apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Green @ Home month might be over, but that doesn't mean we haven't stopped looking for ways to improve our environmental impact on a day to day basis. As noted a few times, water use is a big issue here in crowded and dry Los Angeles. Combine that with a car culture and one of the glaring suspects of excessive water use at home happens while Angelenos, such as myself, wash their motor cars. Since we don't have a garage, this happens more often than we like. But of recent, a whole new category of waterless washing products have hit shelves and the folks over at Freedom International were kind enough to send us a trial package of their non-hazardous water-based cleaning solutions so we could see how it fared compared to traditional washing...

posted originally from: AT:LA

This might be the saddest home furnishings creation we've ever seen. It gets more sad under the jump...

posted originally from: AT:LA

While running in for a bite to eat at a nearby Whole Foods, we stopped to check out this colourful collection of non-plastic garden pots manufactured from the husks of rice, other grains and starch-based, water-soluble binders and biodegradable additives. The ingredients almost sound better tasting than some of the healthy snacks inside the grocery chain...

posted originally from: AT:LA

ATLA's Australian correspondent Jenny sent us this piece about some green tech we thought we'd share...

We get plenty of sun here in Australia- even in winter. This can be handy as we’re less likely to run low on Vitamin D but that hasn’t been able to stop our mobile phone from running out of whatever vitamin keeps them going- until now. The Freeloader Solar Charger is a pocket sized charging device that uses its solar panels or a USB connection to charge its internal battery. Once its battery is fully charged your mobile phone can run off it for 44 hours, your iPod for 18hours and it has adaptors for almost everything…

posted originally from: AT:Hometech

Looks like LA is taking some positive steps forward in reducing the use and disposal of plastic bags. The Los Angeles City Council recently voted to ban plastic bags in the supermarkets and stores by July 2010, trying to coax the state to impose a 25¢ fee on every shopper who requests them before moving forward with the proposed enforced ban. With 2.3 billion plastic bags used each year in LA alone, and with only an estimated 5% of those plastic bags recycled statewide, this might be the sort of drastic change LA needs to get rein in a common litter source we often find stuck in our own yards...

posted originally from: AT:LA

Ah the milk crate, the original building block for DIY furniture. Milk crates are often abused in a design sense by students looking for cheap – read free – storage solutions. But we’ve always known they could be so much more which is why we were so excited when we saw Tasmanian furniture designer Simon Ancher’s clever milk crate stool. With the simple addition of a wooden ‘top’, the crate is transformed into an attractive comfortable seat. Or how about the pixel block style Chandelier from MADE, shown above? Below the jump are a few more furnishing ideas using milk crates...

posted originally from: AT:LA

As of 2003 Australia has been in a drought so we’re always looking for different ways to reuse water. Reusing grey water from the washing machine [remember to use a phosphate-free laundry powder!] is common practice as is storing that water in a wheelie bin with a garden tap at the base. However, unless you happen to live on a hill, with the wheelie bin at the top and your garden going down hill it can be quite difficult to get the water from the bin to your garden. Thankfully, the clever people over at Enviro Friendly have come up with the answer to this dilemma...

posted originally from: AT:LA

One of the worst energy use source in any household is machine washing clothing. It's something we've all got to do, unless you want to be known as the real life version of the Peanut's Pigpen. But one way to reduce your energy use footprint is to line dry your clothing. We currently do this mostly for hand washed clothing, but not for full loads for worry of offending our neighbors. We'd probably feel differently if we owned a house and had backyard, but we've noted some very strong feelings against the green practice due to worries about property value and visual blight. How do you feel about neighbors line drying their clothing in their back or side yards?

[image: the artwork of Kaarina Kaikkonen]

posted originally from: AT:LA

We'd like to apologize for the site being down for most of the day today. Although we think "small is cool", this apparently doesn't apply when referring to server traffic capacity. An unusual spike in reader traffic brought our site to its knees this morning and we've only just recovered. We're getting everything upgraded now so we can avoid this problem. Thanks for being patient with our growing pains...

Clothes dryers are notorious energy vampires. The Dryer Miser system, showcased at the 2008 International Builders’ Show in Orlando uses a proprietary fluid in the heat exchange process to cut energy consumption by up to 50% and the drying time by up to 41%. So you save time and energy.

What's great about this solution is it is an add-on kit: "With our upgrade kit, fitting your traditional clothes dryer with the Hydronic Dryer is easy. A trained service technician will install your Hydronic Dryer in less then 30 minutes."

Helixthecat of Instructables shows us all how to take that pile of leftover plastic bags and create an artificial floral arrangement that shows you care about recycling. No word yet about instructions of how to make this converting shopping bag.
[Originally posted 2008-01-17, AT:LA]