Product Reviewed: Seventh Generation Liquid Natural Laundry Detergent 2X Ultra (Free and Clear)

Place of Purchase: Target (also available at other major Grocers such as Pick N Save, Jewel Osco, etc

Purchase Price: $14.99 for 64 Load (100 Fl Oz)

Available Online: Amazon.com (Pack of 6)

Product replaced: Tide Ultra with Synthetic Bleech

Ingredients: Aqua, sodium laureth sulfate, coconut alcohol ethoxylate and glycerin, sodium citrate, oleic acid and glyceryl oleate, sodium hydroxide, sodium borate, amylase, cellulase and protease, calcium chloride, trace minerals, and preservatives (explained on their site)

Like the powdered version of this product, I was unable to find any problems with the ingredients, which are all clearly listed and explained on the back of the bottle.

Use: Regular, everyday use including colors, whites, bed sheets, blankets, and bath towels

Results: My wife was more skeptical to try this initially than myself, in large part due to both of our misunderstanding that harsh chemicals and fragrances were actually needed to get tough stains and smells out from clothes.

Turns out that’s just not the case!  Seventh Gen did a more than adequate job cleaning all of our whites, darks, towels, and bed sheets.  In fact, from a cleaning standpoint, if you poured a bottle of Seventh Gen into an empty bottle of Tide, you would probably never realize a switch had been made — except for the absence of unnecessary dyes and fragrances!

We even ran it (as directed on the bottle) in cold water and so no noticeable drop off in cleaning ability – effective running in 45°F to 145°F according to the bottle.  And since there are no fragrances, your clothes come out without any smell so you can be confident that they really are clean and not just masked by some fancy perfume!

Best of all: It’s “free and clear” of perfumes and dyes, the 2X Ultra formulation means that 64 loads can be achieved using half the detergent of non-Ultra (100 oz of 2X = 200 oz of regular) which saves packaging and energy, it’s formulated to work well in cold water, and all ingredients are clearly detailed on the packaging (try finding that on a bottle of Tide!).

Why try it? I decided to try this product after reading Wesley’s review of the Seventh Generation Powdered Detergent ;however, I don’t like using powdered detergents in general as they can leave marks on clothing and not fully spread throughout the washing machine.

That being said, you should try it because it just works and works well!  I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as to how well it actually pulls out smells and stains from clothing and other washables.

The drawback: At $14.99 for 64 loads, it’s a little more pricey than its non-Green competitors which usually run about $11.99 for a comparable size

The Final Thought: What prevents most people from making the switch to a Greener Laundry Detergent?  I would guess one of two things:  1) the belief that because it lacks the fancy (and harsh) chemicals of brands like Tide, it will not clean as well and 2) a premium price tag.

While Seventh Generation Liquid Laundry Detergent still has a slightly higher price than its non-Green counterparts, it clearly does not lack in cleaning ability.  It’s highly effective in cold water, saving you money and energy.  It’s non-toxic, biodegradable , and hypo-allergenic.

If you can spare the extra $3 for every 64 loads of laundry, you won’t be disappointed! Not to mention that as more people hop on board and Seventh Generation sells more, they’ll reach greater production efficiencies and economies of scale resulting (hopefully) in lower prices for all!

EHI There! What green products are you using that you love? What products are you trying to replace? Got an idea for a product you would like to be reviewed? We welcome guest columnists; just contact us!

So you’re making a quick dinner of it with a pot of pasta and a jar of your favourite prepared sauce.  Great!

How are you heating the sauce?  The microwave?  A saucepan?  I recommend a different approach.

If you have a double boiler, you’re in good shape, but even if you don’t, you probably can pull this off just fine.  As your pasta boils, get ready for heating your sauce by emptying the contents of the jar into the inner container of the double boiler.  Go ahead and add your spices or balsamic vinegar — whatever your routine for a jar of sauce — if you’re like me, you do so just to feel as if you made it (somewhat) your own.  If you do not have a double boiler, directions are found below.

Once the pasta is al dente, strain it so that enough of the water ends up in the bottom part of the double boiler to heat the inner container of sauce.  Place the container with the sauce into the double boiler.  If you’re patient, there’s likely enough of a heat transfer from the boiling hot pasta water to heat your sauce to a pleasant temperature within about five to ten minutes.  Spend that time finishing draining the pasta, stirring your favourite olive oil throughout, serving drinks, maybe enjoying a first glass of wine.  After a few minutes, check to see the progress of the sauce’s temperature.  Use the stove’s heat only if it’s not quite hot enough, just to finish getting it up to the correct temperature.

If you do not have a true double boiler…

…Make one! You can do so with a larger- and a medium- sized stainless steel bowl, ones that have about a two-inch diameter difference.  Pour the water into the bigger bowl as described above and place the sauce into the smaller bowl, heating it as described above.

How is this greener?

Simply put, you are not using a stove or microwave for the amount of time it would have taken for those appliances to heat the sauce.  You’re taking advantage of the already boiling hot pasta water to transfer its now unneeded heat to the sauce.

I recently Stumbled Upon a site that has to be one of the most comprehensive and useful sites I have found in a very long time.  The site you ask?  It’s called Build It Solar and it is an incredible resource for Do-It-Yourself Solar and other alternative energy based projects and ideas.

There’s literally so much at Build It Solar that I don’t know where to begin.  First, there are literally hundreds of Do-It-Yourself green projects from solar homes and bio-fuels to lighting, cooking, cooling, and heating!  One of the first things that caught my eye was their “Half” Program.

What is Build It Solar’s “Half” Plan?  Basically, it is a program for cutting your energy use, energy cost, and CO2 emissions in half!  In their own words:

We used the Half Plan to cut our total energy use, energy costs, and greenhouse gas emissions in half (and then some).

We cut our energy use from 95,000 KWH per year to 36,000 KWH per — this is saving us $4,800 per year in energy costs, and has reduced our CO2 emissions by 18 tons.

They detail pretty extensively how they achieved this and how for others to follow in their footsteps.  It has also received critical acclaim from various Green websites and magazines such as Home Power Magazine.

Finally, this site is a detailed resource on overall design elements and tools needed to pull of any of the green projects.  You’ll find comprehensive technical solar analysis, material properties, government incentives, and many potential suppliers of materials for any of the projects.

To sum it up, if you’re looking for ways to reduce your carbon footprint, save money, or start a fun weekend or summer-long project, Build It Solar is there to help make it happen!

I was happy to see upon visiting my local Home Depot today that they have a table set up just inside the main entrance dedicated to educating customers about various eco-friendly changes they could make to their home, many through products sold in their store. While this isn’t the first thing the Home Depot has done to green its image and customers, I picked up a small pamphlet sitting on the table.  Inside was most of the information found throughout the table including some interesting little “Eco Fun Facts” that I thought I’d share!

1.  Compact flourescents light bulbs (CFLs) consume up to 75% less energy and last up to 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

2.  If 1-in-10 homes used ENERGY STAR qualified appliances, the change would be like planting 1.7 million acres of trees.

3.  An average family of four uses 400 gallons of water every day.  If 1-in-10 homes in the US upgraded to water-efficient fixtures, it could save more than 300 billion gallons and nearly $2 billion annually.

Now, I know they have a vested interest to point out things like upgrading your appliances because they want to sell them to you but I think it is worthwhile to consider these points nonetheless.

When we think of the major sources of our energy consumption, its easiest to look at our obvious areas like transportation, but consider your 10 or 15 year old kitchen stove or refrigerator like the old gas guzzler in your garage.  Technology has evolved and these products have seen significant advances since your last purchase too.

Stay tuned for more information on eco-friendly household appliances and just how big of a difference they can make in reducing your carbon footprint! And thanks to Home Depot for stepping up to the plate and pushing forward with green initiatives – you can do more, but we appreciate the start!

Sure, freezing food that might otherwise go bad is a great way to save money and environmental costs by not wasting perfectly good foods.  But how many times do you need that food, get it out of the freezer, and plop it into the microwave for ten to fifteen minutes for defrosting?

Considering that your microwave uses a lot of energy, you’re actually taking away a lot of the environmental good you did by saving the food in the first place.  But behold, a better, more envirohumanly friendly way to defrost.  It just takes a little extra pre-planning, and you’re set to go!

So, when you decide that tomorrow you’re going to have the chicken breasts you lovingly stored away in your deep freezer last month, get them out of the freezer and put them into the fridge to defrost.  No, it’s unlikely that they will be fully defrosted the next day, but if you plan two days out, you’re likely to have them fully defrosted.

Also, the fact that they are still partially frozen is not so bad, because the microwave will not have to defrost them for quite so long.  Additionally, the cold temperature from the frozen chicken breasts (or other frozen items) is conducted and convected throughout your refrigerator for a (albeit slight) reduction in refrigeration-related electricity use.

No, your refrigerator will not shut down during this time, but it will certainly help to have the frozen item in there helping to keep it cool.  Better that than using your “I need this to happen right now!” microwaving, and you’ll actually (albeit slightly) reduce your electricity consumption, meaning not just saved environment, but some money saved.

A quick news story I thought readers might find interesting focused on ecological, and even, yes democratic design.  A designer who has such feats under his belt as designer the 2-Euro coin is now focusing his efforts on more practical design.

The point of the story that was of most interest to me was mention of a rooftop wind turbine.  No, this is not new, but the price range he’s gearing the item to: between $780 to $1,250 for a wind turbine the designer, Philippe Starck, says can produce up to 80% of a home’s energy (invest in two of the turbines, and presumably, you could produce enough for your home, and about half of one of your neighbor’s homes (or sell the extra power back to the grid, more likely).

Another online source said that the turbine could produce 20% to 60% of a home’s energy needs, which seems more likely, when you see the design and know that it is a miniature wind turbine, it seems as if the 80% (I know, it says, “up to”) seems exaggerated.  Yes, you would need more equipment to use the energy, and it would likely take much more expertise than taking it home and installing in fifteen minutes as the designer says, but have to love this concept.

Two amazing features for the wind turbine is its design, the part anyone might see from a distance or below is clear plastic and its price range!  I mean for less than many (if not most) of us pay for a new computer, you could take care of a significant portion of your home power bills and improve your envirohuman impact!

You could probably see a very significant amount of payback for your investment rather quickly, especially since compared to several thousand you might pay for another turbine, these are cheap!  Made with plastic?  I’m not sure how long these might last or how easy it might be to get replacement plastic (how long is the warranty?), but this seems like one to look into if you’re looking for an inexpensive way to get started on greener energy.

I just read an article about new software, made available for free through Microsoft, the nonprofit Climate Savers Computing Initiative, and Verdiem, a startup.  It sounds great, especially when you look at some of the statistics they provide.

This type of application is extremely valuable to someone trying to improve his envirohuman impact, because the product is free, it saves you electricity (meaning less carbon spewed into our atmosphere), and it saves you money in the process.  Did you know that you could even extend the life of your PC?

The program is called Edison and installation is simple by downloading the program at: Verdiem, Microsoft, or Climate Savers.

If a user sets the software to put the machine in a “deep sleep” mode after a few minutes of not hitting a keystroke, the hard drive powers down and the PC sips just 5 percent of its normal energy consumption.

Even though most would probably give themselves ten or fifteen minutes, this program will let you decide how long, and putting your computer into a deep sleep more quickly or less so is up to you (yes, sleep modes are already available and I’m not sure if standard sleep mode takes the PC down to the same 5 percent).

Also,

Half of all electricity consumed by a standard PC is wasted, according to environmental and industry studies.

And because the software is being provided for free, any of the power savings are, well, free as well.  The article estimates that users could save $20 to $95 per PC per year, and any money in your pocket in a down economy is of course welcome.

Especially for this case, it’s just another simple way that you can improve your envirohuman impact and actually save some money at the same time.  Doing well by doing good, nothing to argue with there!

Read the entire story here.

Okay, I know, “I do not like green eggs and ham!  Sam I am!”  Ahh, Dr. Seuss.

But everyone’s gotta love some green toast every now and then.  I grew up with an upright toaster (the old style toaster) but when I moved out on my own, I ended up with both an old fashioned one (a hand-me down) as well as a toaster oven (okay, so both were hand-me downs), but both were headed for the landfill if I didn’t take them, and both actually do serve a purpose.

I loved the toaster oven at first, and many told me it was much more environmentally friendly than heating up an entire oven (and less costly) because it was essentially heating a smaller box.  If you had to make a sandwich toasty, it has been great!  I ended up putting the upright toaster away, not using it for a couple of years because, well, why should I have two toasters around?  Packrat as I am, I of course didn’t throw it out, give it away, or other such things.

Recently, however, I found the old upright toaster, got it out, and began using it again?  Why?  For greener toast.

Sure, the toaster oven uses less energy and heats up faster than my normal oven.  If I’m toasting a sandwich, it’s great.  But for toast, well, it’s actually a pretty long time to wait — a good four minutes or so.  And while parts of the bread is well done, other places are rather pale.

My old upright toaster?  Gives me evenly toasted bread, every time, in under two minutes!  Oh, and it’s greener because I’m not heating up that box, the elements are not cooking as long, and the wattage is less overall.  The elements are much closer to the bread and are more evenly distributed across the heating surface.

So now, though I still don’t like green eggs and ham, I like my green toast just fine.  If you’re using a toaster oven exclusively, I recommend you think about digging your old upright toaster back out!

I know, it’s the weekend and several of you will be hitting up the store to pick up a few items that you’re running low on.  It’s time to take what for many is the first step in greening one’s lifestyle: greening your purchases.  Browsing through EnviroHumanImpact, you can find several articles of interest on this subject, especially our product reviews.

But here, I will illuminate for you a few of our best articles regarding greener shopping, ones that you can use to get started:

• Try a Greener Laundry Detergent
• Get a Reusable Water Bottle but Beware of Nalgene Bottles
• Try to Buy More Organic Foods

So after you get started with some greener product options, you’ll likely find more and more ways to improve your envirohuman impact.  Most find it difficult to stop (and this is a good thing) themselves from greening increasingly more products and processes in their lives.

To keep the momentum rolling, consider signing up for RSS Feed or Email Updates using the buttons above a the top of every page here on EnviroHumanImpact, or a the end of each article.  Also, consider following other blogs and news sources.  To get started, try the Energy Big News Page or the Green Living Big News Page both found on the Huffington Post.

Product Reviewed: 365 Organics Organic Cotton Balls

Place of Purchase: Whole Foods Market

Purchase Price: $2.99 for 100 jumbo cotton balls

Product replaced: Non-organic cotton balls

Ingredients: 100% organic cotton

Use: I use them for cosmetic or first-aid uses, such as applying facial toner or alcohol, when needed.

Results: These are great!  They’re affordable and very soft!  The package says that,

Organic farming helps replenish the soil and protect the quality of our water and air.  Cotton grown without the use of harsh chemicals means cotton balls that are naturally free of harmful chemical residue.  Whitened with hydrogen peroxide, our cotton balls are gentle and absorbent, with a velvety, soft texture that feels wonderful on your skin.

I hate to take a manufacturer’s word for what I can expect, because of the obvious fact that they’re trying to sell you the product.  But what they have to say seems all too true, especially how soft the cotton really is, and the fact that the 365 Organics Cotton Balls are so very large — not the case with many other cotton balls.  Sometimes, I tear them in half because it feels wasteful to use so much cotton, and they are still bigger when torn in half than many of their competitors’ are at full size.

Best of all: Mostly, they’re organic, soft, absorbent, and affordable.  Simply put.

Why try it? Because all you have to do is head to a Whole Foods Market near you and pick them up.  If you don’t live near a Whole Foods market, search out your local natural foods and products store for organic cotton balls, and other products. 

The drawback: As noted above, these cotton balls are big, which is great from a utilitarian perspective, but 365 Organics would do well to cut down the size by one half.  That would put them at about an average standard size and would eliminate waste; as is, there is almost too much cotton in each cotton ball.

EHI There! What green products are you using that you love? What products are you trying to replace? Got an idea for a product you would like to be reviewed? We welcome guest columnists; just contact us!