apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

We have seen a few different situations where product packaging is reused as a protective sleeve or even TV stand. Commendable efforts, but the fact still remains that most people choose to toss the foam, bubble wrap or whatever else is used for cushioning your new gadget during shipping. It looks like HP realizes this and is going down a different road when it comes to product packaging for their latest laptop.

posted originally from: Unplggd

We have seen things like the Belkin Conserve which are designed to help you eliminate vampire power. The idea is to provide an easy way of fully disconnecting devices without having to crawl behind furniture to actually disconnect them. Problem is, people are lazy, and this still requires a conscious effort to make sure that all your devices have been fully switched off. The Energenie isn't as polite.

posted originally from: Unplggd

As much as we would love to outfit our roof with solar panels, it's just too much of an upfront investment. With retailers like Ikea getting into the solar panel game though, we would expect the price to come down dramatically.....eventually. In the mean time, Connecticut has a nice approach that could get you set up for solar now.

posted originally from: Unplggd

Knowledge is power. When it comes to conserving energy, along with the cash in your wallet, this couldn't be more true. This is where EnergyHub comes in.

posted originally from: Unplggd

We have two universal remote controls. Both are Logitech Harmony remotes but one uses replaceable batteries while the other one has it's own charging dock and a rechargeable battery. What we have come to realize is that it is never convenient for remote control batteries to die on you....especially if you are using rechargeable AAA batteries and don't have an extra set kicking around for when you do need to charge them. So why not get rid of batteries altogether?

posted originally from: Unplggd

Here is the reverse of the washup toilet and washing machine combo. And by reverse we don't mean the toilet water is being used to wash your clothes. Yuck. We are talking a sink and washer combined in a very small footprint for compact living spaces.

posted originally from: Unplggd

In Finland, old mobile phones lead to the World Championships of mobile phone throwing. Not really the right way to get rid of your old gadgets, although we wish we could toss our phone as far as possible every now and again, so it is nice to see another option for responsibly disposing of obsolete gadgets. Gazelle.

An online outfit, gazzle.com will recycle cell phones, MP3 players, digital cameras, GPS devices, laptops, camcorders, gaming consoles, satellite radios, and portable hard drives. Here's how it works:

Pic: Getty images via Canada.com

posted originally from: AT:Hometech

If a 40,000 square foot commercial roof can benefit from a reflective roof there is no reason that the same technology could not benefit a regular urban home. Elastomeric coatings, also known as white roofs, cover your typical black asphalt roof resulting in reduced indoor air temperatures in the summer while minimizing the need to air conditioning.

So what kind of differences can you expect? 22% less energy use for air conditioning in the summer and a 4% decrease in energy use during the winter. Pretty good numbers in our opinion and after going through the summer in our black, flat roofed, mid century ranch we are very interested in pricing this out to see if we might get some relief from the heat next summer.

Find out more here.

posted originally from: AT:Hometech

Why buy a laptop sleeve when you can make one that is waterproof for practically nothing? For a MacBook, all you need are three FedEx envelopes, material for internal padding and some sewing skills. Unfortunately we only have the first two so our friends that sew might be hearing from us.

posted originally from: AT:Hometech

Make your paint insulation? That is what Insuladd claims to do. Being in the middle of a renovation and insulation being the next step in the process we decided to look closer.

posted originally from: AT:Hometech

How much does your TV cost to run annually? In addition to annual cost, watts in standby and while on are given. In general, if you have an LCD the overall score is good, while Plasma TV's consistently score poorly.

Click here to see the full list.

posted originally from: AT:Hometech

What is your carbon footprint? A friend of ours tipped us off to Zero Footprint, and we were curious to see where we stood in terms of CO2 emissions. By entering the make and model of your car, how far you drive, how many flights you take in a year, and what your monthly gas and electric bills are, you can see how many tonnes of C02 your actions contribute to the environment. You can also compare your score to the national average.

posted originally from: AT:Hometech

This might work well to provide some accent lighting or define a space on your patio in the evening. The best thing is that the Lunabrite light rope does not require any electricity or battery power and is even safe in water. Unfortunately, the Lunabrite website is severely lacking in details about the product, but we would assume that collection of solar energy during the day is what provides the light at dusk.

posted originally from: AT:Hometech

Sexy compact fluorescents? While some still seem to think that the light produced by an incadescent bulb is more pleasing than a compact fluorescent, perhaps this new take on CFL's in the plumen project will make a case for switching to CFL's.

posted originally from: AT:Hometech