Tiny House Plans

Once again, my favorite resource for eco-friendly house plans is offering new selections for download. I recently got an email from FreeGreen.com that announced their new Tiny House Plans. There are three different models to choose from: Tiny Rustic, Tiny Modern and Tiny Traditional. Each house is only 525 sq.ft. Note: You must sign up for either the premier or professional membership to download these house plans, but I guarantee the annual membership fee ($19.95 or $59.95) is worth it!

"Tiny House Plans were developed to offer our users and alternative path to the typical home. Used as an office, in-law suite, or starter home to build off of, these homes are easy and cheap to build. A DIYers dream, each of theses house plans are simple enough for any handyman to become his or her own general contractor. As a great addition to any current lot of land, or as an ultra-economical vacation home solution we hope that all of you will enjoy building and living in FreeGreen’s Tiny Homes. Finally, in true FreeGreen fashion each of these homes have been designed to achieve (or nearly achieve) zero energy performance (depending on your building location)."

How to Recycle Old Electronics | eHow.com

Many of us have old cell phones, calculators, DVD players, or other small electronics that we are no longer using. There are several ways you can recycle old electronics, possibly allowing others to find a good use for them, and saving our landfills at the same time. Read the full article here: How to Recycle Old Electronics | eHow.com

Vertical Green Walls

These vertical green bio-walls are adding value to the urban neighborhoods they are created in, as well as the air quality in the area. Exterior green walls can reduce the overall temperature of the building they're attached to, and can purify grey water by absorbing nutrients. Indoor living walls are now being credited with curing sick building syndrome in some cases, using the sciences of biofiltration and phytoremediation.

Botanist and inventor Patrick Blanc is a visionary in the world of vertical gardens, creating some of the most awe-inspiring walls, like his Le Mur Vegetal (Vertical Garden System) at the Musee du quai Banly in Paris. (pictured above). Patrick Blanc's work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, House & Garden and many others. To learn more about Blanc's green wall systems, visit his website: www.verticalgardenpatrickblanc.com

Nature and buildings in harmony- not only is it a green thing, it's a good thing...

Cradle to Cradle Products

Cradle to Cradle (C2C) products are becoming more and more popular (thank goodness) and incorporate using recycled materials, helping us to get one step closer to being waste free. McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry, LLC. (known as MBDC) are the folks currently issuing C2C certificates for manufacturers of everything from roofing materials to baby products. You can view the list of current C2C certificate holders here. Certification criteria includes using safe and healthy materials; using water efficiently for production, and instituting socially responsible strategies. Hopefully, there will be thousands of products added to this list in the next 3-5 years.

By the way, in a previous post I mentioned Aveda's cap recycling program... I'm happy to report they are also on the C2C list and have received Gold certification for several of their products.

Check out the YouTube Channel Cradle to Consumer for more products: