By Susanna Schick •
February 5, 2010
The Culprit:
Frigidaire Ultra-Quiet (but louder than my old Bosch) III
The Contenders:
A selection of readily-available eco dishwasher detergents
Having just moved into a lovely apartment with a brand new high-efficiency, low-water use dishwasher built in, I was really looking forward to just loading it up and letting it sit for 3 days until full, like I always do. This dishwasher is being compared against three others. One is a very cheap baseline model, another is over 10 years old, and the third is a brand new Bosch I used for a few years before moving.
By Becky Striepe •
March 24, 2009
We know to
only run the dishwasher when we have a full load. We also know
that there are lots of great options for Earth-friendly dishwashing detergents. What we don’t always think about though, is good old maintenance. Nothing wastes water like unloading your dishwasher to find you have to wash half or all of the load over by hand. Giving your dishwasher a good Spring cleaning will help your dishes come out free of debris by removing gunk and buildup from all the innards.
By Joe Mohr •
July 8, 2008
To wrap up my ode to John Henry (and a more sustainable lifestyle) I am going to cover a few more everyday household plug-ins by giving the current ON the grid offering, it’s OFF the grid alternative, and weigh in on whether a switch is warranted.
ON
The Fridge: We all know what it does and why we use it–so what are the OFF the grid alternatives?
OFF
The Fridge: William “The Refrigerator” Perry, former defensive lineman for my beloved 1985 Super Bowl Champion Chicago Bears. You could try contacting him to see if he’ll deliver fresh food to your door on a daily basis. I understand he’s not very busy these days.
OFF
Jarring and canning fruits and vegetables to preserve for the winter months may save some space in the fridge, but cannot replace the fridge altogether.
SWITCH?
Realistically, it’s not likely. However, the size of refrigerators in this country is insane. My parents have an enormous fridge and regularly come across 3 year old cheeses and meats that get lost under piles of their newer/fresher replacements. In lieu of a switch to William Perry (we can’t all use him–it’s simply unrealistic) we can buy a smaller, energy efficient fridge, fill it with less food (eat fresher food), and keep the door open for very short intervals (know what you’re getting before you open it). A few generations back, families typically had more members yet much smaller fridges, so it can be done–and you’ll benefit from fresher fare.
By serenity_ii •
October 16, 2007
As I mentioned, I am not supposed to use citrus products on my silverware. I came to realize that I didn’t actually know for a fact that the Cascade I was using didn’t contain citrus, so I emailed the company to inquire. Here is the actual word-for-word response I got:
By serenity_ii •
October 15, 2007
ARGH!
My silverware requires that I use a non-citrus detergent (so no lemon, no orange, no grapefruit, no citric acid, no anything citrate). We’ve been using plain Cascade in the dishwasher–but there’s no ingredient list on the Cascade box, so I can’t guarantee that there’s no citrus in it!
Electronic waste is a big environmental issue, and we’ve covered numerous ways that both electronics companies and consumers can reduce the amount of e-waste headed for landfills. While most recent efforts focus on reuse and/or recycling (which are both important), Israeli site FixYa harnesses "crowd power" (ie, social media) to help people fix their electronics rather than disposing of them. The main motivation behind FixYa was the increasing lack
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