You are interested in a new computer or new TV or new electronics gadget. Your old electronics have been recycled. You want to be green, to minimize the impact on our planet, and are recycling your old product. Very few people know how to judge the eco-friendliness of electronics. Hundreds of new products have hit the market with reduced power needs. Here are some criteria to judge new electronics on greenness:

Buy from a Green Company

Greenpeace has a ranking guide to the top 18 manufacturers. You can see which manufacturers are more serious about the environment. Select ones that are higher up the list. Nokia and Sony Ericsson rank well.

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photo credit: ProgressOhio

Fracking – Oil Well Drilling is causing environmental damage throughout the country. Fracking is short for hydraulic fracturing of rock to find oil and natural gas underground. This new technique allows hard to reach natural gas and oil to be extracted.  This process is popular because it has revolutionized America’s hunt for fossil fuels. Less international fuel needs to be imported. Jobs are created. Money is not shipped off to hostile countries. We definitely want to reach energy independence, lets not take short cuts and forget about the environment.

Frackings Downside

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BPA is all over the news. People are learning what it is, what products use it, and why we should be avoiding this toxic chemical. In this article we will highlight what BPA is and help you avoid exposure to it.

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Microsoft has launched their latest and greatest operating system, Windows 8.  One of the qualities they feature is improved Power Management. The focus of power saving is to extend a laptop’s battery life.

New features include:

• Power Management Framework (PoFx) now supports power management down to the component level
• Device level power management for drivers
• Uniform power management across different hardware platforms

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We all understand the goal of getting an energy efficient dishwasher that has the Energy Star label on the Energy Efficient Dishwashers. New models used improved techniques to clean using less hot water. Many do not realize that companies do not publish water use. The Oregon Department of Energy maintains a list of dishwashers that meet its maximum water use threshold of 6.5 gallons per cycle. Some Energy Star ones do not meet this goal. Rebates are available from many utility companies.

What to look for in a new Dish washer

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A recent Q&A article from a NYU professor answers some questions regarding Organic food and Nutrition.  Some of the most interesting tidbits from the article:

Certified 100% Organic means that all the ingredients in a product have been grown or raised according to the USDA’s organic standards, which are the rules for producing foods labeled organic.

Certified Organic requires that 95 to 99% of the ingredients follow the rules.

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Water is a very valuable commodity. Many states can no longer assume that they will get enough rain to cover their consumption needs. California and many other regions are having droughts that are lasting for several years. Mandatory cutbacks are in effect for 2015 and probably beyond.  Water bills are sky high. Time to save water and money. Here are some tips to help you conserve water.

In the Bathroom

1. Replace older toilets with water saving dual flush toilets or stick a displacement bag in your old toilet. These will have a half flush for liquid waste and a full flush for solid waste. Fix or replace leaky toilets. Don’t flush trash away. A high efficiency toilet will save roughly 19 gallons of water per person per day. Check for leaky toilets.
2. Install low flow water saving shower heads with aerators. Average 10 minute shower uses 40 gallons of water. A bath can use 30 to 50 gallons of water. Look for shower heads with aerators that use 2.5 gallons a minute or less rather than the usual 5 gallons per minute. They can cost $5 or less.
3. Fix leaky shower heads.  Shower less and use more deodorant. Keep showers under 5 minutes. You can save up to $65 a year on water and water heating with low flow heads.
4. Turning off the shower while you are washing your hair will save you almost 150 gallons a month.
5. Collect and reuse water in the shower that comes out as the water warms up.
6. Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or shaving.
7. Turn off the water while soaping up or shampooing in the shower
8. When rinsing a shaver or razor, plug the sink and fill it with water instead of letting the water run. You can save up to 300 gallons of water a month.

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It was another Spare the air night in the San Francisco area, where it is illegal to burn wood, pellets, or manufactured fire logs. The Spare the Air winter season runs from November 1, through the end of February.

An article showing how bad wood smoke pollutes during bad air days in the San Francisco Bay Area was surprising. Pretty shocking that 1/3 of fine particulate matter is from wood smoke.

How harmful is smoke from burning wood?

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Many of us spend a lot of water, mowing, and hence money, keeping their grass green.   We decided to see if moving to artificial grass would be a cheaper proposition.  Some of the newer ones look pretty good.

Costco even sells artificial turf.  15′ x 25′ costs $1399.  Not exactly cheap but a lot cheaper than before. It comes with upto an 8 year warranty and is pet friendly. Many are made of recycled tires or water bottles. No more weeding, watering, or mowing. Costco surprisingly has a link to a MSDS sheet that shows it is Heavy Metal free (lead free) and is primarily made of polypropylene.

Dupont has added Forever lawn that has a 12-15 year lifetime, 8yr warranty.

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Chicken in California from Foster Farms is getting people sick right now. (Oct 2013) They are not even recalling it! Foster Farms claims their factory has made changes so that it can restart them  They later got closed down in 2014 for cockroaches.

Ground turkey from Cargill was being recalled. (August 2011) The meat maybe contaminated with salmonella bacteria. A reminder that we need to thoroughly cook meat products to kill any bacteria. These outbreaks of contamination revive the debate over whether too many antibiotics are used in livestock. Antibiotic resistant bacteria can be promoted. The FDA is investigating the area.

Consumerreports.org has investigated Chicken Safety by purchasing fresh, whole broilers at various stores and analyzing them.  They found 2/3 contained Salmonella and/or Campylobacter bacteria.  This is an improvement from their last test 3 years ago.

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