Healthy Built Homes is a free price quote service for people in the United States who are building or renovating their home and are looking for local contractors who use green materials and practices. The site emphasizes the importance of making sure your home is healthy as well as energy efficient.
The site is really easy to navigate, and there are two ways to go about it. You can click on the city index site map and view a list of US states and then a detailed list of cities within each state. The list includes suburbs and smaller cities--I come from a smallish city and found that city listed in the index. Once you've selected your city, you can find a list of categories for different types of home building and repair work.
The other way to navigate the site is to click choose a category, and then once you find your category and subcategory, you submit your details to receive quotes from local contractors. Part of what you submit is your zip code, which is what narrows the quotes to locals.
I tried out the site by searching for someone to paint the outside of my house. I found my city, selected the "exterior" work category, and then selected "exterior paint contractors." I only had to answer a few questions about the size of the job and any special conditions about my house (cracked or peeling paint, type of exterior surface such as siding or stucco, etc).
This is a cool and free site that is easy to use. Sometimes I can get referrals from friends for work on my house, but other times I can't. It's nice to answer a couple of quick questions and have contractors contact me, rather than making a lot of phone calls myself. The site is definitely worth a try, whether you're looking to get an energy audit for your house, having work done on your HVAC system, having an addition put on your house, or remodeling a single room.
The inventor and designer of ATRE Power Stations is Leon Barnard, who resides in Surrey, BC, Canada. Leon was a mechanical engineering technician who moved up the ranks to Commodity Manager for a Fortune 500 corporation.
His interests in development of the ATRE Power Station started after a purchase of solar panels which did not perform under short and dark winter days in BC, Canada. He wanted something that delivers power in all weather, 24 hours a day.
Leon is just launching an IndieGogo campaign to fund the production of an Earth Ambient Temperature Resistant Power Station. Learn more at https://www.indiegogo.com/at/ATRE.
Leon also has several videos posted on YouTube to give you more of an idea of how this green technology works.
1. For laypeople, could you tell us what Earth Ambient Temperature Resistant Electricity (ATRE) means?
If one to watch the video here at http://igg.me/at/ATRE, the crowdfunding campaign site, you can see how the ATRE Power Station uses earth metals shaped by design into an antenna-like array which is then brought into contact with the earth to "electrify" the small galvanic cells at the rate per surrounding temperature. If the temperature increases, the flow of electricity increases, and if temperatures drop, the opposing electron charges in the crystals increase. In each panel, we use batteries to control the resistance of voltage buildup, and from there we derived the name Earth Ambient Temperature Resistant Electricity.
2. What are the benefits of ATRE compared to the green energy sources of sun and wind power?
ATRE Power Stations use water as input source, a relatively free energy source. ATRE Panels produce an electrical current 24 hours a day, independent from sun, wind, or other energy inputs. ATRE Panels do not use oxidation as a process to charge electrons, making this a natural and emission-free source of power.
Since water is relatively "free," and the ATRE Power Station does not need "clean" water, this form of electricity is considered continuous and free.
3. How did you first come up with the idea for creating your battery design?
My experience with solar panels in BC, Canada on many short and dark rainy days during the long months of winter was disappointing, and it triggered my research to find an electrical source where sun and wind does not matter. I also had the criteria of emission-free power, and a natural and clean form of energy.
4. How big will the power station be, and do you know where it will be located?
The technology is absolutely scaleable, which means that laptop computers, cell phones, and other small equipment could potentially become self-powered with tiny ATRE Power Stations. For the purpose of the campaign fundraiser, the model proposed will be as large as a medium fridge that one would purchase at your local appliance store, but at least at half the cost of your fridge due to the simplicity of the technology used.
My plan is that the initial commercial unit will be purchased like a fridge, installed in a corner of a room, and plugged into the grid--and then you can immediately save on your energy bill. It's a plug and play type of technology.
5. Why did you decide to pursue a crowdfunding campaign for your project, and is there anything else you'd like readers to know about it?
The Indiegogo.com platform requires us to explain the use of the funds and the reasons for the crowdfunding campaign, so you can learn a lot more about it by visiting our page there. Anyone interested in this project can visit the site and watch the videos and visit links to other sites that display prototypes in action and illustrate the design progress for the commercial unit.
Green N Brown offers eco-friendly and organic products that let you make better choices for yourself, your community, and the planet. They believe that for a better and sustainable future, conventional products have to give way to "Green" (eco-friendly) and "Brown" (organic) alternatives.
Naina Vaish, Evangelist N CEO, drives this company. She has been an active environmental steward herself and now wants to not only encourage individuals to adopt a Green lifestyle but also excite and expose them to this lifestyle through her blog. Naina is a strong believer that "Change needs to happen bottoms up--it is the individuals who need to drive the Green Revolution in their everyday lives."
1. What inspired you to start Green N Brown?
We are a firm believer that change has to happen from the bottom up--it is the individuals who have to make little/subtle changes to their everyday lives to make this world a greener place to live. With this in mind, we created Green N Brown with a conscious decision to present a ubiquitous online store that offers Green i.e. eco-friendly and Brown i.e. natural alternatives (hence Green N Brown) to people across several product categories that they can access from the comforts of their homes.
2. How do you choose the suppliers and products to feature on your site?
Each of our products undergoes a rigorous process before selection. All the products available on site have been hand-picked and thoroughly analyzed by our in-house research team for its eco footprint.
3. Could you tell us a little more about the fair trade, artisan created, handmade jewelry available on your site?
The wide range of fair-trade jewelry and hand made décor on our store are sourced from across nations: Haiti, Kenya, Africa, and Asia. Fair trade provides under- and unemployed artisans with an opportunity to earn vital income and improve their quality of life by establishing a sustainable market for their handcrafted products. We bring the best from several countries to the American consumers when it comes to Green. People can access all these products which were not accessible to them before from all these countries right from their homes.
4. Your hemp backpacks are also a popular item. What makes hemp a good material for book bags, laptop bags, and similar products?
Yes our hemp bags and backpack are one of the best sellers. What makes hemp bags so popular amongst the customers is that hemp grows well without the use of herbicides or pesticides making it environmentally sustainable.
1. It is one of the most durable natural fibers that exists and has very high tensile strength.
2. Hemp softens with use and yet remains hard-wearing.
3. Hemp fabrics dye very effectively and retain color well over time.
4. Hemp has good resistance to mold and is fire-retardant.
With a huge range of hemp bags for every walk of life, you are sure to find the style and color you want.
5. What else would you like readers to know about your business?
While people are aware of the benefits of green lifestyle and are willing to adopt it, they are often short of alternative products that are greener than the conventional options. At Green N Brown, we carry a diverse range of green products across several product categories in a bid to offer enough green options for consumers to pick and choose from. We are a one stop shop for green products for a healthy lifestyle
Are you in the greater Seattle area? Do you want to raise money for a nonprofit organization? Are you looking for a project that requires minimal time and effort in arranging? We all love car washes to support charitable organizations, but here's a cool twist on that classic fundraiser: CharityCarWash.org lets you raise money for your group by selling tickets for professional car washes.
So instead of spending hours signing up volunteers and washing cars, you can simply sell these vouchers to your family, friends, coworkers, and anyone else who wants to get their car professionally washed, save money, and support a local nonprofit at the same time.
And even better, you're promoting an environmentally friendly way for people to wash their cars, so in addition to supporting nonprofits, you're helping to protect the Puget Sound, too, as the water from the car washes (with all the dirty residue from your car, including oil, wax, etc!) is piped to treatment centers rather than being washed down storm drains.
When you order a block of tickets, they are customized with two lines of text with the name and a brief amount of information about your charity. There are tickets for attended car washes and tickets for self-serve car washes in the greater Seattle/Tacoma area; see a list of participating car washes here.
Basically, the way that your nonprofit group makes money with these tickets is that you're able to purchase the tickets for less than half of their recommended resale value. The CharityCarWash.org website includes a lot of good hints for having a successful fundraiser, including doing a ticket pre-sale, making a video about your sale to share on social media, and selling your tickets at high-traffic sites like grocery stores.
Remember, this is what happens if you wash your car in your driveway:
For a unique and green fundraiser, check out CharityCarWash.org, a project of the Puget Sound Car Wash Association.
Abel Prasad, partner of Australia Venture Capital Holdings Limited, has announced on behalf of the owners of the company that they will be investing a further $10,000,000 into sustainable hotels.
Known for being a playboy, it's rumoured that his fiancee, Annelise Oriti, a Brisbane-based student, has helped change the path of the company.
Abel Prasad and Annelise Oriti have recently become engaged, and her vegan lifestyle has made an impact on the very private family and their companies.
A source within the company has stated that Abel's mother has become very friendly with Ms. Oriti and in turn is spending millions on changing the direction of the company to ensure that it is green by 2016.
Shareholders are not happy as their profits diminish, but a statement by the company insists that the initial expense will be worthwhile.
This could be the start of a successful company and relationship between Annelise Oriti and Abel Prasad.
How can you resist a web hosting company that names its hosting packages after pandas? At https://www.hostwithwill.com/ you have the choice of the Baby Panda, Little Panda, and Big Panda, depending on your hosting needs; the packages start at just $2.95 a month for the Baby Panda, designed for people who are just hosting a single domain.
Will is a green, wind-powered hosting company that was founded in the UK in 2013. Using green power, they've maintained 99.9% uptime for their servers. They also pride themselves on quick customer support, with live chat and the promise to respond to customers' questions within minutes.
Will's website is clear, informative, and easy to navigate. They have reseller packages available for web designers or anyone else who wants to sell web hosting services to their own clients. And if you want a Wordpress site custom-built for you, Will can do that, too.
I really get the feeling from the website that Will is a small, responsive team, and they value their business and their individual customers. I like their emphasis on green power and customer service. The tone of the site is light-hearted yet direct and serious. If you're tired of giving your web hosting dollars to a big, faceless company, why not give Will a try?
Dr. Hicham Riba is a practicing dentist in the United States who graduated from New York University in 1994, and from Tishreen University in Syria in 1989. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences in Riyadh, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Dr. Riba has also been a realtor in the state of Illinois since 2007 and is certified in real estate investments from various real estate institutions in the United States. He is an avid sustainable living enthusiast and author of Innovative Approaches to Sustainable Design: The Riba Green City Model.
1. How did you first become interested in sustainable design?
I've always had an interest in architecture and design. Of course when you have children, if you weren't before, you become much more concerned about the environment. I became hyper-aware of the environmental messes my children would be forced to deal with in the future, not to mention their children, my grandchildren--everyone's.
2. What inspired you to write Innovative Approaches to Sustainable Design: The Riba Green City Model?
It was the war in Syria. Amidst the heartbreaking daily reports of loss of life and devastating destruction, somehow green ideas began to sprout in my mind. These ideas multiplied by the day, and soon I simply could not shake the hope for a new, green, thriving Syria. In time, the opportunity to rebuild would present itself. We needed to be prepared. Instead of consumers, I sincerely believe each one of us possesses the ability to become a producer utilizing the best technology available and shedding our dependence on fossil fuels.
3. Would you tell us a little bit about your "green city model"?
It's a practical guide to creating a completely sustainable and agricultural city. I thoroughly explore all aspects of renewable energy and how we can apply them in every area from the individual housing units to the blocks, neighborhoods, communities, and throughout the entire city.
4. What are some things you do in your own life to be mindful of the environment and live in a more sustainable way?
I recycle, buy local whenever I can, blog, talk to my kids about the environment, and try my best to be a good example, because that is what they'll remember above all else.
5. How do you combine your work as a dentist with your interest in sustainable design?
In the workplace we are paperless. Everything is digital. The office design is also very agronomic, and we use green companies whenever we have the opportunity.
One of the great things about the Amazon Kindle is that it has allowed a lot of prolific authors to reach their audience in a straightforward and organized way. I have noticed both fiction and nonfiction authors who have successfully published series of books in Kindle format.
One such nonfiction author is Deborah Dolen, a busy writer who specializes in DIY-related topics. In fact, Deborah Dolen has 29 DIY-type books on Kindle and more recently, Barnes and Noble's Nook. I also think it's great how she has produced several Amazon Instant films to catch readers' attention and complement many of her Kindle books.
The topics of Dolen's work include cooking, gardening, crafts, beekeeping, aromatherapy, making perfume, floral design, and more. She has a how-to book on starting a business selling gift baskets, and she has a book on the holistic benefits of housekeeping with natural methods and products. You might call her a Renaissance woman as her range of interests is so diverse! However, they all share the common thread of working with natural products and materials.
Much of Deborah Dolen's work being a decade old, she has gone back through her catalog and created updated editions of many of her books. One example is her book, Handwriting Analysis in Psychology, which she wrote in 2006 and updated in May of 2013. Author Rose Wynters recently featured Dolen on her blog. Wynters has created a thorough post which includes a review of the Handwriting book as well as an interview, which is what sparked my interest in this author.
Wynters hosts a great website embracing many thoughtful interviews full of interesting reading material for people who are interested in selling books in Kindle format. In the interview, Dolen calls herself "an accidental author by circumstance" and describes her experience in finding success on Amazon. In short, she was a young widow who had to raise three daughters and keep them interested in creating things. All of her books were inspired by hands-on projects she engaged in with her daughters.
An interesting phenomena of Deborah Dolen's work is that her hard copy books became collectible almost overnight in 2008 (commanding hundreds of dollars each and thousands if the edition was signed by her) when she stopped printing her books in order to make her work exclusively available for Kindle. Book collectors jumped all over her hard-to-find print copies, although she did not benefit and in fact still donates the hard copies she may have to good causes.
Since 2008 she has spent a good deal of time transferring her previously published print works to Kindle format, and her entire collection of titles is now available on Kindle. As her exclusive contract with Kindle recently expired, she was able to premier her work on Barnes and Noble's Nook.
In 2012 Deborah Dolen's work became available on international platforms that include Amazon UK, Amazon France, Amazon Spain, Amazon India, and Amazon Germany. You can see clips of her videos on YouTube channel where she enjoys half a million views and counting.
I feel confident that we'll be seeing more books from Dolen in the years to come, and I'll be interested to see what topics she covers next.
