We don’t have a swimming pool. It is only warm enough in the frozen tundra where I live to enjoy a pool for three months at best, and even then only if you have a heater. Or I suppose if you find it invigorating to swim in frigid water, which I definitely do not.

Friends of ours have pools and they are always telling me about the hassle of the chemicals and chlorine. When I was a child my hair used to turn green from the chlorine in the camp pools.

Now in an effort to find a more environmentally friendly way to maintain a pool, people are turning to chlorine free systems. The New York Times profiled a few companies that are revolutionizing the way people keep their pools bacteria free.

TechnoPure, a company based in Uxbridge, Mass., makes a system that pumps pool water through a chamber containing coated titanium plates which oxidize and burn off organic waste. Copper and zinc ions sanitize the water, resulting in a pool that’s virtually maintenance free in terms of chemicals.

Another company takes a different approach,

DEL Ozone, based in San Luis Obispo, Calif., makes generators that inject ozone gas into the water as it recirculates, oxidizing bacteria and killing microorganisms. The generators are usually employed as a supplemental sanitizer to reduce reliance on chlorine.

These systems are on the expensive side, $10-20K in additional costs. Not to mention the hassle of finding someone to maintain the pool.

There are other options which still utilize chlorine as the primary anti bacterial agent, but use much less of it. DEL Ozone and Nature2 both sell for under $1000.

People are becoming more environmentally aware is recent years and seeking out green products to replace their current non-green products. This desire has fueled a movement of organic foods, alternative fuel sources, and greener building materials. The newest product to dip it’s toe into the pool is paint. Paint manufacturers are all releasing their own lines of low VOC paints. Since, according to the EPA, one of the top 5 leading health risks is indoor air, this movement has been embraced with open arms by consumers.

VOC stands for volatile organic compounds. Paints and finishes release low level toxic emissions into the air for years after application. The source of these toxins is a variety of Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). Until recently, homeowners had no choice. The VOCs were essential to the performance of the paint. Exposure to V.O.C.’s in high concentrations can cause short and long-term health problems,

Paint is composed of three different components. The pigment, or color. A binding agent, which ensures that the color sticks to the wall. And a solvent, which keeps it all liquid until exposed to air. The solvent then evaporates, leaving the pigment behind on the wall. The solvents are the main source in paint of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Low VOC paints replace the petroleum based solvents with water based carriers. However, even Zero-VOC formulations contain some small amounts of toxins. Environmentally friendly paint is a matter of degrees.

According the to New York Times:

Not everyone is happy about the shift. Many designers, painters and consumers who applaud environmental responsibility are nevertheless worried about the growing restrictions on oil-based paints (which contain high levels of harmful volatile organic compounds), and even on less hazardous water-based latex ones.

Designers have said that consumers are not yet willing to accept the limitations on the new low VOC paints and erroneously expect them to behave in the same manner as traditional paint. They say that in areas of high use or friction, such as cabinets, that traditional paint is preferable as the low VOC paints do not hold up as well. Painters have also said that they charge more for using low VOC paints since they require more coats of paint to achieve adequate coverage.

I have not used low VOC paints so I can not say how they perform when compared to traditional latex paint. I do know though that if I were forced to coat the wall five times rather than the normal two coats, that I would not use it again. No matter how environmentally friendly it is. Not to mention that it is significantly more expensive per gallon.

However, next time I am buying paint I think I will try a gallon of the low VOC paint and see how I like it. I certainly have enough experience with traditional paint to make an informed comparison.

Near where I live, there are many towns where people buy the old homes for the land, knock down the old house, and put up something new, and usually hideously large, in its place. Some of the houses, 1960’s era ranches for example, are not difficult to see go. But when people buy older houses and demolish them, my heart breaks a little.

But in all of the cases of tear downs, there is an enormous amount of waste that seems hard to justify.

Nancy Keates from the Wall Street Journal has written about the more eco-friendly option of unbuilding, something which they are doing to their Portland, OR home.

The Building Materials Association estimates that in the U.S., 315,000 to 360,000 tons per year of reused building materials are sold by reuse centers — not even 0.2% of the total waste from building activities each year.

Keates writes about how her house was painstakingly disassembled. Things that were going to be reused in the rebuild were separated out. Once that is done, “the Rebuilding Center will send in their deconstruction crew to take everything else apart. They will start with the hardwood floors, then take apart the windows, doors and even pipes — down to the house’s foundation.”

Doing this does end up costing more money than a traditional tear-down. The unbuilding at the Keates home took an additional 2 weeks and approximately $4000. Not adding to landfills, however, priceless.

For the past 20 years granite has enjoyed a relatively uncontested reign as the high end counter top surface of choice. Recently, however, new innovative products are popping up and causing people to rethink their choices.

When a material is found in apartment complexes and tract homes, “it’s been done to death,” said Ellen Hanson, an interior designer in New York.

The trend now, designers and suppliers said, is toward warmer and softer materials used centuries ago, like wood, copper and soapstone. For a more modern look, glass, composites and recycled materials are being used.

I wrote a few months back about recycled paper countertops, which I love.

(photo courtesy of NY Times)

Ice Stone is a newer product that is made from 100% recycled glass in a cement matrix, diverting hundreds of tons of glass from landfills each year. They operate out of a renovated, day-lit factory in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, creating U.S. jobs for workers in an eco-friendly, safe and respectful environment.

Sales of quartz composite surfaces, also known as engineered stone, by manufacturers like CaesarStone and Silestone, have steadily increased over the past five years. I am not overly fond of either of these products. To me it just doesn’t have the same cache as granite, soapstone, or wood.

I love soapstone. Particularly they way the it feels when you touch it. It also reminds me of middle school science lab which had soapstone counters. So perhaps part of the appeal for me is a wistful nostalgia for the good old days of the asymmetrical hairstyle and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. My husband does not share this love. So the soapstone is off the table, or cabinet as the case might be, for us.

The trifecta of the green movement is Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. But how does this apply to the home renovation?

One company, Green Demolitions, is navigating a previously untapped market.

Green Demolitions works with professional, insured contractors who carefully remove and transport donated kitchen cabinets, countertops, appliances, fixtures and building materials.

Green Demolitions establishes a tax deduction for the donor, by reselling the items, and providing the donor with the resale amount.

Buyers save 50- 75% off their ‘new’ kitchens. Most importantly perfectly good cabinets, appliances, counter tops, sinks, etc do not end up cluttering a landfill.

All the proceeds that Green Demolitions makes go to Recovery Unlimited, a 501c3 non-profit organization dedicated to All Addicts Anonymous (AAA) for all addicts and all addictions including alcohol, drugs, tobacco, food, depression, anxiety and anger. Owner Steve Feldman set up this non profit charitable organization to help a program that had helped him in his youth.

Recycling Luxury for Recovery… sounds like a deal in which everybody wins.

The Harmony Wood Collection is a real wood tile from sustainable forests that come mesh-mounted for ease of installation.

Modern and warm these tile can be used in a variety of applications where they will not come into contact with water.

Harmony Wood Tile comes in a wide range of colors, wood types, and textures. The photo above is from the Wood Tile Cane line. It is meant to mimic a caned seat and is priced at $27 per square foot.

Recently it was featured as aDwell product of the day. And Apartment Therapy also mentioned this line of tile sold by Anchor Bay Tile as a great find for warming up a modern home.

I think that this particular tile is my favorite from this line. Called Falling Water, it is an accent border tile. I think it would be stunning as a backsplash in a kitchen. It can be purchased at the Anchor Bay Tile website for $18.50 a square foot. Teak Vein Cut is just one of 7 styles offered in this line.

The house we own now came with a garbage disposal. Before that I had never given them a second thought. But now that I have one, I love it. I love not having to stick my hand into the mucky sink to remove food scraps. My spoons don’t love it quite as much, poor battered things.

One time we had our plumber at the house doing work and he had said that most of his emergency calls were because of clogged garbage disposals. He also said that potato peels were funding his son’s college education. With the amount of money he was charging per hour, I doubt he was joking either.

Until recently I did not realize that disposals were not considered environmentally friendly.

According to Grinning Planet, using a garbage disposal taxes the sewage treatment facilities.

This past month the town of Raleigh, NC banned the installation of new garbage disposals. Citing sewer overflows caused by people pouring grease down their drains. I am not really sure what will prevent the people from pouring grease down their drains without a disposal.

I wonder if people think of disposals as trash compactor instead of just using it for the small random scraps that are left in the sink. You aren’t supposed to dump containers of food into the sink and let the disposal have at it.

A much better way to get rid of food products is with a compost pile. We have one, though I willingly admit that in the frigid winter weather I do not use it. But I don’t shove the food scraps down the disposal either.

Popular counter top material are being used in new and exciting ways. Corian and Quartz have long been favorites of homeowners and designers for kitchen countertops due to the durability and endless color range. But recently designers have been looking at these surfaces in a whole new way.

According to Remodeling Magazine:

Departing from their usual horizontal kitchen and bath applications, solid-surfacing materials are creeping up adjacent walls to serve as backsplashes, shower walls, fireplace surrounds, and more.

These materials are infinitely flexible. Corian can be thermo-formed into custom shapes, bent around difficult angles, and can be requested in special sizes and thicknesses that make it weigh less than traditional countertop surfaces while still maintaining its durability.

Cambria, a Quartz product, comes in thicknesses down to 1cm, meaning it can be used for things like outlet covers. And it is the only quartz product to be manufactured solely in the United States. Cambria is also a certifiedGreen product. The company is committed to environmental responsibility in its product manufacturing and business practices.

If you are thinking of a remodel in the kitchen, bathroom, pool side, or a wet bar, or even perhaps a new fireplace surround, you might one to consider Corian or Quartz for your project. The applications to which it can be applied are endless, and the flexibility means your project can stand out as unique. Who doesn’t want to inject some personality into their home in this era of mass produced houses?

Doesn’t this home look like somewhere one of the Hobbits would live? Or some Woodland fairies?

This is home to a couple and their two young children. It is a completely green home. Solar panels provide electricity. A composting toilet. No running water. Straw bale insulation. Heated solely by a wood burning stove. The refrigerator is cooled using the naturally cooled air underneath the foundation.

The home is dug into a hill, with sod used for the roof.

Would you like to live there? Well, they are building an eco-village in Southern Wales.

And they are not alone. In the UK there are groups of people who are living in low impact developments. Cae Mabon is a community with breathtakingly beautiful roundhouses.

There is a huge green living movement afoot. And while this type of home and lifestyle is at the extreme, I think that most of us are looking for ways to reduce our energy consumption. For many of us it may be based solely on a selfish desire to lower our energy bills, but for these select few it is born out of a desire to have a zero impact on the earth.

All of us can probably learn from it.

Do you find the idea of making your home energy efficient overwhelming?

The Money Pit has just the answer for you. The first ever video podcast by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR program which shows the simplicity of home energy efficiency.

“This podcast is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to make green improvements to their home while saving money,” said Kraeutler. “Homeowners can use it as a step-by-step guide to improving their home’s energy efficiency. The tips we discuss are incredibly simple yet make a great impact on energy bills and the environment.”

Taking you on a room by room tour of a typical American house and offering tips for improving energy efficiency.