The same rules apply for canned food as with dry food.  Look for high quality proteins and try to avoid canned foods with “gravy”.

Raw Food Diet

Many people have switched from using dry and canned foods to a raw food diet.  These diets mimic what our pets would eat if they were wild.  Some ingredients include raw meat, uncooked bones, vegetables and fruits.  Raw food diets can be bought either frozen or freeze-dried by a variety of companies.  Vets don’t often recommend these types of diets because they may not contain all the nutrition that our pets needs, especially vitamins and minerals.  A way to try this diet is to mix it with a dry/canned food diet to mix up your pet’s diet.

There are many companies that now sell raw food diets throughout the country and online that include:

• Nature’s Variety
• Northwest Naturals
• BRAVO!

Make Your Own Food

Any popular diet that many people take is to make their own pet food.  This can be the most cost-effective way to feed our pets as well as knowing exactly what our pets are eating.  Check out this great article on Bargaineering about pros and cons of making your own pet food.

Save Money?

Spending more money on food does not seem like the way to save money, but it can save you money in the long term.  Think about the high cost of veterinarian bills as you pets get older.  The healthier and more natural the food you feed you pets, the better chance your veterinarian bills will be lower over the life of your pet.  Whether the savings is actually more than the money you are spending on your pet is hard to determine.  I say that if our pets live longer and are healthier over their lifetime, giving them quality food should not be a question.

Guidance

In general, just make sure to do research on any brand of pet food you buy.  At minimum, check the ingredient list of any food before you buy.   Dog Food Analysis has some great reviews of many brands of dog food and categorizes them based on their quality of ingredients.

Please share any brands of pet food or diets that you feel are all natural and healthy for you pets.

Buying a New Refrigerator

If you current refrigerator is either old or a major energy hog, there is no better time than now to upgrade to a more modern and energy efficient model.  Here are a few tips in determining if you should purchase a new refrigerator and what type of refrigerator you should purchase.

Ditch Older Models

Usually when it comes to most electrical devices, the older it is, the more energy it requires to run.  This is not always the case, but the majority of older refrigerators use far more energy than their modern counterparts.  There are many factors including lesser technology, lower standards and just being old.  Let me elaborate on that last one a little further.  The more a refrigerator is used and the older it gets, parts on it begin to ware and require more energy to operate the same way they did when it was first purchased.  If you refrigerator is older than 30 years and may not be in the best of shape, it’s time to replace that refrigerator.  Actually anything prior to 1997 when the federal government enacted energy standards with refrigerators would be a candidate to replace.

Break Even Point

There is a certain period of time in which the cost of purchasing a new energy efficient refrigerator is covered by its energy savings.  This may be many years, but there is a specific amount of time to reach that point.  I did a little calculations with my energy calculator to determine the break even point at which an old refrigerator with an energy use of 1800 kwh/year as compared to a more energy efficient refrigerator that uses 500 kwh/year.  Let’s say that the new refrigerator costs $500 and energy cost of 11¢  per kwh to make calculations simple.

This means that each year, there is potentially $142 in savings and a break even point of 3 ½ years.  That a pretty short period of time to cover the entire cost of a new energy efficient refrigerator.  In order to figure out the kwh energy use of your current refrigerator, refer to its manual or try using the P3 Kill-A-Watt.

Energy Star

Energy Star appliances can use up to 20% less energy than models meeting today’s federal standards and 40% less than models prior to 2001. You can also receive local rebates on your new purchase of any Energy star appliance. One word of caution with upgrading your appliance is if you buy a larger model.  If you were to go from a smaller fridge to a massive one, you may not save any energy even though it is Energy Star rated.

Energy Saving Tips

You don’t necessarily mean that you have to buy a new refrigerator, as there are other small ways you can save.  All of the following make sure that your fridge doesn’t have to work harder than it needs to.

• Keep the Doors Closed: Make sure to not keep the refrigerator doors open for long and close them immediately when finished.
• Allow Items to Cool: This is one I hear all the time and it does save energy.  Allow items to cool completely before putting them in your fridge.
• Don’t Overcrowd: Don’t overfill your refrigerator and be sure to empty items out old or spoiled food items.
• Proper Maintenance: This is common sense, but take care of your fridge and get any need repairs to make sure it’s running efficiently.
• Door Seals: Ensure that the door seals are tightly fitting against the fridge.