Posts Tagged green design

Plants .. from heaven above

Defy gravity, safe space, purify your air, bring more nature into your life and home.   This invention has been seen in similar designs ~ make no mistake this is no topsy turvy!  Greenery brings more life to your environment, and the Sky Planter has little hassle with all the rewards.

Imagine the possibilities… herbs in your kitchen, soothing scents in your bath, or simply cleaner air in your home office.  A few compatible plants include:  Syngonium, Anthurium, Rubber Plant, Boston Fern, Fennel, Geranium, Kentia Palm, Mint, Orchid, Parsley, Peace Lilly, Strawberry, & Hoya.

BOSKKE means ‘a small forest’ and that’s exactly what you can create with our intelligent eco-sensitive designs.

Learn more at www.boskke.com on the web or Facebook!

Tags:

No Comments

Expert offers Tips for “Greening” the Kitchen

Falls Church, VA —  There’s a color sweeping the nation…and it’s green! Many people are beginning to understand the impact, or carbon footprint, that their lifestyle choices make on the planet. As a result, they’re starting to seek ways to reduce their impact. One way they can do so is by turning their attention to their kitchens and tweaking what products they use in there.

“The good news is that [changes made in the way people use their kitchens and to what products are used there don’t] have to break the bank. People don’t have to do a 180º overnight. Making small changes here and there can add up to big results, over time,” says Chef Paul F. Magnant, dean of culinary at Stratford University, here.

Here are a few tips from Chef Magnant to help you start greening your kitchen:

* Start with what you bring into the kitchen. Buy as much food that is locally produced as you can so that fuel isn’t wasted trucking it to you. And forgo the paper-or-plastic debate by sticking to reusable bags you take to the store.
* Skip the disposables. Whether it’s for a picnic or a party, opt for utensils, dishes and bakeware that can be reused to save on resources. Invest in a set of cloth napkins, and turn old sheets, towels or clothing into rags for cleaning by cutting them into small pieces.
* Keep it going. Stick a wicker basket in your kitchen to contain all of the items destined for recycling. Once the day is over or the basket is full, just take it to the larger bins to be sorted.
* Recycling saves a lot of items from heading to landfills, and reduces the amount of garbage at your curb each week. You can also reuse your raw vegetable left-overs and scraps by setting up a composting system and using the collected matter in your garden.
* Drink home water. Skip buying the bottles of water and invest in a water-filtration device for your kitchen. You’ll save a lot of money in the end and will avoid adding to the water-bottle problem our country faces.
* Clean green. Save money by using natural cleaning supplies and keep unnecessary chemicals out of the environment at the same time. Take a spray bottle and put equal parts water and distilled vinegar in it; this can be used as an all-purpose cleaner for everything from counters to sinks.
* Think big. When it’s time to buy new appliances, opt for ones that are energy-efficient by specifically looking for the ENERGY STAR endorsement. ENERGY STAR is a government-backed initiative that ensures you’re buying an energy-efficient product. Bigger isn’t always better, especially if you don’t need the extra room. Smaller appliances will shave money off your bill each year.

“Nobody is going to make all these changes overnight,” adds Magnant. “But making a couple each year will have your kitchen as green as can be before you know it. We what save, saves us!”

Stratford University’s culinary arts program offers several degrees, including concentrations in baking and pastry, as well as advanced culinary arts. The school also offers non-degree public one-day culinary courses covering such topics as beginner baking, knife skills, vegetarian cooking and cake decorating, as well as parent-and-child cooking.

Tags: ,

No Comments

20 Ways to Save Water Without Sacrificing Performance

Go the extra mile and help clients reduce water use – you can save them money and help protect the environment.

Bath

  • Choose fixtures certified to meet WaterSense criteria, which offer a flow rate of 1.5 gallons per minute (gpm), compared to an industry standard of 2.2 gpm. WaterSense is a partnership program sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that aims to decrease indoor and outdoor water use through water-efficient products and simple, water-saving practices. All of Moen’s lavatory faucets are certified to meet WaterSense criteria.
  • Replace 3.5 gallons per flush (gpf) toilets with newer 1.28 gpf models when remodeling an older home. The WaterSense certification is currently available for high-efficiency toilets as well as faucets. Toilets can use 28 percent of a home’s water according to some estimates.
  • Consider dual-flush toilets. Users can conserve water by choosing a flush with less water for liquid waste.
  • Read consumer reviews and choose toilets that consistently do the job with one flush. Be aware that higher price doesn’t always mean better performance.
  • Showers can account for 20 percent of indoor water use. You can slash that percentage that by replacing each industry standard 2.5 gpm showerhead with a showerhead certified to meet WaterSense criteria such as Moen’s Envi™ Eco-Performance Rainshower. The Eco-Performance line includes 12 models, with flow rates of 1.75 or 2.0 gallons per minute (up to 30% less than the industry standard). Several of these showerheads feature Moen’s innovative Immersion® technology – a self-pressurizing system that increases the force and flow of water delivery.
  • Consider products such as Moen’s ioDigital shower or vertical spa, which includes a water-saving setting that really earns its keep in the home bath.
  • Add an aerator to mix air and water to reduce flow without cutting pressure, if you can’t replace the faucet. They’re easy to install. Aerators for the bath should have a rating of 1.0 gpm max.

Photo Credit: Moen Incorporated
Moen Envi™ Three Function Eco-Performance Showerhead

Photo Credit: Moen Incorporated
Moen ioDigital™ Shower

Kitchen

  • Add faucet aerators (2.2 gpm rating is adequate) to existing kitchen faucets to conserve water without reducing pressure.
  • Recommend ENERGY STAR®-qualified dishwashers, which use a third less water than non-qualified models.
  • Suggest a dishwasher that does a good job cleaning, so the homeowner doesn’t have to pre-rinse dishes.
  • Recommend refrigerators that dispense chilled water, which can eliminate the wasteful habit of running tap water to cool it before drinking.

Laundry

  • Encourage homeowners not to buy a bigger clothes washer than they really need. Although water-saving front-loading clothes washers are the obvious choice, many people will buy a larger washer just to accommodate special situations (such as the two weeks the kids will be home from college).

Yard

  • Recommend employing water-efficient landscaping practices such as planting drought-tolerant plant species and grouping together plants that need similar amounts of water.
  • Suggest mulching trees and plants to help the soil retain moisture and reduce watering needs.
  • Use as little fertilizer as possible – it can increase plants’ water consumption.
  • Recommend “smart” sprinkler controls, which monitor soil moisture levels and water the lawn only when needed.
  • Suggest sprinkler heads that throw large drops of water. Smaller droplets evaporate more before soaking into the ground.
  • Put covers on swimming pools to reduce evaporation and the need to add water.

Don’t forget the infrastructure

  • Install tankless water heaters. Whole-house models use less energy than a tank, and point-of-use models save water by heating it right under the sink, so there’s no need to run the tap while waiting for hot water to arrive.
  • Insulate the water pipes. Everyone recommends this, but a surprising number of builders and remodelers don’t do follow this advice.

Tags: , , ,

1 Comment

eco™

A counter top that won’t melt—or scratch, stain or scorch.
And it is one of the most GREEN products on the market !

eco by cosentino2

Glass never wears out – it can be recycled forever. Every month, American´s throw out enough glass bottles and jars to fill up a giant skyscraper.  A glass bottle can take up to one million years to breakdown.  On the other hand, Americans recycle nearly 13 million glass jars & bottles every day.

eco countertops polar capEco™ by Cosentino is ahead of their time, and prove to be GREEN at best. Production of their counter tops is expected to reuse the equivalent of 60 Million glass bottles every year!  The only use products that have reached the end of their lifecycle – this means materials being used in ECO™ by Cosentino cannot be incorporated in to any other industrial product that would otherwise collect in landfills.

-mirrors salvaged from houses, building and factories

-glass from windshields, windows and bottles

-granulated glass from consumer recycling practices
porcelain from china, tiles, sinks, toilets and ECO by Cosentino elements

-an eco-friendly resin with 22% of its composition coming from vegetable origin (mainly corn)

    The Green Collection is composed of colors containing 75% post-industrial recycled raw materials.  Polar Cap, Crystal Ash and Starlight are made mainly from recycled mirror. While the colors Luna and Crystal Sand are composed mainly from recycled glass and porcelain. The color Black Forest is composed mostly of recycled glass and quarried stone.

    The Revive Collection is composed of 75% post-consumer recycled raw materials.  The colors Terra, Riverbed and Iron Ore are mainly composed of from recycled glass, mirrors and industrial furnace residuals and White Diamond is mainly composed of recycled glass.

    Eco Colors

    Click on the logo below to learn more.

    logo-eco-by-cosentino

    recycled surfaces

    Tags: , , ,

    No Comments

    Energy Savings with Light Controls

    With the trend increasingly focused on going green, why not consider a simple solution that shrinks your carbon footprint and enhances your home?  Lighting controls can make more of a room’s design while using less of the home’s energy, as well as aesthetics and, of course, the environment.

    What do light controls mean in practice? Prices range from $8 for a single light dimmer to potentially thousands of dollars for a sophisticated, fully automated system—meaning incorporating light controls into a design plan is a possibility no matter the budget.
    And light controls help the environment too. One of the fastest growing consumer interests relates to energy savings and the environment. Lighting consumes nearly 25 percent of the U.S. electricity budget, to the tune of $37 billion annually, and accounts for 18 percent of overall energy consumption in homes. It is for these reasons that lighting is emerging as a target for energy-efficiency efforts that can help reduce carbon emissions, protect the environment and save your clients money.
    One of the easiest ways to save energy is to use light controls. The science behind a typical dimmer is relatively simple and has not changed dramatically since 1961. It works by flickering the electricity on and off so quickly that the eye doesn’t notice—120 times per second. When the light is off, no energy is being used. The longer it is off, the lower the light output. In other words, the more the light is dimmed, the greater the energy savings.
    Existing lighting control technologies (some that have been around for nearly 50 years like the simple dimmer) can cut lighting costs by more than 70 percent while reducing environmental impact. Indeed, the humble dimmer switch on the wall of a home is truly an energy-saving device. The average single dimmer costs less than $20 and saves approximately $7.36 per year, meaning it pays for itself in about 26 months. And while more advanced systems—such as whole-home systems integrated with light sensors and automatically controlled window shades—obviously cost more, they all produce significant benefits.

    More importantly, think about the cumulative impact of lighting controls: dimmers save enough energy each year to light 4.5 million homes for 12 months. And installing one dimmer in every U.S. home in place of a standard light switch would save $816 million in electricity annually and reduce CO2 by 4.3 billion pounds per year. That’s like taking 370,000 cars off the road.

    —by Matt Donati, product marketing manager for Lutron Electronics.  For the full article CLICK HERE.

    Tags: , , ,

    No Comments