Shopping for furniture has always been towards the bottom of my “things I enjoy” list. While I do get a kick out of interior design, finding sustainable design brands that make high quality furniture with personality is like asking for Al Gore to become ruler of the world. For the past few years, IKEA has been my go-to source, though I know that there are much more sustainable (and long lasting) options.

Now that my boyfriend and I finally plan to stay put for the next few years, buying furniture that we really enjoy and plan to keep (and hopefully pass along to future generations) has been bumped further up our to-do list. It is time to move on from our Swedish, big box friend but … WHERE DO WE START!? That question answered itself when I was reminded of Toronto’s Greentea Design last week.

Embracing traditional Asian styles, all Greentea’s original designs are made from salvaged wood from Korean farmhouses, barns and other structures, in their own factory. Along with their own line, Greentea’s founder Dale Storer, visited Asia on a regular basis to find traditional antiques to sell on the company’s website and in their 5,000-square-foot showroom. From bed and bath to kitchens and living rooms, Greentea Design has readily available options for every area of your home. Each piece has its own custom options available as well, from different stains and hardware to shelving and door design options.

With a passion for Buddhism, yoga and manga, it is easy to see why Greentea Design is our kind of furniture collection. (more…)

Still dreaming of a solar powered house but think you can’t afford it? Even with State and Federal assistance, installing a full solar system on your house can run you upwards of $10,000, depending on your location.

A new collection of companies are taking a lesson from the auto industry and are renting solar panels to consumers. Based out of San Francisco, Sun Run is one of the key companies in this new solar trend.

But just how does it work? Sun Run’s solution is the first all-inclusive residential solar electricity package, offered for less than your current electric bill. You will lock in a below-market rate for the electricity the panels generate on your roof, and you can relax knowing that Sun Run will optimize, monitor, and maintain the system they install at no extra cost.

Such a sustainable and affordable option was one we couldn’t resist investigating. Sun Run President Nat Kreamer was nice enough to take some time to chat with Building Green TV about his unique company and everything they offer for customers. Keep reading for details about Sun Run’s beginnings, actual customer savings, expansion plans, and solar misconceptions. This is one interview you won’t want to miss! (more…)

With no blog and no e-mail for four days, what’s a woman to do? Read, knit, and drink tea of course! Also, this freed up some time for pleasurably browsing of the web, leading me to find Switzerland’s Terra Keramik. A sucker for classic ceramics, it is more than a matter of coincidence that Terra Keramik was established the same year I was born (1984).

In a world overrun with mass manufacturing and faceless corporations, it is a true delight to find a company that still makes all of their items by hand. Terra Keramik Founder and Creative Director Felix Volger had this to say about the age-old process:

Notwithstanding our high standards and expectations, our products are handcrafted and therefore not perfect. They can be considered ‘perfectly imperfect’. Good design should simplify and not complicate. If our products can bring a little fun and joy into your life, I will be very happy.

Can a product that requires intense heat to be created ever be sustainable? According to Terra Keramik … hell yeah! In addition to using non-toxic glazes and recycled paper/packaging, the company purchases renewable energy via their local power grid. Imported for nearby Germany, the clay used to make all of Keramik’s products is formulated to require less heat during the firing process, which “reduces [the company’s] energy consumption by 20%.” (more…)

Italian food has firmly staked its claim as one of the world’s most popular cuisines. A treat for the eyes, nose, and taste buds, it’s easy to see why the kings and queens of pasta live such happy and healthy lives.

The sights and smells of the Italian countryside serve as inspiration for California based Nomine’s line of soy candles. Pronounced “noh-mi-neh”, Nomine “simply means ‘name’ in Latin and was chosen to celebrate the power of the meaning behind names.”

Started by Nancy Covello as part of her dedication to alternative health therapies and a vegetarian lifestyle, all of Nomine’s burning beauties are made from only soybean wax and essential oils - 100% free of petroleum ingredients found in “traditional” paraffin candles.

Our wax burns longer, cooler, and clearer than paraffin candle waxes, with little to NO carbon build-up. Soy wax does not produce black soot, which can leave residue on furnishings and walls. The wax is made predominantly from domestically grown crops supporting U.S. farmers and the economy. (more…)

After the blue jean insulation is fitted, the low-VOC paints have dried, and the solar panels are functioning, it’s time to focus on the inside of your new home. With air quality indoors being rated as 4 to 5 times worse than outdoors and the fact that we spend 3/4th of our day indoors, the items that we choose to decorate are rooms with are just as important as our home’s basic building elements.

Sunny days call for open windows and screen doors, allowing the outdoor breezes to flow freely and temporarily remove many of the toxins captured indoors. When the temperatures drop, sealing cracks around doors and windows help to keep those breezes out (in turn, keeping us from cranking up the heat).

When the sun is out and the breeze is blowing, a funky chicken or mouse doorstop from Refab UK adds a nice hint of color to any home. If the temperatures are low, a psychedelic snake will keep out those nasty drafts. (more…)

That’s right - eco-minded crafters now have a new home at Crafting a Green World. Part of the Green Options blog network, I’m functioning as blog editor and head writer for this nifty new blog. For more details, here is my introductory/first post on the site:

Green is the new black, as they say, but what in the world does that mean? It means living sustainably is the “cool” thing to do, but some of us have been doing these things for years. Take crafters for example - many of us keep scraps of fabrics from other projects for future use, “frog” old sweaters and scarves to have fresh yarn to work with, and tweak items and patterns we find to make them just right for our tastes. The renewed popularity of green living has benefits for creative folks as well, including new sustainable fabrics and innovate ideas for reusing a plethora of resources.

For those of us to enjoy being a part of the creative process or are beginning to experiment with do-it-yourself projects, then Crafting a Green World is for you! We’ll be featuring everything from eco-patterns, supplies, and creators to book reviews and event/sale notices. Crafting a Green World (CAGW) is working to be your #1 resource for organic, natural, and recycled crafty projects, products, media, and businesses. Whether you are a novice, a pro, or somewhere in between, Crafting a Green World will have the sustainable crafty content you are looking for. (more…)

Personalize your holidays and make them enviro-friendly with homemade decorations. The following three projects are fun and easy to do. They’ll be sure to bring your home to life during this special season.

COOKIE CUTTER ORNAMENTS
There’s a two to one chance that you have some cookie cutters shoved into the back of a kitchen drawer. After making a tasty batch of frosting-worthy cookies, you can turn them into affordable and festival ornaments! Attached to your cookie cutter collection? Visit your local vintage or second-hand home store for some inexpensive and sustainable options.

Supplies:
+ Cookie cutters (plastic or metal) — any shape (more…)

Thanksgiving is only a week away, which means the gift-giving season is in full swing. To make your seasonal shopping easier and more sustainable, I’m bringing you a series of green online stores that offer a wide variety of eco-gifts that would make anyone on your list feel appreciated. The first offering in this series was Max and Zane and now, for my second installment, I bring you Organic Style.

Your might remember Rodale’s Organic Style Magazine, which ran from 2001 to 2005, acting as a vital source of information for consumers during the early stages of the second coming of the environmental movement. Bought by sustainable flower innovator Organic Bouquet in May of this year, I interviewed Organic Bouquet’s CEO Gerald Prolman not long after the deal was made public. Launched just a few days ago, Organic Style is primed to become a top eco-shopping destination.

“All the products sold on the site will be either certified organic, transition to organic, bio-dynamic, sustainable, Fair Trade or a new category we call ‘not certified but worthy.’ To help get the word out, we plan re-launch the Organic Style magazine in the second quarter of 2008. We plan to initially publish the Organic Style magazine quarterly and offer it as a free OrganicStyle.com customer benefit. We want to give our customers information that will be valuable in their lives, that will help them make informed decisions about a balanced and responsible way to live and celebrate life,” said Gerald Prolman in our August interview.

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The yearly GreenBuild Expo doesn’t start until November 7th in Chicago and we already have a great update to pass on to you! Officially launching at this year’s event, Green2Green’s beta website version is up and running.

Built by GreenBlue, an organization founded by William McDonough of Cradle to Cradle fame, Green2Green “features comprehensive information regarding green building products, materials and practices. The site offers side-by-side comparisons of products using a variety of environmental, technical and economic criteria.” The site also features expert advice, forums, direct feedback from users on all products, and dealer locations.

Green2Green is guided by an expansive advisory team, which Building Green TV’s very own COO Max Mead is a part of. According to the G2G website, the team is compired of members who “guide key decisions about data presentation, green building issues and policy.”

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Started in 2002 by the infamous United States Green Building Council (USGBC), the GreenBuild Expo has quickly become the largest conference and exhibition focused solely on green building (both practices and products).

Nearly 20,000 people are expected to attend this year’s GreenBuild in Chicago. In recent years, Chicago has been working to become on of the top sustainable cities in the country - in 2006, the city was named #4 in SustainLane’s Top 10 Green U.S. Cities, and they’re aiming to make it to #1.

Pulling out all the stops this year, the USGBC has an unprecedented number of awards, workshops, events and more planned for the three short days of this year’s conference. Former President Bill Clinton will be giving the opening keynote speech on November 7th and the newest LEED for Homes program will be a major focus. Also available to attendees are detailed educational seminars, LEED workshops, local Chicago green building tours, the sixth annual USGBC Leadership Awards, and beautiful outdoor activities (including a picnic, yoga, and a bike tour).

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We’ve all read about toxic chemicals that the government allows in food. Recent news about toys made in China containing lead and unhealthy plastics has brought more attention to the important sustainable children’s market. The next generations will be inheriting all of our successes and failures - shouldn’t we start them off on a positive note?

Los Angeles-based non-profit organization Healthy Child Healthy World has been promoting positive choices and changes for children sine 1991.

Healthy Child Healthy World exists because more than 125 million of America’s children now face an historically unprecedented rise in chronic disease and illness such as cancer, autism, asthma, birth defects, ADD / ADHD, and learning and developmental disabilities. Credible scientific evidence increasingly points to environmental hazards and household chemicals as causing and contributing to many of these diseases.

In response to a report from the National Research Council (NRC), Healthy Child Healthy World has teamed up with Ohio-based Naturepedic, whose dedicated solely to creating organic cotton mattresses that promote the health and safety of children.

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Oh yeah, you read the subject of this post correctly … shopping, eek. The holiday gift season usually begins the day after Thanksgiving, a day which I intentionally avoid doing any buying. This year, shops and merchants are breaking out the good stuff (and the good deals) right after Halloween to try and help jump-start the economy again.

If having a gift-free holiday is not something your family would go for, why not get them something sustainable? Just by looking through the eco-links collection on my website, one can easily see that there are cornucopia of green stores to choose from. For the next two months, I’ll be featuring some of the freshest shopping destinations the world wide web has to offer, helping you get to the bottom of that twice-checked list faster than ever.

Trying to decide who to feature in my first Green Shopping Spotlight was a darn tough decision, but the answer came to me in a snap, or an e-mail as it were. Two days ago, I got a delightful message from Jennifer, half of the two-woman team that started Max and Zane, the other half being April. I’d never heard of the online outlet before so I quickly clicked on over to see what the scoop was, and boy (or girl, haha) was I in for a treat!

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Efficient, attractive design is at the heart of modern culture. The basis of all Swedish creations is that it has to be both beautiful to look at and useful in a straightforward way. Embracing the advantages of intelligent design is helping to move the green lifestyle even more mainstream than it was in the 1960s.

But where do we go to buy all of these products with smart design and sustainable features combined? One of my personal favorites is the Branch online store, based right here in San Francisco.

As a social activity, shopping gets us out into the various neighborhoods in our city, allowing us to connect with other people along the way. As a cultural excursion, it gives us a chance to discover what’s new and interesting in the world. At the same time, there’s an element to shopping that we find quite troubling. We buy things that appeal to us—we love a product’s styling, for example—though we may have little idea of where a product comes from. Instead of asking people to stop shopping (which is, of course, pretty darn impractical), what if we changed the paradigm of shopping itself?

Everything from larger items; like furniture and lighting; to home and lifestyle accessories; such as pillows, plates, and dog toys; are available in this easy-to-navigate web store. Well-known eco-brands like Amenity, Bambu, Ting and K Studio are featured. Looking for something special? Check out the smaller, local collections such as Perch!, Esque and Dwelling. Ready to outfit your sustainable abode? Then Branch is your one-stop-shop for modern interiors.

[Building Green TV]

Remember when you were a kid and nothing could cool you down on a hot summer day like a frozen popsicle? One California company is taking that same concept and applying it to residential and commercial energy systems: ice-based air conditioning.

California/Colorado-based Ice Energy has been developing and marketing this technology since 2003. Most recently, they teamed up with California public ulitity company PG&E as part of their new “Shift & Save” program.

In collaboration with vendor technologies such as Ice Energy’s Ice Bear hybrid air conditioning system, the “Shift and Save” program provides incentives that cut air conditioning peak electrical demand on light commercial and institutional buildings.

The ice-based air conditioner uses cheaper nighttime electricity to make ice and then uses that ice for daytime cooling needs. The units cooling looks almost identical to a standard AC unit. The systems lowers peak daytime demand significantly, shifting the energy load up to 95%.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much information on just how much a system like this costs to install in an average home, but it is a technology very much worth looking into for eco-minded homeowners.

Do you use any alternative methods to say cool on hot days? Personally, here in San Francisco, I just turn on a few fans and open all the windows, but in many locations, that would not be nearly enough.

[Building Green TV; via ENN]

Antique furniture is a shining example of green living because no new resources are used to make them since they are, well, already made. Unfortunately, past owners have often painted and varnished these sustainable pieces to their own liking.

Not looking for a yellow china hutch or a purple dining set? Go on - buy that tacky piece and a bottle of Franmar Chemical’s Soy Gel Paint and Urethane Remover, available in the company’s online store in various sizes.

Want a better way to remove paints, urethanes, acrylics, epoxies, and enamels without the back-breaking work of sanding and chiseling? Made with 100% American Grown Soybeans, SOY Gel does all that and more. Throw out the sand paper and put away the knee pads. Just put some SOYGel on the coating to be removed, allowing you to work on another project. Let SOYGel do the work, not you! Within minutes you can see the power of SOYGel start to lift the coatings, all while you spend time on other tasks.

I know what you’re thinking - does it really work? According to London-based owner of an online boutique and mom of a three-year-old, it stripped layers of bright red paint off of her fireplace overnight with little extra effort (i.e. minor scrapping). There are also three other positive reviews on Amazon.com that are worth checking out.

[Building Green TV; via Apartment Therpy: Green]