Many people are looking to revamp their homes in order to be more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. There are many ways to do this: Duro Last roofing, replacing your bulbs with CFLs, programming your thermostats, etc. One of the most frequent hindrances to people not upgrading their home appliances is simply not knowing who the most reliable green suppliers are.

Indeed, these days green manufacturers are on the rise and some of them put up the pretense of being aggressively environmental without walking the walk. Here are a few manufacturers you can rely on to supply your home with sustainable, environmentally eco-upholstery:

Knoll Textiles

With the creation of Abacus, this furniture manufacturer has jumped to the top of eco-textile industry, offering consumers furniture panels that have the consistency of virgin wool but fabric that is completely recycled polyester taken from production scraps.

As a member of the Clinton Global Initiative Energy and Climate Change Working Group, Knoll Textiles is proving its mettle in the green industry, having invested a considerable amount of money into green manufacturing and sustainable harvesting.

Rohner Textil

This Swiss manufacturer has created a biodegradable fabric called Climatex, which is Cradle to Cradle Gold certified (meaning it complies with a holistic, efficient, and eco-friendly approach to resource allocation) and made almost entirely from a renewable plant known as Ramie. Rohner Textil has another textile called Climatex LifeguardFR, which is chemical-free and made of wool and renewable beech wood.

Kvadrat

Kvadrat is a Danish company that produces environmentally friendly luxury textiles. Hallingdal, made from wool and viscose, is just one of the many products they produce under strict regulatory oversight which ensures ecological sustainability. They also produce biodegradable fabrics, such as Flora, Kosmos, and Helix.

Oliveira Textiles

This company creates a wide variety of eco-friendly textiles, including Anemone (made from seaweed, hemp, organic cotton, and twill), Shellgame (which is made entirely from hemp twill, or a combination of hemp and organic cotton twill), and its flagship Ocean Collection, which made from sustainable, renewable hemp and organic cotton.

O Ecotextiles

Known for their Hardy Organic Hemp, which is made entirely of long fiber hemp sourced by independent, sustainable farmers in Romania, O Textiles has an extremely good rating from the U.S. Green Building Council and has won awards for its devotion to green fabric.

Luna Textiles

Luna Textiles has based many of its materials on the MBDC Cradle to Cradle criteria and won industry accolades for creating the first polyester produced completely in accordance with 100% green manufacturing. Mezzanine, which was produced in conjunction with Victor Innovatex, is also made of Eco Intelligent polyester.

These aren’t the only companies making progressive strides in the green manufacturing industry, but they do represent an evolution in how commercial entities view their responsibilities to the environment and to eco-conscious consumers across the world. Any company or person who is in need of fabrics and textiles for upholstery or other construction projects, should look into the products outlined above. Hopefully, more companies in different industries will follow suit in the coming years.

Although it is simply great to have a shower in the morning to feel refreshed, we have to admit that we waste a lot of water with this activity and this is why the specialists are trying to come up with new concepts that offer the same refreshing feeling with the use of less water.

(photo by www.ecofriend.com)

1. Eco shower

The most interesting thing about this shower is that it is able to heat the water on its own without any electricity. For this, a water-powered turbine is located in the showerhead.

There are pressure blocks in the base to pump the water. The flow of water is also regulated by the weight of the user.

2. Smart shower

This shower is special because besides working as a shower, it also serves as a basin during the day. As a shower, it uses aerated technology and so it uses only 1/6th of the water used by traditional showers.

Also, it can store half of the heating energy. Maybe the best thing is that it has a dual purpose, thus saving space.

3. Solar beach shower

You may know that at one point things could get quite sticky at the beach, and so you really need a shower. This is what this new concept offers you, plus a lot of privacy.

Just as the name suggests, the shower uses the power of the sun and so it becomes a green product. Besides all these, it is also portable. Because it is lightweight, it can be used by campers and hikers too.

4. Eco drop shower

Although you think that a shower must be comfortable, the main point of this shower is to make you uncomfortable as time goes by so that you don’t spend too much time showering.

This is achieved through creating gradually increasing spiky undulations. You may think that this is stupid, but it could seem appealing to the parents whose kids spend too much time under the shower.

5. DA/Spa shower

You can get a shower and hydro massage with the help of this product with only about 20 liters of water. This is achieved by recycling the water with the help of electricity.

Naturally there is also a purification system that maintains and regulates the pressure and temperature of the water. Although the shower does save water, it wastes electricity.

Did you ever think that it is possible to have batteries made of organic substances? Well, it is. Just think about how much better it would be if your smartphone was a lot thinner and lighter and you didn’t need to charge it for weeks or even months.

This is what the organic batteries have to offer. No wonder these are the hottest thing of the field at the moment. NEC is known to be a leading company regarding organic batteries that has been offering batteries of this kind since 2001.

Their latest invention is a battery that is only 0.3 mm thick that for sure has a place among the eco-friendly batteries of the future. The best thing about these batteries is that they have a higher energy density than the traditional batteries, they have no heavy metals and they are extremely thin.

Being so thin, they are half the thickness of the traditional batteries. The company was able to reduce the size with the help of the technology which allows forming negative electrodes on the circuit boards. At the moment there are only some prototypes, but their abilities are amazing.

These batteries can make 360 flash firings, 35 location transmissions and they ensure 2000 hours of screen time with only one charge. The tests show that the batteries keep 75% of their capacity even after they have been recharged 500 times. The lithium batteries used in cell phones have about the same capacity.

Another huge advantage of the organic batteries is that they need only 30 seconds to recharge, so people wouldn’t have to keep their phones in the charger for hours. Because of its thickness, the battery could be incorporated in items that have a limited thickness, such as credit cards, e-paper or smart cards. Just as you may have thought, they also make it possible for the electronics manufacturers to come up with thinner gadgets.

If everything goes according to plan and the manufacturers start using the new batteries, people will have a lot less weight to carry around. Imagine your laptop being a lot lighter because of the batteries, not to mention the mobile phones, cameras and so on. It looks like mankind has a really bright future because of the batteries.

You can see that there is a lot that such a small item as a battery could do for our everyday activities.

(photo credit: www.geek.com)

Seeing LEDs in use is no news anymore, but it looks like there is more to it. In 2008 Ingo Mauer managed to use for the first time OLEDs in a functioning table lamp. This has been made of OSRAM (Opto Semiconductors) and this is the organic version of LEDs.

The lamp that he presented has been made of tiles right from the OSRAM laboratory and it shows people the potential that this new kind of lighting has regarding illumination and designing elements.

(photo credit: www.oled-display.net)

The project got the name of ‘Early Future’ and it has been created without using concealing reflectors. All of the elements of the project have been presented to make people understand the way it works. There have been metal clips used to secure the OLED modules that have been placed in the stem, and the cables have been almost invisible.

Then another project has been realized and it was called the Flying Future. This is a larger object that is made of airy metal mesh with about 100 luminous panels being attached to it. Since the mesh can be bent, the lighting can be customized in almost any way.

It’s not only the shape that makes OLEDs special. There is a whole new technology behind the light. There are radiant surfaces that diffuse the light and so there is less shadow and less unnecessary reflections.

At the moment the technology is available only for the designer of these creations. The product that Ingo Mauer realized shows us that using OLEDs in the everyday life is more than possible and it is closer to us than we could imagine.

The OLED is actually a 10×10 cm tile that has a light output. The advantage besides being organic, is that the light emitted is homogenous and stable.

It’s not only table lamps that we can use the technology in, but also these new lamps could turn the skyscrapers into advertisement panels for night time able to function without any energy. Technically they will gather the energy during the day, store it and then use it at night.

The OLED tiles on the side of the buildings are fuelled by one if there sides that is actually a solar panel which is flipped, according to the time of day so it will gather the maximum energy output.

Wouldn’t it be just great to stop using all that energy for the LEP advertisement panels, and substitute them with organic OLED light? This is the way to go in case we would like a better world along with shinning building commercials.

The smart phones are loaded with applications and are loved for their crisp displays. These features drain a lot of energy and a smart phone user is perpetually hunting for power outlets. The smart phones may be extremely trendy but they also need to be recharged pretty often to keep them running.

The good news is that scientists have been looking for ways to help the batteries run longer or may be eliminate the need to recharge the phone externally.

UCLA Materials Science Department has made breakthrough in the field and have developed a way to keep the phone charged even when continuously in use – the phone will be designed to charge itself.

The more it is used, the more recharging energy it will create. It may sound unbelievable but science has managed to bring life to the principle.

A smart phone uses energy whenever its screen is lit up, which is every time the phone is being used.

The LCD display of a phone consists of two polarized transparent sheets. Pixels or liquid crystal molecules are trapped between the two sheets. Each time the phone is in use, an array of LED back light switches on.

The backlight passes through these sheets to make display possible and the polarized sheets absorb almost 75% of the light.

Scientists have taken advantage of this and have developed a photovoltaic polarized sheet. It converts the absorbed backlight into electricity that in turn recharges the battery. These photovoltaic sheets will also absorb light from the sun and any other light source.

Therefore, the only time the phone will not be charging is when it is lounging in your purse or pocket. The technology will soon enable not just smart phones but also tablet computers and other electronic devices to keep themselves charged.

Wysips have announced another breakthrough. They have a working prototype of a phone that is charged with the help of solar power. The phone has a mini solar panel that is mounted on the screen.

The solar panel captures solar or any other external light and converts it into electricity to provide energy for the phone. This could mean that later models will be able to eliminate the battery altogether implying a future of thinner phones.

The only draw back with the prototype is that the panel is small and does not produce sufficient energy to keep the phone running, thus requiring a battery back up. Of course that these steps of science are just the beginning but the world looks full of hope to the day when Wysips will be able to design phones that will be self-sufficient.

(photo credit: advancedsmartphone.blogspot.com)

Although we are living in a digital world, there is still need for printed materials. There are many different kinds of printers, but there is something that they all have in common: they use a lot of energy and paper. This is why some people think that the printers should go green as well.

Eco printer concept

This is a new kind of printer that is different from all the others because it uses a special kind of ink. The novelty of it is that the ink allows the paper to be reused by erasing the ink from it. The ink disappears in the moment when the paper is exposed to ultraviolet radiation.

This way the lifecycle of the paper is increased. People can reduce the amount of paper used for misprints, temporary handouts, unimportant documents and unused copies. This would represent great economy compared to the traditional printers.

Pencil printer

This is another one of the eco-friendly printers. The difference between this kind of printer and all the other ones is that this one uses only slate pencils. This means that the print on the paper can be erased and the paper can be reused.

Eco printer and eraser

This is one of the most interesting concepts that people have come up with so far. It not only prints the paper, but it also erases if needed. In order to make it work all you have to do is to feed it with scrap pencils and erasers. It extracts the ‘ink’ from the graphite found in the pencils and it erases with rubber made of the pieces.

Pre-Peat eco-friendly printer

This machine comes with a special printing head that makes buying printing consumables a thing of the past. There is a thermal head and only heat sensitive paper is used to make sure that people can print on the same paper over and over again. The best thing is that there is no need for ink either.

At the moment the only drawback of the printer is that it is extremely expensive, so it won’t be available to the general public for some time. Most probably it will be used by large organizations that have a lot of printing to do. At the moment it costs $5,517 and the paper used is plastic paper of which 1,000 pieces cost $3,300. All this might be more expensive than we can afford.

In case you are leading a green life and you are wondering how to choose sustainable home décor, there are few things you should consider carefully.

At first make a small research about the producers of sustainable furniture. There are many of them on the market, but you should choose very carefully and only buy furniture that is labeled as 100 percent sustainable.

Recently bamboo has turned to be a very modern material for home décor, not to mention it is also very rational; so you should consider choosing bamboo furniture as a good option for creating green home décor.

The bamboo has many advantages and one of them is that the furniture can be used longer than others that are made of simple wood. Cork is also an option, but alas it is not very solid for furniture, so you can use it for some home accessories.

There are shops, including online ones, which offer cork accessories that surely grab the attention with their beauty; so don’t hesitate to choose cork.

Rattan is the second best material, when it comes to sustainable furniture. Actually one of the most beautiful furniture in French style is made out of rattan, mixed with Dedon  fibers. The fibers make the construction of the furniture a lot more solid and thanks to them, the furniture has a longer life.

Usually rattan is very convenient for eco furniture, for it allows creating of ergonomic shapes and design. When it comes to sustainable homer décor, it also comes to shapes and appearance. Choose only furniture with ergonomic design for is lasts longer. Another thing you should consider is recycling.

Don’t buy furniture that cannot be recycled because otherwise you will harm the environment.

Also for a greener perspective you can simply choose recycled furniture. The items are very artistic and super sustainable for they are made out of reused items. Reusing is also a tendency, when it comes to sustainable décor. Actually it is one of the most preferable ways to keep the environment clean.

There is one designer that is specializing into creating new furniture from the old and used home items: Andrew Gregg.  His compositions are already famous, for being modern and yet very comfortable.

His latest furniture is a dishwasher drum table made out of reused dishwasher drum. The spiral shape is another reason to admire his collections.

Instead of throwing your old furniture, you can create new one simply by reusing things around the house. This actually is the best way to create sustainable home décor.

In 21^st century, the need of organic cotton surely isn’t just a whim. It is actually a necessity that is changing the world into a greener and better place. The producers of organic cotton in the U.S. are now facing real boom of this item, because the word organic is already a tendency.

When it comes to organic cotton, it is also about a transgenic technology, for this is the main system that is used in the process of producing convenient cotton.

The transgenic technology is the favorite technology for many farmers in the country, for it has its own benefits. One of the main benefits remain reducing of the costs, therefore so many farmers are up to it.

The bad side of the transgenic system is the damage to the environment, as well as the ground water supply and the usage of pesticides. This way the process of producing typical cotton is already dangerous, not to mention the cotton contains chemicals and toxins.

The so called BT cotton is also extremely harmful, for it is made out of genetically modified crops, which is still a problematic issue.  The only cotton that remains green and natural is the organic cotton.

At first you should find more information about the standard, when it comes to the real organic cotton.

The definition of organic cotton is yet simple. Organic cotton is only the cotton grown of materials and by methods that have low impact on the environment.

The green cotton agriculture is a whole new chapter in the eco diversity, for it is maintaining the soil fertility and it reduces the usage of toxic fertilizers and pesticides.  The producers of organic cotton in the world are now growing day by day.

According to the recent statistic, the production of organic cotton reaches impressive figures. Globally the organic cotton production reaches 20 percent over 2008 to 175, 113 metric tons grown on 253,000 hectares.

The impressive figure is going to be even more spectacular this year as the expectations are for double figures. The top producers of organic cotton worldwide are India, Turkey, Syria, China and the U.S. Nearly 222,000 farmers grew up the fiber.

In the U.S., the growth of organic cotton is strictly observed. Any plant is waiting for several procedures for getting the certification.

Officially the federal regulations in this matter are extremely strict – organic cotton should be grown without any synthetic or toxic fertilizers and only by natural methods.

Most of us stock plenty of chemical based cleaning products without knowing how hazardous they are for the environment. Another thing we don’t know is that they can be easily replaced with non-toxic environmentally friendly cleaning products. The only challenge here is to give up the convenience of commercial chemicals and replacing them with home made recipes.

It may come as a surprise that most of our cleaning work can be efficiently done by simple stuff that is readily available at home.

Baking and washing soda, lemons and vinegar can take care of most of the load, be it stain removals, deodorizing, disinfecting or general cleaning.

Non toxic and inexpensive these few products are not only easy on the pocket but they can also improve your home’s environment and make it less toxic.

It will also help the environmental cause. Every little step counts towards the goal and the first step towards it is using environmentally friendly cleaning products at home.

Start by looking under your kitchen sink or the place where you normally store your cleaning products. You will notice that most carry hazardous warning labels. They are labeled as poisonous or hazardous.

These chemicals need to be disposed off safely and that rules out your garbage or the sink. You need to send them to the local recycling center.

Now stock up with the natural environmentally friendly cleaning products, i.e. washing and baking soda, vinegar and lemon.  Instead of using sponges or paper towels, go back to the old fashioned rag.

An old t-shirt or towel will work great. When you avoid paper towels you help save trees. If you really need to use them, use recycled and non-bleached paper towels.

Baking soda is a great cleansing agent. It can be used to keep appliances like the refrigerator and microwave odor-free. It can be used in laundry to remove stains. It is the perfect cleaner to scour pots and pans.

A few tablespoons of this wonder ingredient, down the kitchen drain will not only unclog it but also get rid of any odors. A few teaspoons of baking soda in a sachet, when placed in the closet will keep your clothes smelling fresh. You can also use to improve the condition of smelly shoes.

Lemon can be used to remove laundry stains along with baking soda. The two together are great to fight kitchen top stains.  Lemon rinds in the garbage disposal along with a little warm water will freshen up the drain. Lemon juice when added to vinegar improves its cleansing qualities and also neutralizes the strong smell.

Use these environmentally friendly cleaning products to keep your home fresh and toxin free, at the same time save money too.

Living green is a process that envelops almost everything that is surrounding us.

Recently there is a theory that claims that people should live in harmony with the environment by adding sustainable home décor into their homes.

This theory isn’t only about the materials we are using for building sustainable homes; it is also about the décor we are using. Nowadays the market is full with products labeled as green, but when it comes to home accessories or furniture, there are really few companies that are offering sustainable accessories.

Decorating is always a challenge, especially when it comes to green decoration, but the Etsy’s Décor is praised as the best in this matter. Their website is also a place, where you can find sustainable home décor ideas and mostly the right accessories.

The eco-friendly goods for your home are made out of entirely sustainable materials. For instance, you can find amazing coat hooks that are made out of old silverware and bottle caps.

Surprisingly you can also update your home décor with recycled glass. Check out the workshops that are dealing with recycled glass, for they are offering amazing works of art. There are many examples of recycled glass made as an accessory, but Etsys Décor is offering collection of recycled glass dishes, which are another contemporary example of green decoration.

Furniture can also be green and it is not even that difficult to find fine examples. Pillows and table runners can be found in very different shape from what you thought and mostly – green, because they are made out of sustainable fabrics.

The green decoration is also a matter of imagination and experiencing with different sustainable materials. The green designers are now finding the unusual materials that can be labeled as green even more interesting than the conventional ones.

Moreover, the green accessories are made to represent the synchrony between the environment and the home decoration.

Recently even the tiniest details, part of the décor are replaced with green items that symbolize the nature.

The conventional home candles are no longer what they used to be, they are now green and made from soy. The linens and the curtains are also facing changes as they are made out of organic cotton and other sustainable fabrics.

Etsy’s collection is now presenting their green collection as a solution for the green lovers that want to live in harmony with the environment. All the accessories are handmade and their producing doesn’t involve any toxins or polluting materials and substances.