I’ve just finished reading Making Your Home Sustainable by Derek Wrigley. It’s a really useful book for anyone wanting to retrofit their house to improve its energy and water efficiency.

When architect and solar consultant Derek Wrigley moved into a townhouse in Canberra in 1991, he began retrofitting it to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels. Throughout the book, Wrigley uses the house to show how homes in Australia’s southern states can be made more sustainable.

The book is ideal for home owners who can fit out and alter their house. However, there is a small and informative section that provides renters with ways to improve their home’s efficiency at minimum cost.

The book covers more than just basic green living tips – it provides detailed information (but easy-to-understand) about solar energy, energy efficiency, appliances, mass and thermal comfort, insulation, ventilation, minimising water and effective landscape use.

It’s a great resource for all us retrofitters out there. To buy the book, visit Scribe Publications.

About a year ago I purchased green energy. At the time it was a pretty confusing task. There were so many products on the market and each one seemed to offer different things at different prices.

Luckily at the time, the Total Environment Centre, Australian Conservation Foundation and WWF Australia had launched Green Electricity Watch, a guide which ranked green electricity products in Australia. It was really useful and helped me make up my mind.

Once again, the organisations have updated the guide for 2007 so if you’re shopping around for a green energy supplier, check it out.

Sorry for the lack of posts. I have been travelling a bit lately due to family commitments and not had much time to post. I am off again so may not be posting for a week or so.

In the meantime enjoy Treehugger’s article about solar cooking. Some of the ideas are pretty clever - maybe some of you have already hooked up similar projects?

Ok so a cool $4 million ($US) isn’t quite what most people can afford for a house, but this place is really amazing and worth checking out just for the wow factor.

It’s the sort of house that both myself and my husband would love - me the green aspects and him the techy-gadgets. Although we wouldn’t need as much room or as many bathrooms.

The Wired Home is described as a modernist home in an exclusive enclave of Los Angeles that allows luxury and the environment to live together in harmony.

Sounds pretty cool huh?

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A friend who I met through Greenfoot and the non profit world recently started working at a web design agency in Sydney called Digital Eskimo. Not only does the agency focus on producing websites but its owners also really focus on sustainability within the business.

Some of the green features the studio has are: an eco friendly fridge, worm farm, bokashi bin, bamboo desks and chopping board, organic food, green power and recyclable chairs made from recycled materials.

They also carbon offset their work related air travel and don’t have air conditioning. Pretty amazing stuff really. Watch the video to see what else the agency is doing. Digital Eskimo also recently launched a blog focusing on sustainability.

I have just finished writing an article on buying energy wise appliances. Basically, all white goods (fridges, freezers, washing machines, dryers, air conditioners) must have an energy efficiency label.

It’s pretty simple stuff really - the more stars on the label, the more energy efficient. But did you know that by improving your appliance by just one star you can save between 10 and 30per cent on your running costs, and loads of greenhouse gas emissions? Check out my article for more information.

Tanya Ha has updated and revised her book Greeniology. This book is a great resource for anyone wanting to live a better and greener life.

It is focused on Australia and New Zealand (there is also a Canadian version) and provides really useful and easy-to-understand information and tips about green: shopping, renovating, working, transport, babies, cooking and cleaning.

Information is also split into each area of the house such as the kitchen, living room, bathroom, laundry, bedroom, office, garage and garden.

Tanya takes the approach that you don’t have to think of yourself as a greenie to make a difference and the book provides tips on reducing your impact on the earth without cramping your lifestyle. (more…)

I don’t own a Mac but if I did I would definitely want Mac to make it green. Not green in colour, but green in terms of removing dangerous toxic chemicals from its products.

The good folk over at Greenpeace have launched the Green My Apple campaign where they are calling on the company to use clean ingredients in all of its products, and to provide a free take-back program to reuse and recycle its products wherever they are sold. (more…)

I just can’t help blogging this one and I just have to say: only in the Netherlands. The Dutch Greenpeace office has released a report which reveals that the plastics in a wide range of sex toys contain very high concentrations of hazardous phthalates - toxic chemical softeners used in PVC to make it soft and flexible. Greenpeace research shows that phthalates can disrupt the human hormonal system, diminish fertility and adversely affect the kidneys and liver. Read the full story. Also, Treehugger has an online video about buying green sex toys. Not sure where Australian sex toys lie in terms of hazardous chemicals - maybe someone out there has an idea?

Greenpeace is testing the biggest names in electronics in terms of their green credentials, however, so far none of them are doing too well.

Ranked on their use of toxic chemicals and electronic waste (e-waste) policies, only Dell and Nokia scraped a barely respectable score while Apple, Motorola and Lenovo totally flunked the test.

The environmental organisation has published a scorecard to highlight which of the major electronics companies is doing the most to remove the worst toxic chemicals from their products and which companies have good recycling programs for their products.

Greenpeace will update the guide quarterly - giving companies an opportunity to move towards a greener ranking. However, as stated on the organisation’s website: “Penalty points will be deducted from overall scores if we find a company lying, practicing double standards or other corporate misconduct.”

Let’s hope next quarter these companies clean up their act.