Electrolux Design Lab Competition

Electrolux held a competition with the brief being to come up with a prediction on how home owners would store their food in the year 2050.  One entry came from a young Russian industrial engineer called Yuriy Dmitriev who came up with a Bio-Polymer Gel fridge.  It sounds wacky, and in truth it probably is, but there is some method to the madness.

Essentially it works by the concept of a future gel fridge that lets home owners store food stuffs inside it – and that’s because there is gel inside the door with small individual pods inside it. This means that you no longer need to use shelves – you just push your food into the gel.

The biopolymer gel will suspend and keep food cool and will save energy because there will be no need for a cooling motor which uses a lot of electricity making it very economical and ec0-friendly.  Standard fridge freezers tend to use around eight per cent of household energy bills so this could let to a reduction of energy use over time.

EcoFridge Competition by Mabe

The second initiative was a competition by the South American company Mabe who asked students to design a fridge that would use less energy than average models.  Design students at Berkeley came up with an idea that centered around a thermal battery being used.  This would mean that it would only charge during night-time hours when typically energy charges are far less.

Want More Information on Eco-Fridges?

The excellent Refrigerator Reviews 4 U website has more news on eco-fridges and new developments coming onto the refrigeration market.  Keep an eye on their articles section which is constantly updated with news on the future of fridges and how manufacturers are looking for ways in which to save energy and reduce the average household carbon foot print.

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The positives of organic foods far outweigh the negatives.

One of the most common arguments against organic foods is the cost. Generally organic produce are more expensive than non-organic. But what price would you put on your health? You might be saving money short term by buying non-organic, but one way or another you will be spending it down the track. Would you rather give your money to the organic farmer today or to the hospital tomorrow? Prevention is ALWAYS better than the cure.

The side effects of non-organic foods seem almost endless and they can be physical and/or mental. Mental side effects can include depression and anxiety. The medical profession doesn’t recognize non-organic foods as possible causes of these mental illnesses. The medical treatment for these illnesses is the administering of medication. Even more unnatural chemicals that have side effects of their own, for which doctors prescribe even more medication. Its a vicious circle. Healthy body healthy mind.

Some of the chemicals being put into our foods have also been linked to the current obesity epidemic. Tributyltin, the main active ingredient in many pesticides, damages the nervous, immune and reproductive systems in animals and humans. Tributyltin has been shown to cause the growth of excess fat tissue in mice, and this is also becoming apparent in people. One study showed that overweight people had a significantly higher amount of this chemical in their urine than people in the healthy weight range. There is another chemical that is being used more and more commonly: Bud Nip. This is a chemical that is sprayed onto foods to stop it becoming reproductive once it has left the farm. This makes sure that we cant grow it once we have bought it. This chemical cannot be washed off and gets absorbed directly into the food. Some of the dangers of Bud Nip include toxicity to amphibians and honeybees. Do you want to eat food that has these chemicals in it? How would you feel knowing that your children have been absorbing these chemicals?

If passed, a proposed law in America, S510: the Food Safety Modernisation Act (http://www.infowars.com/senate-bill-s510-makes-it-illegal-to-grow-share-trade-or-sell-homegrown-food/ ), would make it illegal for people to grow, own, trade and eat their own foods on the assumption that it would be unsafe (What on earth is unsafe about growing your own carrots? Stubbing your toe on them?). The people supporting this proposed law are the people who pump our foods full of dangerous chemicals. The more of us that grow our own food, the less we are spending on their food. It’s not that we don’t want to give them our money – the point is we don’t want to eat their chemical laden and non- nutritious food – do we? More than that, should we be deprived of the right to choose what we put into our own bodies? And all this in a country that defends ad infinitum the right of it’s citizens to carry arms! You can buy and carry a gun but it’s ‘unsafe’ to grow your own potato! (believe it or not, some American States have even made it illegal to collect your own rainwater!)

Non-organic foods are not only bad for us but its bad for the whole Eco-system. Its not only the plant that gets sprayed with chemicals, but the surrounding topsoil too. Then as it rains, or the crops get watered, it gets washed away into our waterways. And form there it spreads entirely through the eco-system doing untold damage to plants and animals alike.

GM-foods: The Genetic Modification of our foods is the process of genetically altering the biological structure of our foods, so that food takes on different properties that it wouldn’t do naturally. You would think that they would try to modify them to be better for us to consume but that is not the case. There is a company (Monsanto) that spent millions of dollars to genetically engineer their foods to become more resilient to pesticides. Doubly dangerous! Unnatural GM-foods covered in dangerous chemicals that KILL pests. And who is the company that makes the pesticides and therefore would profit by the use of them? You got it. Monsanto! So, eating GM-foods insures a huge dose of herbicides, given that GM crops are sprayed even more heavily than conventional non-organic crops.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or USFDA) is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, one of the United States federal executive departments. The FDA is responsible for PROTECTING and PROMOTING PUBLIC HEALTH through the regulation and supervision of food safety.. Yeah, right…

Still no long term health studies of GM-foods have been conducted on humans.

Learn how to grow your own high quality organic food with minimum effort at http://www.madproducts.org/Green_Products.html

Author: Justin M, creator of http://www.madproducts.org.

At www.madproducts.org, we donate 20% of our profits to various charity organisations.

Environmentally, clearly the Earth is suffering. And a large number of beings that inhabit the Earth are suffering too. We believe in focusing on issues like reducing greenhouse gasses by promoting alternative energy sources, land/forest/ocean conservation and restoration, organic and GM-free foods, poverty, disease, starvation, the decline and extinction of our wildlife, ect. Raising awareness about these issues is a huge factor. With knowledge comes power.

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Yes, we even gave this coffee its very own pet name, it tastes so good.  Which made me think to myself, why aren’t more people promoting this as an incredible way to make environmentally friendly coffee?  It uses a ceramic drip cone that requires no electricity, can be cleaned by hand (doesn’t require a dishwasher or other wasteful means of cleaning), and as with all coffee making devices, these coffee grounds do wonders in a compost pile.

If you’re living green and aren’t making pour over coffee – you should seriously consider it.  When I first got into making pour over coffee I was amazed at its simplicity – I own a Chemex six cup coffee maker as well as my trusty Hario v60 and they are by far the two easiest brewing devices in my whole coffee lab.  At my coffee blog I ramble a lot about ways to improve pour over coffee recipes, because I think it is the most efficient, effective, and least wasteful way to make coffee.  And on top of all that, it makes incredible coffee.  Espresso bars all over the country have started installing pour over bars and serving coffee like this to customers, because it allows for such a thorough extraction of the bean.

You can get a Hario v60 for about $20 on the internet, and even though it’s ceramic, it’s not fragile whatsoever. I’ve dropped mine twice onto a tile floor, and I haven’t even chipped the handle.  Which is something that means a lot to me, because no matter how environmentally friendly a coffee gadget is I don’t like it if it breaks easily – because it’s still producing waste just by failing my ‘durability test’ so to speak.

Just like the Hario Skerton, which I think is one of the best burr coffee grinders, the Hario v60 is a great, inexpensive, and really simple way to become more energy efficient while making significantly better coffee.

A serious win-win for anyone wanting to make better coffee in their kitchens.

Green Living

• Toss Your Electric Coffee Makers and make environmentally friendly coffee!

The Chemex Coffee Maker

The Chemex is pour over apparatus that is made out of hand blown glass – it was actually invented by a chemist strictly for the purpose of brewing the best coffee a human being could ever drink.  That alone should be indicative of how tasty this coffee is.  I first started making Chemex coffee at home a few months ago, and after a few trial and error renditions of coffee that was a little too weak or a little too strong I found the perfect ratio for my personal taste.

And it is incredible.  You can buy a Chemex that serves 6 people for under $30.

The Hario v60

This is another drip coffee maker – but it is more designed for a single person’s use.  Yes it can be set on top of a larger compartment to brew for a few, but I personally recommend this device if you are interested in single serving coffee.  I make a cup of coffee with my Hario v60 every morning – and it’s delicious.  It’s just a ceramic dripper that costs about $15 and doesn’t have any parts.  You put a filter in, grind the coffee, put it in the filter and pour hot water over it.  It’s incredibly simple but extracts a bold cup of coffee with all the subtle nuances of the bean and absolutely no bitterness.

Green living is best when it tastes delicious.

In a competition of Chemex vs Hario I can only objectively state that the Chemex coffee maker is a better device.  It was invented by a chemist, can make enough coffee to entertain a few guests, and is beautifully crafted from hand blown glass.

However, my personal favorite electricity free method of brewing coffee is the Hario v60 ceramic drip cone.  It may just be that the Hario is designed for a single cup of coffee and more often then not when I’m making coffee it is just for myself, however I also feel like it deserves mention that the Hario brews a stronger cup of coffee – the Chemex does a more well rounded extracted that the true coffee aficionado will certainly notice, but no method I have encountered brews coffee as strong and deliciously as the Hario v60.

Happy brewing!

Green Living

• Pour Over Coffee – Save Money, Electricity, and Look Awesome

These refrigerators use both the heating and cooling process in refrigeration by using distilled water and hydrogen gas to produce the cold temperature, and ammonia to maintain low temperature within the unit.  They work by using the propane gas flames to heat ammonia and water, which vaporizes and turns into steam. The hydrogen gas circulates the vaporized steam and liquid ammonia cools it down, thus creating a cold atmosphere.

Using propane gas as an alternative fuel source for appliances instead of using electricity ensure the users maximize energy efficiency and cost effectiveness. For one, these refrigerators do not use movable parts thereby they don’t require too much repair and maintenance with its operation. On the other hand, electricity or battery operated refrigerators usually use movable parts that easily break down, thereby becoming more expensive in the long run. The cost of the spare parts for these units are a bit expensive and that is not counting the expenses that you might incur for the labor for the repairs themselves.

Using propane refrigerators in your home does not only make it economical and beneficial to the user but also to the environment as well. Propane gas has been considered as one of the cleanest types of burning fossil fuels and are non-toxic to water and the soil. Unlike the regular units, these green refrigerators do not use any CFCs which are known to present risks to the environment like damaging the Earth’s atmosphere. Therefore, these units are perfect for people who are looking for safe and clean alternatives for the environment.

These units are very convenient for people who live in areas where electricity is not available too. There are still some who like to live in remote areas like log cabins or lake houses and such that is off the grid. They would need to have refrigerator units that they can use in order to preserve their food while moonlighting in these areas, so having a propane refrigerator would be able to help them. These refrigerators may be used in recreational vehicles and boats as well, perfect for those who enjoy camping and fishing.

Ultimately, using propane refrigerators definitely have a lot of benefits. They are environment friendly while ensuring high functionality. While they may be more costly than buying the standard type of refrigerator that runs on electricity, in the long run, they are actually great money and energy savers. Aside from that, they are very durable and very dependable in the kitchen.

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Green  with grout cleaning means nature and nature means the environment that surrounds us. This is where we get our air, food, shelter and clothing. In other words, nature is our life.

Harmful cleaning agents that an ordinary household use contain chemicals that are not environment-friendly. They even pose a great threat to humans, especially children, to your pets and to your environment. So, the next time you clean your tiles and grouts, GO GREEN, GO ORGANIC!

Organic cleaning agents, like organic grout cleaner are 100% safe and biodegradable. Since they are safe to use, you will have no worries about where to store it. Also, they are gentle to your hands so you may not need gloves and you may not also need masks to use it. And not only so, they are readily available in your kitchen cabinet and are not expensive to buy. In addition to these, they are easy to prepare and easy to dispose. Your children, pets and plants are truly safe with these materials.

WHITE VINEGAR SOLUTION – The number one on the list for organic cleaners is the lowly yet versatile white vinegar. For badly stained grouts, a cupful for pure vinegar will do the trick. Spray on the area to be cleaned, let it stand for a few hours (overnight is preferable) then proceed to scrubbing. For not so dirty grouts, a 50/50 solution will do.

BAKING SODA – Sprinkle on the grout while scrubbing will help remove dirt and stain. If grout is badly stained, make a paste by adding vinegar to it. Bubbling and fizzing is a natural result of the reaction between the two materials. Rub the paste to the affected grout and let soak for a few hours (overnight is also preferable). Then proceed to the next step in cleaning. You may also spray the grout once in a while with 50/50 vinegar solution while scrubbing it.

SALT – In the absence of baking soda, salt is a very good abrasive cleaner, only mild just like baking soda. While scrubbing, sprinkle the grout with salt. Its abrasive nature helps loosen the dirt and cleans the grout deeply. Spraying it with a 50/50 vinegar solution will help do the trick.

As you can see by these easy to use organic cleaners, green grout cleaning is as simple as making a decision to help take care of our environment instead of polluting it with harmful chemicals.

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1. Recycle aluminum cans, glass, and plastic. Your municipality should have a recycling program. If they do not, look to local non-profits. Chances are there is one that recycles.
2. Check the energy efficiency of your appliances. If your refrigerator, stove, dishwasher, and freezer are more than 15 years old, consider upgrading. Appliances today are more energy efficient than they have ever been. Check with your local officials, some municipalities offer rebates or incentives for purchasing energy efficient appliances.
3. Turn off the WATER! If you are not directly using it, turn it off. It will save water and cut down on your water/sewage bill.
4. Compost kitchen scraps. Vegetable/fruits peels, discards, egg yolks, coffee grounds and filters can all be composted right out of your back door.
5. Grow your own herbs. If you have a window sill in your kitchen, you can grow your own herbs. Most store bought herbs travel thousands of miles before they end up in your store. Fresh parsley, cilantro, oregano, and basil are the perfect starter garden. While cooking, just snip what’s needed and go! Fresh herbs taste better and their nutritional/herbal properties are higher than dried herbs and what’s more greener than growing your own herbs to make a green kitchen.
6. Buy Local. Place a 100 mile restriction on the food you buy. Buying this way not only boosts the local economy, your food is fresher, the nutritional content is higher and it tastes better.
7. Open your windows. Natural light is the best way to light a room. You’ll use less electricity.
8. Keep your dishwasher clean. Just like a car runs better after a tune up, so does your dishwasher. Clean out the food trap in the bottom of the appliance, run and empty load with white vinegar. Also, run the dishwasher ONLY when it is FULL. Running a half full load wastes electricity and water.
9. Use natural cleaners/cleansers to clean counters, appliances, cabinets and floors. Vinegar and baking soda (used alone and combined) can be used to clean your entire kitchen and does  a good job as well. By not polluting the environment with harsh chemicals is the best way to have a green kitchen.
10. Use manual tools whenever possible. A hand turned can opener uses no electricity.
11. Unplug small appliances when not in use. The toaster/toaster oven, coffeemaker and microwave all use electricity, even when they aren’t in use.
12. Stop using paper or Styrofoam plates, cups and utensils. It is less of an earthly impact to wash dishes than to serve a dinner on paper or Styrofoam products.
13. When you shop, use cloth grocery bags.
14. Limit your purchase of items with excessive packaging. This just limits what you bring into your home and helps contribute to a green kitchen.
15. And finally, lower your waste. Crush boxes, cans and the like to use less garbage bags. Less trash = less waste in our landfills.

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1. Cut the food into small, equal size pieces.
2. Either dip the pieces into an acidic solution (citrus juice, etc) or blanch them which improves the quality.
3. Put the food in your dryer in single layers and turn as needed until they are done.

How done is done? Fruits are considered done when they are soft and leathery while herbs and vegetables are considered done when they become crisp. But there are no hard and fast rules when it comes to drying foods. You can experiment by putting spices on vegetables and sweeteners on fruits to enhance the flavor. Your tastebuds are the limit!

You can easily make your own solar dehydrator using the parabolic cooking method for very little money just by following the directions shown in this video below. The only thing they didn't put in the video was that the jar will heat up faster and hotter if placed in a sealed plastic cooking bag.

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In your kitchen, only run your dishwasher when completely full. If you handwash your dishes only fill the sink 1/2 full, wash the dishes, and then rinse the dishes all at once, not one at a time. Do not let the water run when you are scrubbing , use just enough to get the job done. Also, when you need hot water do not let your faucet run until it gets hot. Its uses less energy to microwave a few cups of water than to waste gallons of water waiting for it to get hot from the faucet. When cooking pasta, boiling eggs, or vegetables, let the water cool and use it to water your plants around the house. The nutrients left in the water from cooking are better for your plants than “plain” water. Keep a pitcher of water in your fridge so you always have “cold” water and don’t run the faucet.

All these ideas are free but if you plan to upgrade to new appliances be sure to check the energy rating as most manufacturers sell extremely efficient appliances that have the ratings listed right on the door so you can compare before you buy.

Happy Conserving!

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