The Eco-Friendly Green Home

Throw Pillow Made from Recycled Plastic

2009-06-13T10:57:00.000-07:00

I came across this really beautiful decorative pillow with a cover that's made from recycled plastic bottles. It has a quilted look and apparently is really soft (looks like it from the photo). I love the blue color as well. It's amazing what can be done with recycled materials these days!

It's only $34.99, which seems reasonable considering that it's handmade and made in America (which is a rarity these days). You can also buy just the cover for $10 less and then use a down pillow insert instead of the polyester insert that the site offers by default. Here's the link if you want to check it out:

16" Ocean Blue Decorative Pillow with Removable Cover

Sleep Easier on an Eco-Friendly Mattress

2008-11-14T14:31:00.000-08:00

Buying a new mattress is probably not a task that most people look forward to. They're ridiculously expensive and you have to go to those weird mattress stores where salespeople watch you lay on beds.

For those of us who try to avoid using environmentally-harmful products, the mattress purchase process is even less enjoyable. Memory foam mattresses are typically made from 100% petroleum and even traditional spring mattresses utilize dangerous chemicals in their manufacturing. Add in the environmental cost of trucking those huge rectangles across the country, and it's easy to see how mattresses are far from eco-friendly.

Until now!

We came across Keetsa.com the other day and couldn't believe we hadn't heard of them before. This online store (with three showrooms in the San Francisco area) offers a full line of mattresses that are more environmentally friendly than most of the products you'll find in your neighborhood mattress stores.

Their memory foam is made with 12% castor bean oil instead of 100% petroleum, their mattress covers are woven from unbleached cotton and bamboo, their mattress springs and bed frames are constructed from recycled metals and they use green tea extract to keep their mattresses smelling fresh instead of chemical deodorizers.

Keetsa even compresses all of their mattresses so that they can be shipped instead of trucked (to save on fuel), packaging them in biodegradable plastic bags and 100% recyclable boxes printed with water soluble ink. Talk about going the extra mile to be a green company!

Sure, mattresses are always going to be one of the least eco-friendly products on the market. But Keetsa is clearly trying to make their industry more green and that's something to applaud. They offer all of the main types of mattresses (spring coil, memory foam, adjustable), pillows, mattress toppers, bed frames and bamboo sheets. They even offer a handy Keetsa Mattress MatchWizard to help you find the right eco-friendly/green mattress for you and your family members.

So when your existing mattress starts to sag, don't forget to check out Keetsa.com before making that unpleasant and decidedly un-green trip to the local mattress store. Their prices are very affordable and they even offer free shipping!

Solio: Off the grid and on the go

2008-11-11T12:58:00.000-08:00

With the world in seeming pre-Mad Max mode it's nice to know one can still keep their Smartphone or other personal electronic must-have fully charged without that ‘ol pesky "infrastructure" while at the same time doing the green thing.

The fine folks over at Solio have been providing first adopter globe-trekkers with portable solar chargers for years but now they have a few new products for the rest of us. The classic Solio Universal Hybrid Charger has enough storage capacity to charge the average Smartphone twice with only an hour of solar charging time. And the carabineer style Solio Hybrid 1000 can charge your phone/mp3/gps/portable game system or digital camera via its integral solar panel and also allows you to charge-up the Hybrid 1000 via your usb port for always ready to go portable power.

The Solio line of free-energy products are a great green way to replace all your wall and car chargers for you personal electronics while at the same time reducing your ecological footprint. A must have for all 21st century Road ( and green) Warriors.

More Eco-Autos On the Way

2008-10-22T13:50:00.000-07:00

Gas sipping compacts and hybrids are already a growing sight on the highways and byways of mainstream America. So what’s next? The great news is, electric cars are here today and the next generation of clean-diesel, fuel cell and air powered (yes air powered!) runabouts are about to be released upon us. In the next few years, the choices for a greener, and thankfully meaner, breed of earth-friendly rides being brought to market seems to be unlimited.

Honda has a slew of hybrids ready to be released in 2009, including a Prius fighter that should be more efficient and less expensive, along with a sporty two-seater hybrid to replace its sorely missed Insight model, as well as a hybrid version of its best selling Fit five door hatchback.

Even slow-to-change juggernauts such as Ford and General Motors have hybrids on the road these days and from what I hear, Porsche and Ferrari are tinkering with hybrid options for their most expensive models in the next few years. The point is, the hybrid concept has proven to be a winner, but it has always been seen as a temporary fix for our cars vs. the earth quandary. Long live the green automobile -- no matter what makes them purr.