Compare Green Products with Eco-Rate
It’s extremely tough to compare green products, especially with so many green marketing claims being made that are hard to verify. Eco-rate is a service that allows you to examine products based on their comprehensive eco-rating. The feature that really caught my eye about this site is that it allows you to compare the cost of a product to it’s environmentally friendliness.
Eco-Ratings
So exactly what is their eco-rating and how can it be used to help you buy products? When you put in a search or browse for products on their site, each contains 5 separate factors into determining the eco-rating. Let’s take a look at each:
- Environmental Impact: The overall environmental rating the product has based on factors of how the product was produced, where it was created and how green is the manufacturer.
- Consumption: The total energy consumption of the product.
- Toxicity: If the product contains toxic materials and how dangerous they are on the environment.
- LifeCycle Cost: The total cost of ownership including energy cost.
- Price Rating: How the price of this product compares to others in its category.
As you can see, the rating takes into account both environment and cost factors. It’s pretty obvious to see why I would like this tool. What’s also neat about this site is that it allows users to input their zip code to get information about local and national rebates for the product. You can also see local recycling facilities where you can recycle the product or the one you are replacing at the end of it’s life.
Products
Eco-rate has a range of products from lighting to electronics. On their main page, they have a cool tool where you can explore a simulated home to help you find products that you may need around the home. They also provide a searching capability to make it easy to find just about any green product you are looking for. If you are confused about any of the terminology their site uses for products, they have a dictionary of green terms.
Eco-rate is definitely worth checking out, especially when trying to determine which products have the best combination of price and eco-friendliness. I also recommend a visual green search engine I talked about sometime ago called JumpGuage as well as various other great Green Search Engines.
Nominate Pays to Live Green For Green Web Awards
Nominations are being accepted until November 16th, 2009 for Green Web Awards which is run by Nigel’s Eco Store. If you enjoy reading my blog, I would appreciate nominations for these awards. Thank you for reading and hopefully Pays to Live Green will receive a Green Web Award this year 
Advertising Agency Urges to Stop Using Confusing Green Buzzwords
The J. Walter Thompson (JWT) advertising agency recently ddid a study in which it found that many of the “green” terms used in marketing can often confuse consumers. Some of the major offenders include environment, going green and sustainability.
From the findings of this study, JWT urges marketers to “Drop the buzzwords” to vanques consumer confusion. It seems that the biggest problem with that more clarification is needed when using many of these terms for their products.
I recently wrote about how their are too many green labels on the market, well “green” terminology is the same way. They are too many buzzwords thrown out there that are used solely to sell more products. Consumers are often left in the dark as to why the particular product may be “green”.
It’s so tempting to buy a product when flashy green words are displayed. I’ve gotten caught in the trap as well. One of the keys to ensuring that we as consumers are not deceived is to make sure we take it upon ourselves to properly research the product before we buy. Marketers also need to do their share by properly defining all the terms they are using and not abuse their use. All green buzzwords are not bad, as long as they factual.
Green and Natural Carpet Cleaning Methods
Many carpet cleaners available on the market today contain some dangerous chemicals that we shouldn’t be exposing to our families. There’s no reason you have to continue using these harmful products when so many natural cleaners and commercial green carpet cleaning companies are available at our disposal.
Why make the switch?
Carpet cleaning products may not seem dangerous to use, but many available on the market today are not safe for our kids to be exposed to. Our kids spend so much time on the floor playing with their toys, why risk allowing them to be exposed to so many chemicals? On top of that, any waste product from cleaning with petroleum based products can be disposed of improperly and cause pollution. After searching the net about this topic, I even found an article about how the Travolta’s believe their son got Kawasaki Disease from the frequent carpet cleanings they use to get.
Natural Spot Cleaners
One of the best way to stop stains from building up on your carpet is to spot clean them immediately. I emphasize immediately since it makes it so much easier to get rid of a stain when it’s cleaned as soon as possible. Combine that with using an all natural cleaner and you will have no problem keeping your carpets clean for years to come.
Homemade Cleaners
There is no reason to go out and buy expensive spot cleaners when you can make your own at a fraction of the cost. Two of the best spot cleaners I found are vinegar mixture and baking soda paste, which I previously wrote about as great all purpose homemade cleaners. The first vinegar/water cleaners is extremely effective on stains especially if used when the spill is fresh. You will see the stain disappear almost immediately. The baking soda paste is great for when the stain is more set in. Just scrub the paste into the stain and let it sit for a few minutes. It can then be vacuumed or wiped up after sitting for a few minutes.
Green Cleaners
There are also many great green spot cleaners available on the market that use all natural ingredients to effectively remove stains from carpets. One of the best cleaners I have yet to use is EcoMist carpet cleaner. Not only is it extremely safe, but it works so well on removing any stain I have had in my home. There are other brands available at your local natural goods store or online that work great on removing stains from carpets without the harsh chemicals most contain.
Commercial Cleaning
Getting a professional cleaning company or using commercial cleaning equipment does not mean chemicals have to be used in order to get your carpets cleaned. There are so many cleaning companies in most areas that use natural ingredients and/or steam to effectively clean those carpets. Don’t be fooled by companies that claim that only the harsh chemicals will work effectively. Just be sure to do research before choosing a company.
If you instead decide to rent equipment, just be sure to properly clean the chamber of the device so that no chemicals are still left. This will ensure that any natural cleaner use use will not contaminate your carpets unknowingly.
Good luck with any of these methods and please share any methods you have found to ensure your carpet cleaning is both safe and effective.
