Summer is just around the corner, and this is the time of year when we really ramp up our lawn activities– watering, fertilizing, mowing, etc. And all of these can have major negative environmental consequences. Did you know that over 50 million Americans mow their lawns each weekend, and contribute as much as 5% of the country’s air pollution? And it’s staggering to realize that the average American grassy lawn can use over 20,000 gallons of water each summer! So, a major part of any green home strategy should be to embrace eco-friendly lawn and garden care.

Here are 12 ways you can make sure you have an eco-friendly lawn this summer

1. Collect rain water and use it for your plants. Getting a rain barrel or two for your yard is a simple way to collect and reuse Mother Nature’s water. Just put it under your gutter’s down spout and you’ll be amazed how fast it fills up. Click here for rain barrels.

2. Make sure you’re not over-watering. Most of us over-water our lawns. Do you have moss growing on your driveway or sidewalk or in your garden? That’s a sign you’re watering too much. Do you have pools of standing water anywhere? Another sign. You can buy a very inexpensive lawn moisture meter that will tell you if you’re over-watering. You might also consider getting an intelligent irrigation control system that attunes your watering to the weather and your lawn’s needs.

3. Don’t hose down your sidewalks and driveway. That water is a valuable resource and the water you send into the gutter is carrying oil and a host of chemicals out as run-off that go on to pollute our rivers, lakes and oceans.

4. Get a push mower for your lawn. Traditional gas mowers are horrible for our air quality and contribute to global warming. They are major environmental offenders. A good-ole push mower is the eco-friendly solution. (Or if you can’t go all the way to push style, get a plug-in electric model– better than gas.) Find mowers here.

5. Say no to leaf-blowers! The gas-powered leaf blowers some people use are major carbon emissions culprits. Say yes to a broom! Your waist-line will thank you too.

6. And when you’re done mowing, leave your clippings on your yard. Those grass clippings make great mulch and will help you save water as well.

7. Be sure to compost your other yard waste. If your city doesn’t collect green waste for composting, please get a composter and do it yourself. It’s super easy and the composter will turn your waste into great mulch for use throughout your yard and garden. Find composters here.

8. Embrace native plants. Plants, flowers and grasses that are native to your region are the most atuned to soil, climate and water particularities. They are great water savers and will thrive with less care than tropical and other imported varieties. And they are gorgeous! Learn more about native landscaping here with our book collection. Or contact a green professional landscape designer or maintainance provider from our green services directory. We have eco-minded landscaping experts listed across the United States.

9. Are you addicted to the look of grass but live in a high-drought area? You may want to consider synthetic grass. It uses no water, lasts over ten years, and looks & feels surprisingly real. Learn more about synthetic grass here.

10. Why not start your own organic food garden? Nothing could be better for the planet or your health. Learn how to get started with organic veggies here.

11. Use non-toxic fertilizers and pest-control agents for your garden and lawn. Not only are these better for your plants (particularly any food you might eat), they reduce the amount of toxins that run-off into our waterways. Find safe alternatives here.

12. Use solar or LED lighting in your lawn. Solar lighting is obviously an energy-saver. If you don’t find solar lights bright enough, check out LED lights—they are very bright and use very little power. They will last 5-10 times as long as standard outdoor lights. Find energy-efficient lighting options here.

Read More about Eco-Friendly Lawn Care:

• Daily Tip: Water Your Lawn Smarter
• Tip o’ The Day: A “Reel” Green Lawn
• Getting America’s Lawns Off Drugs

Image credit: kevindooley at Flickr under a Creative Commons license

You may not know it, but your kitchen is one of the biggest resource hogs in your house. You use electricity and natural gas for your appliances. You use water in your sink and dish washer. Your fridge is stocked with foods grown and transported from all over the world that require chemicals, water and fuel to be produced and transported. And then there’s the non-recyclable packaging that goes straight to a landfill.

Here is a list of things you can do in your kitchen to lower your environmental impact, and also to live in a healthier home. We have recommendations for appliances, products and new behaviors.

Any chance you are planning a kitchen remodel? We also have great recommendations for you– wonderful new materials for countertops,cabinets and floors, leads on top-rated green architects and interior designers, and more. Just scroll down if you’re focused on a remodel.

Get Green in the Kitchen

1. Use energy-saving appliances. You can greatly reduce your power and water usage and your greenhouse gas production by using Energy Star appliances. Energy Star appliances can save as much as 50% of your energy and water use, and can cut your carbon footprint by 1000+ pounds, compared to standard appliances. Click here to see Energy Star models.

2. Use compact fluorescent lighting. Compact fluorescent lights use 1/4 the energy and last up to 10 times as long as standard bulbs. And they come in versions that are dimmable, recessed-ready, and daylight spectrum–any version of light type you can think of. Each high-use bulb you replace will save up to $10 and 100 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, and they last for many years. Click here to see our wide range of CF lighting options.

3. Recycle and Re-use. Can you rinse that ziplock and use it again? Can you reuse the containers you got from take-out? And don’t get plastic bags every time you go to the store for groceries– take durable reusable sacks with you. Click here for reusable grocery bags..

4. Eat Organic, Eat Local. Not only is eating organic healthy for you and your family, but it keeps chemicals from running off into our oceans and rivers from non-organic farms. Eating food sourced locally–like from farmers’ markets– means tons of carbon dioxide are not released into the atmosphere in the process of transporting food to you. To learn more about eating organic,see our selection of great books on organic food and cooking. Also, you can find a farmer’s market near you to get delicious, organic, locally-grown foods.

5. Get green cleaners. Each time you spray a standard cleaner on your counter you breathe in a fine mist of harmful chemicals. Use non-toxic, organic dish soap, detergent and cleaners to protect yourself and your family. See our selection of green cleaners.

6. Compost. Don’t throw out those coffee grounds and banana peels– save landfill space and make your own rich potting soil using a composter. It’s easy! And there’s even a model that works right in your kitchen. Find the composter that’s right for you.

7. Only run your dishwasher when you have a full load. It takes the same amount of energy to run a full or a half load– so wait another day and fill up that machine. Also, remember that washing dishes or pots by hand takes more water than doing them in the washer– so go ahead and put them in the machine.

Remodel Your Kitchen the Great Green Way– it’s healthy, sustainable and gorgeous!

If you remodel a kitchen the “normal way” you’d likely use some combination of new woods for cabinets, marble or tile for countertops, and perhaps some new tile or wood flooring. These standard materials consume resources and contain many toxic chemicals. Fortunately there is a very different way to design and build your new dream kitchen– a way that is sustainable, healthy and jaw-dropping gorgeous. We’ll show you how.

First you should find an architect or an interior designer who is skilled in working with sustainable materials and knows how to build in an eco-friendly manner. Use our nationwide listing of green architects and interior designers to find a great one near you.

Now let’s focus on materials you should consider. Let’s talk about countertops.

Terrazzo is so beautiful you will not believe it is sustainable. Terrazzo consists of recycled glass and crushed stone held together by cement or epoxy. It is buffed to give it a smooth finish. Terrazzo is low maintenance, long-lasting, and has high recycled content. Recycled materials can make up as much as 95 percent of the materials in terrazzo. Terrazzo from EnviroGlas(pictured at right) and Icestone are particularly good for their high recycled content.

“Paper Stone” is another great countertop option. Comprised of paper and other fiber suspended in resin, these materials look surprisingly like stone and come in a variety of exciting colors. The material is heat resistant and very durable. It is also easy to maintain with a nonabrasive cleaner and a cloth. PaperStone and Richlite are two of the more well-known brands. Richlite (pictured at below) uses pulp from sustainably managed forests, and PaperStone incorporates up to 100 percent recycled paper pulp.

On to kitchen cabinets.

Everyone automatically thinks “new cabinets” when they start to plan a kitchen remodel. But cabinets are often made from wood harvested unsustainably and saturated with chemicals used in sealing, gluing, and painting. Many of the chemicals used can be cancer-causing and can offgas into your home for years. Fortunately there are some great, safe alternatives.

First, save whatever parts of your existing cabinets that are still servicable. Are the shelves okay but the fronts have to go? Already, you’ve saved a lot of wood and money. For the new cabinet elements, you can use reclaimed wood, or formaldehyde-free pressed fiberboard. Or you can even get cabinets made from compressed plant material (such as wheatboard).

For the best in wood cabinets, you want to find ones that use either reclaimed wood or FSC-certified wood (FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council–www.fscus.org– and they assure that wood is grown and harvested in a sustainable manner). For reclaimed wood, you can turn to several companies that make cabinets using salvaged wood. CitiLogs uses reclaimed wood and custom milling to produce beautiful products. A company that will sell you reclaimed cabinet-grade wood is Elmwood Reclaimed Lumber.

You can also go the “new but sustainable route” with cabinets. AlterECO manufactures cabinets out of bamboo (a fast-growing grass) and wheat board. (Pictured at right.) Check out AlterECO’s cabinet selection here. Another great supplier is Breathe Easy. Breathe Easy cabinets are made using bamboo, FSC Certified plywood and/or wheatboard (all formaldehyde free). Both companies offer low- or no-VOC finishes. Also check out Kirei board, which makes panels out of the pressed stalks of harvested Chinese sorghum. Visit www.kireiusa.com.

You also have some great flooring options.

Marmoleum is not your grandma’s linoleum. (Pictured at left.) It is made of linseed oil, rosins, and wood flour, affixed to a natural jute backing. It is durable, comfortable to walk on and comes in a mind-blowing array of colors and patterns. To learn more about Marmoleum and find a dealer near you, please click here.

Another great sustainable flooring option is bamboo. Bamboo is a fast-growing grass and is very renewable, durable and attractive. We recommend Teragren bamboo flooring, a company whose mission is to help reduce our dependence on dwindling timber resources by manufacturing flooring, stairs, and panels from bamboo sustainably harvested in the Zhejiang Province of China. Click here to find a Teragren supplier near you.

Also have a look at these amazing tiles made out of recycled rubber– they come in blue, gray, shades of orange, and many other colors. They are both durable and springy, which means they’re easy on your knees. Visit www.ecosurfaces.com to see samples.

Lighting is also critical

Why not use some skylights or solar tubes? Natural light is best for your health and for the environment. If you do need electric lights, there are many great recessed, track and decorative light fixtures that work great with compact fluorescent bulbs. You’ll save a lot of power and money going this route.

Last but not least, don’t forget about appliances. We’ve already mentioned them in the section above, but don’t forget that appliances will consumer energy for as long as they are in your kitchen, so make the right choices from the start and buy Energy Star appliances.

Thanks for learning how to green your kitchen. Please make sure to check out our new Green Products Ratings & Reviews on main site at www.lowimpactliving.com where we’re adding new and exciting features every day!

Tankless hot water heaters are becoming a must-have appliance in homes these days. They purport to offer many benefits - instant and endless hot water, less wasted space, and a smaller carbon footprint as well. They can even be used to power radiant underfloor heating that is a luxury found in many green homes.

But are they truly the best option? What can you expect from one, and what do you have to worry about with installation? Finally, are there other options available that offer the same benefits without some of the challenges? We’ll try to cover most of that in this piece.

First off, some basics about how tankless hot water heaters work. Standard non-electric storage hot water heaters typically are about 60% efficient, meaning that 60% of the energy in whatever fuel they burn is converted into heat for your water. The other 40% of energy is wasted, some due to inefficient burners and some due to the gradual cooling of water stored in the tank through time. Tankless or on-demand hot water heaters address both of these issues: they eliminate the storage-related losses, and they employ sophisticated burners and controls to improve on the combustion efficiency. Top-of-the-line models can be 80-85% efficient, which results in a 30+% savings on your hot water energy bills and your carbon footprint compared to your tank in the corner. (electric unit savings will be lower, since storage electric HW heaters already have efficient heating mechanisms).

There are some important caveats associated with tankless hot water heaters, though. If you’re considering one, make sure you take into account the following issues when you’re weighing the pros and cons:

1. Instantaneous hot water means it will be hot at the outlet of the water heater right away, not necessarily at your tap. If you have a home where your shower or sink is far away from the hot water heater, replacing a storage with a tankless hot water heater might not solve your cold start problems. All of that water sitting in your hot water pipes will lose heat quickly, and you’ll have to clear it out when you turn on the shower before you get too hot. Many modern green homes employ new plumbing techniques where the hot water heater is located in the center of the house and each fixture is individually plumbed with smaller and less expensive plastic tubing to solve this problem and reduce hot water pipe losses.
2. Tankless hot water heaters consume more fuel per unit of time than do standard hot water heaters, since they can’t rely on the stored hot water in the tank. This means that you might have to replace your gas line with a larger diameter one, all the way from the gas meter to your hot water heater. This can be expensive depending on your layout. Most tankless HW heaters need a 3/4″ line, while most older homes have 1/2″ lines by default.
3. Proper sizing is critical. The required size of a tankless HW unit depends on two main factors: the temperature of the water coming in, and the maximum demand you expect at any one time. When people are disappointed by their new heater’s performance, it is often because they under-sized the unit, either because they under-estimated how frequently they need multiple hot water uses or they underestimated how cold their water is coming into their house. Most manufacturers provide charts, tables or calculators to help with proper sizing - make sure you are honest about your uses, and make sure you follow the manufacturer recommendations. And, be sure to plan based on your winter water temperature - it would be a real bummer to wake up on the coldest day of the winter to find out that your new water heater underperforms!
4. You might have to improve your venting. Tankless HW heaters burn alot of fuel, so your existing venting might not be sufficient. You may have to install larger, straighter ducting, or perhaps install the unit outside. Both can add to the cost, so be prepared.

The tankless hot water heater segment is increasingly crowded. All major manufacturers make models that will suffice for an entire single family home and that meet the upcoming Energy Star standards for tankless hot water heaters. Top manufacturers such as GE, Bosch, Noritz, Rinnai, and Takagi all make models that comply with the performance characteristics of Energy Star, but we found it interesting that the warranties for current whole-house models from only three of the five companies met the 10 year heat exchanger / five year parts levels set by Energy Star: the new GE 9.4 GPM model (10/5), the Rinnai R75LSi (12/5) and Takagi Mobius T-M199 (10/5). The Noritz 0751 and the Bosch 2700ES met the performance characteristics, but the warranties fell short of what will be required for Energy Star labeling in the future. We suspect that all will soon upgrade their warranty programs to meet Energy Star standards.

What about other ways to get the same benefits? Today, you have many options.

• First off, solar hot water heaters are the most environmentally friendly units you can buy, and they’re much more affordable than a solar electric system. You still get attractive rebates and tax incentives in many areas to offset the cost. They’re still 2x as expensive as a tankless hot water heater, but if you’re really trying to cut your footprint this is the way to go.
• There are several new ultra-efficient storage hot water heaters that are even more efficient than the best tankess versions - up to 95% efficient! How do they do that? They employ specialized burners, heat exchangers and insulation to get the absolute most heat out of your fuel. AO Smith’s Vertex hot water heater is good example. You’ll probably pay about the same or perhaps a bit more as compared to a tankless version, and they are large, but they are even more efficient.
• Consider either a point-of-use tankless hot water system or a recirculating pump if you have a decent hot water, but are tired of waiting a minute or two for hot water each time you take a shower. These units fit right under your sink and will provide almost instant hot water. The point-of-use hot water heaters (such as the Bosch PowerStar) are just smaller, less complicated versions of electric tankless heaters, so they have the same benefits. A recirculating pump will redirect the cold water that has accumulated in your hot water pipe back to your heater, thereby saving water and some energy in the process. You can connect them to switches, timers or motion sensors so that there’s hot water waiting before you even get to the bathroom. These pumps can be HUGE wasters of energy, though, if they are used for a long time each day. If you are eco-minded, make sure you buy controls that only run the pump when you truly need hot water. Versions that allow this kind of customization include the RedyTemp and the Metlund D’MAND system.

If you are wondering how much these various options will save in your home, create a profile in Low Impact Living’s Environmental Impact Calculator and go to the Projects page. There you can review how much you can save by installing a tankless or high-efficiency storage (such as the Vertex above) hot water heater versus just insulating your current version.

Efficient hot water heating is a true green no-brainer. Not only are they light on the planet, but they will also increase the comfort of your home and the effectiveness of your appliances. Fortunately, you now have many great options to choose from!

See also:

Cleantechnica: Water Heaters Get ENERGY STAR and Reduce Bills, Emissions

Green Options: Greens in the Shower — Some Like it Cold

Eco Child’s Play: Water, Water Everywhere

Green Building Elements: Elements of Building — Water

Image credits: GE and Bosch

We have recently come across the outstanding artists who are using found and recycled objects to create their masterpieces. Their work is gorgeous, intriguing and sustainable– what could be better?

The first we want to highlight is the “mosaic fusion” of artist S A Schimmel Gold. She collects junk mail and incorporates it into her stunning portraiture. Some are pure pop, some are moody and moving. I saw them “in person” at the AltBuild Expo last week and was floored. The artist says of herself and her work, “I am a rabid recycler - I am compelled to upcycle unusual resources to create my art and give others’ images and words a new life in my work. Look closely for menu items, cruise itineraries, gallery openings… stand back to view the sum of the parts - a textural representation of beauty.” Please review the Schimmel Art collection here.

The second artist we love is Tammy Roy, who is the founder of OneEighty, an eco-art studio. Tammy takes used washers, rebar and other found metal objects and welds them into compelling pieces. She makes lamps, bowls, wall pieces– and the amazing fireplace screen shown here. Tammy and her mom love to go dumpster-diving together– she says, “Unlike most mothers and daughters, you won’t see us in the malls, but instead pulling scraps of steel from salvage yards!” See the entire OneEighty collection here.

If you have not seen the plastic bag mandala art of Virginia Fleck, you have a real treat in store. Fleck collects brightly colored plastic bags and turns them into spiritual post-consumer gems. She is grounded in both the traditions of American quilting and the mandala art of Tibet. Some of the pieces are fanciful (including images of Scooby Doo’s face) and some are more abstract and modernist. Fleck’s work has met with great critical acclaim, and once you peruse her collection, you will have no question as to why.

Kwytza Kraft was the original idea of founder Bryan Parks, an American who lived in China for several years. He became disturbed by the refuse created by single-use chopsticks, and decided he needed to do something about it. Now he collects chopsticks, sanitizes them, and creates stunning lamps, bowls, and other objects. He even makes purses and necklaces out of chopsticks. Please take a look at the Kwytza Kraft collection.