Posts Tagged ‘Green Gadgets’

Charlie's Soap

Monday, April 19th, 2010

charlies soap

I will blame my lack of children on just finding out about Charlie’s today but the stay at home crowd has been all over this laundry soap for years. And if the reviews are even half right, I will be dumping my usual detergent very soon. So here is scoop…Charlie’s only needs 1 tablespoon to eliminate oders and eradicate stains. Stains like those found in a reusable diaper. Yeah, sounds like my marinara and grease stains should be child’s play for ole Charlie. The word is there is no need for fabric softner either so not only is Charlie’s cheaper per load (only $0.13) but you save on not having to buy all the extra’s like Oxy Clean and Downey. I just placed my order today for the soap and all purpose liquid cleaner so look for an update as soon as UPS drops off my loot.

Link: Charlie’s Soap Powder – 2.64 lb Bag (80 Loads)

TRENDnet TEG-S5g 10/100/1000Mbps Switch

Sunday, April 18th, 2010

green router

I have been looking to augment my home theather setup with a Slingbox, but for that to be possible, I will need to add an access point for additional dataport that I will need as I have no intention of taking my xbox offline. I have been looking around for a cheap but faster router for a few days and stumbled on the TRENDnet this morning. It has something the company is calling “green” technology where as the router is smarter enough to know what ports are actually in use, devices are on or based on the the length of the cable run. The reviews are great and the prices are right starting at just $14.99 so if you are in the market be sure to check out the whole line including the wireless-N options.

Link: TRENDnet Green Routers

Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

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Its Earth day, so what better time to see what a an energy hog that old beer fridge is. The Kill A Watt, is quick and simple way to track your usage and calculate expenses by the day, week or year. I think it would be especially helpful if you are on the fence on whether or not to take the plunge on those shiny new energy star appliances.

Grab It: P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

CamelBak BPA-Free Better Bottle

Friday, April 10th, 2009

bottle

While drinking plenty of water is one of the best things you can do for your body, drinking plenty of bottled water is one of the worst things you can do for the planet. Plastic bottles not only make up a huge portion of non-biodegradable waste in landfills, the transportation of those bottles to the store and then your home, is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Instead, think about pairing a home filtration system with a reusable water bottle. Our favorite is the CamelBak 24 ouncer. It has plenty of capacity to keep our thirst at bay between stops and its BPA free meaning it was manufactured with plastic material that is not considered harmful to your health.

Grab It: CamelBak BPA-Free Better Bottle

Smart Strip Energy Saving Power Strip with Autoswitching Technology

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

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This weekend I was watching Modern Marvels on the History Channel. This episode was focused on “Green” technologies and one of the products they featured was the GreenSwitch. The base system comes with four slave outlets that you install anywhere you have devices you want to kill power to when you are not using. The slaves hook up with a master control unit that is installed say near the door to the garage. Before leaving the house for the day just power off the main switch and it kills all the slaves too, saving you from unnecessarily wasting energy. Savings that could add up to 25 to 45% according to the company.

I thought it was a tremendous idea, so I hopped on the interwebs to do some more research. Then I found out the cost of the system. Astoundingly, the basic kit came in at a whopping $1200! Your electric bill would have to be hundreds of dollars a month for this to make any sense and if the bill was that high, it is probably because you are using your gear, so a kill switch is not going to do you much good.

Even so I still liked the concept, so I kept looking around and came across the Energy Saving Power Strip with Autoswitching Technology by Smart Strip. It works in much the same manner, killing power to devices when they are not in use. This model goes a step further by doing it automatically. For instance, plug your TV into the control outlet and the your DVD player, receiver, etc into the auto switched outlets. Turn your TV on, your components come on too. I especially appreciate the three “always on” outlets for devices like your TiVO or cable box to maintain their recording capabilities. Oh yeah and this one is only $35 bucks…

Grab It: Smart Strip LCG3 Energy Saving Power Strip with Autoswitching Technology

Hustler Zeon Electric Riding Mower

Monday, March 9th, 2009

zeonleft

It should come as no surprising that our fanatical pursuit of a green lawn is one of the least green thing we can do. From rainwater runoff that is full of fertilizers and pesticides to our mowers spewing CO2 into the air the damage is significant. That being said most of us still want the lush green lawn that makes the neighbors “green” with envy.

The new Hustler Zeon Electric mower is a great way to shrink your eco-footprint. It is the world’s first zero turn electric riding mower. It doesn’t skimp on features either. Each charge is good for 80 minutes or about 1 acre with its 42″ mowing deck. Plus its basically silent, which is huge improvement over any other combustion engine model out there. Speaking of which, since the Zeon is powered with electric motors none of the typical maintenance on belts, filters, fluids, plugs, pulleys etc is necessary either.

Grab It: Hustler Zeon Electric Riding Mower

Super Efficient Water Heaters

Sunday, February 8th, 2009

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Planning on a home renovation? If you are going to replace your hot water heater, you will want to take a look at the Vertex™ 100 Power Direct-Vent Gas Water Heaters by A.O. Smith. With a 96% efficiency rating and the ability to provide continuous hot water, the Vertex is one of the most efficient water heaters in the world – even more efficent than most tankless models. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.hotwater.com.

Wagner Power Steamer

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

905-complete-steamer

Very rarely does a product exceed my expectations. Typical, and the primary reason we started this site, a lot of what we buy never quite lives up to the manufacturers hype. Either it is constructed with cheap materials or the functionality is not what was advertised. So despite a slew of positive reviews, I never really counted on the Wagner Power Steamer to amount to all that much, not that this stopped me from ordering it.

I ordered it directly from Amazon to save on the nearly $20 shipping fee despite it being back ordered for 4 to 6 weeks. So I was pleasantly surprised when my package arrived 5 days later. It took me a few days to get around to unpacking the Power Steamer. When I finally did, I was in for my next surprise, the build quality. It was top notch. Both the unit and attachments were constructed from heavy duty plastic that should stand up to years of use. I was especially pleased with the quality and variety of the included accessories. The unit shipped with 2 extension wands, 4 nozzle brushes, a window squeegee, scrub brush with floor mop option, wallpaper remover and a jet nozzle. Even the extra long power cord was nice and a solid. Really my only complaint was lack of a convenient way to store said cord.

Now was starting to feel pretty good about this purchase and I had not even used it yet and the function of the Power Steamer is what will really blow you away. On a full tank you can get about 45 minutes of continuous steam with just 15 minutes of heating time and I have put that time to good use. So far I have cleaned a bunch of windows, the bathrooms – the Power Steamer will make your grout look like new in just a few seconds and you won’t believe what you will end up on your rag since the steam will penetrate every nook and cranny, my aquarium, all my solid surface floors, plus my oven, grill and smoker.

I think what I like best about cleaning with steam is the complete absence of the headache inducing chemical smells of typical household cleaners. That and the really good job steam does in breaking up just about any kind of dirt or grime I could find.

Grab It: Wagner Spray Tech 282004 1,500-Watt On-Demand Power Steamer

LED Light Fixtures

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

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While still a little too pricey for most of us to convert our whole houses over, LED fixtures do offer significant energy and thus cost savings over standard and even CF lightbulbs. Their benefits include lasting about 10 times longer and using 50% less power than other bulbs. Dean Kamen (the guy who invented the Segway) converted his whole three acre island including the Stonehenge replica. With the energy savings he was able to take himself entirely off the power grid.

Grab It: New Cree 6

Lower your Heating Bills this Winter

Thursday, October 9th, 2008

Experts are predicting spikes in heating prices this winter.  “Households that use fuel oil can expect to spend an average of $2,388 – or $449 more than last year – for the October-April heating season. Users of natural gas will pay less than half that, $1,010 on average, still $155 more than last year.” According to CNNMoney.com (hit the link above for the full article) .  Despite this bad news, there are still things that can be done to keep your cost down and the Consumers Guide to Home Energy Saving is a great tool in the fight.

The book has tons of tips to making your home more energy efficient along with in depth step by step instructions that focus on specific areas in the home, such as electronics, lighting, heating, cooling, ventilation, kitchen, and laundry.

Grab It: Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings, 9th Edition: Save Money, Save the Earth (Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings)

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