Eco-Friendly Green Lifestyle

One way to reduce the number of new clothes you cause to be manufactured is to buy clothes from the past. Lots of good-quality clothes in market stalls and second-hand, vintage, and charity shops fit the bill for something different. The retailers are trying to get in on the act by producing designs that look like they’re old but they’re not likely to be made from the greenest of materials so the older versions are better from an environmental point of view.

The great thing about becoming a vintage clothes convert is that it fits quite nicely within the three Rs model of reducing, reusing, and recycling. Even though many vintage clothes are made from unsustainable materials, at least keeping these clothes in the supply and demand loop reduces the demand for manufacturers to supply a new stock of unsustainable clothes — and keeps that groovy 1970s polyester shirt out of the landfill a while longer. Read the rest of this entry »

Your money has power. You can choose to buy only the green and ethical products such as those mentioned throughout my post, and as consumer demand for these products grows, more producers switch to green production methods, putting more green products on the shelves. A happy by-product is that cost comes down, bringing green products within the financial reach of more people.

You have power too by choosing carefully what not to spend your money on - by boycotting goods, services, and products you believe are doing harm to the planet or to the people involved in the manufacturing and production processes. If enough consumers boycott a product, the firm selling it may be forced to change its practices to benefit the planet and the people involved in the production. Read the rest of this entry »

The active air system that heats this house has an unusual storage arrangement: the masonry north wall serves as a well- insulated rock heat storage bin. Filled with 60 tons of fist-size rocks, the bin receives heated air from the collectors through ducts leading into its bottom. Hot air then travels up through the rocks, giving off heat as it goes. A plenum at the top of the storage wall can lead the air back to the collectors for reheating; if the storage is already hot, so that the air emerges still warm, it is blown to floor registers leading into the house. The ducts themselves are cleverly disguised as large beams to blend into the house’s design of open cathedral-type ceilings. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking at tending practices

The biggest impact any bank or building society makes is through its lending policy. If it doesn’t have an ethical lending policy it may lend to businesses that trade arms, harm the environment, and exploit workers.

Even if you don’t have any savings and simply need a bank to have your salary paid into and to pay your bills from, be sure you’re happy with that bank’s lending policies. If not, move your account and tell your bank why. If you have savings, choose a bank or building society that won’t lend them to any organisations you disapprove of. Read the rest of this entry »

Staking your money on ethical stocks

If you hold company shares directly, ask those companies about their business ethics and find out if they produce a social or environmental report.

You can invest in ethical index funds on an ethical exchange, and by buying shares and investing in companies with strong corporate social responsibility, you can encourage and support them. Another way to make businesses greener is to buy shares in companies that need to change so that you can attempt to have your voice heard and influence the company’s behaviour through shareholder meetings and your voting rights. Read the rest of this entry »

People just like you currently have around Pounds 4 billion invested in the ethical market in the UK. These investment funds operate on the principle of not investing money in any enterprise that would harm the environment, people around the world, or animals and wildlife — and some actively encourage progressive green companies. The idea is that the money you deposit with the institution is invested only in green firms. Read the rest of this entry »

Though the ducts and rock storage bins of active air systems are space-consuming, they set no unusual limits on the architectural style of new homes built to incorporate them, beyond the basic requirements of southward orientation and energy conservation. Traditional-looking houses can shoulder their solar collectors as gracefully as “futuristic” ones, and their interiors can reflect an equally broad spectrum of life styles. Read the rest of this entry »

If you want to build a green home, buy and renovate a derelict building to become a green home, or to adapt your own home to be more green, the chances are you’ll need a mortgage — a loan secured against the property concerned.

Few high street lenders are geared specifically to deal with green projects but many are willing to lend money to buy, build, or renovate a property as you like. Be patient and shop around. Talk to your own lender and if there are objections and obstacles try to negotiate. Lenders are always concerned about the degree of risk they’re taking and whether they’ll get their money back if you can’t keep up the repayments. Talk to a mortgage broker about where to try for a loan if you draw a blank. Read the rest of this entry »

Dramatically successful in achieving its goal of almost 100 percent active solar heating, this house was built more as a demonstration of an active heater’s capabilities than as an example of a practical solar application. Such a system is uneconomical not only because of its overall cost, but also because much of the collector and storage area is utilized only a fraction of the year, from November through April. The rest of the year it lies fallow, its huge quantities of heat unneeded in the house. Read the rest of this entry »

Built on the beach, this house has an elegantly clean design that combines a number of active features with passive direct gain to make its solar heating system work exceptionally well. The basic solar heater is an active liquid type: 450 square feet of flat-plate collectors (all-copper tube-type absorbers with a selective surface and single layer of glazing); Read the rest of this entry »