Green Options » water savings

Eco Water Saver™ Shower Timer - Green? Blue? Just Neat Idea?

John Simonetta — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 00:25:35 +0000

This is a guest post by John Simonetta, owner of an eco-friendly promotional items consultancy (see proformagreen.com). John’s blogs are designed to keep us up to date on the “greening” of his industry.

As I said 2009 seems to be the year of new green ideas. The Eco Water Save Shower Timer, now available from All-in-One, is certainly a great one.

You place the twist-action 5-minute shower timer onto the side of the shower via a suction mount. The client goes into the shower and turns the hour glass (or is it 5 minute glass) over. When the sand runs out, shower should be over.

These little items help people save water, energy and money, by reminding folks to take shorter showers. They are also shatter-resistant and have a 70% recycled plastic body, so they count as a green item in their own right.

This is a very simple and very smart giveaway for any Ecopreneurist who works in the water or energy industries. I also think they would be great for city and community energy drives. Certainly a great Earth Day giveaway for all you Ecopreneurists taking place in Earth Day fairs, seminars and other events this year.

They might also be a good item for schools, spas, hotels and other venues that have users taking showers as a friendly reminder to save water.

With a EQP of $4.62 these items are a great way to get your message or brand in front of your client each and every day.

For more information on the Eco Water Save Shower Timer please visit the All-in-One website or email info@proformagreen.com

Interested in Greening Your Commercial Kitchen? Enter to Win $40,000 in Equipment

Joel Bittle — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:07:35 +0000

The folks over at Food Service Warehouse are celebrating the announcement of their Certified Green Commercial Kitchens program by announcing a green commercial kitchen contest, with $40,000 worth of kitchen equipment and supplies going to the winner. If you operate a commercial kitchen and have taken steps to make it greener, fill out the form by October 31 to enter the contest. It’s free and the prizes include a refrigerator/freezer, steamer, fryer, ice machine, oven, and more.

Food Service Warehouse is an online source for commercial kitchen equipment that has taken impressive steps in encouraging green commercial kitchen practices. They have devoted dozens of pages to explaining the advantages of going green and giving practical advice on how to achieve it.

Platinum LEED 19th Century Building

Philip Proefrock — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 04:50:52 +0000

Harvard University has achieved several firsts with the recent renovation of an old power plant into an office building. It is the first LEED Platinum certified university building renovation, as well as Harvard’s first Platinum building. More interestingly though, it is the first Platinum building built before the turn of the the century–last century, that is. Further, the university was able to complete this building without an increase in the up-front construction costs.

Very Efficient Clothes Washers

Joel Bittle — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 02:41:47 +0000

Since its inception in 1992, the ENERGY STAR program, a joint program run by the Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy, has sought to protect the environment by promoting energy efficiency. Starting with personal computers and monitors, ENERGY STAR established energy usage guidelines that set the bar for energy conservation. Over the years the ENERGY STAR program has brought just about anything that uses energy or water under its umbrella, saving an estimated $14 billion in energy costs in 1996. LEED for Homes and the NAHB’s Model Green Building Guidelines both encourage green home builders to use ENERGY STAR rated appliances. For those seeking additional credits - and energy savings - both green building programs encourage the use of very efficient clothes washers. But what exactly is a very efficient clothes washer?

A very efficient clothes washer saves both water and energy. Water Factor (WF) measures the number of gallons per cycle per cubic foot that the washer uses. In order to qualify as a very efficient clothes washer, it must have a WF of less than 5.5. To put that number into perspective, washers that have a WF of 8, the maximum for an ENERGY STAR labeled clothes washer, use up to 10,000 gallons of water a year. One of Asko’s UltraCare clothes washers boasts of a WF of 3.4, using under 3,000 gallons of water a year. Granted, at 1.9 cubic feet the Asko model is quite small, but if water efficiency is the goal, Asko sets the standard.