Creating healthy indoor environments for children

Green building is not just about water and energy efficiency, indoor air quality and a healthy home are equally as important.

Traditionally the majority of the products and materials that were used to create homes and their interiors off gassed many toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde, benzene, PBDEs and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These are really bad chemicals with a multitude of adverse effects from respiratory issues through to cancer. Children are are the greatest risk from exposure due to their size and immature bodies.

Healthy Child Healthy World is a US based not for profit who define their mission as "Healthy Child Healthy World is dedicated to protecting the health and well being of children from harmful environmental exposures.We educate parents, support protective policies, and engage communities to make responsible decisions, simple everyday choices, and well-informed lifestyle improvements to create healthy environments where children and families can flourish."

Check out their website, it is a wealth of information.

MIO design

MIO is a design company based out Philadelphia in the US who describe their philosophy as being driven by 'responsible desire'. Run by Jaime and Isaac Salm, all of their products use materials that can be easily recycled within existing infrastructures, fit into closed loop manufacturing systems available today or fit seamlessly with natural ecosystems. Their capsule lamp above is made from 100% wool felt and is recyclable and compostable.


Most of they products are well designed and make good use of sustainable materials, such as the ModuTiles above which are made from reconstituted cork and the Nomad System wall dividers below which are made from recycled kraft paper.

Celery - green kids furniture

Celery makes cool modern and green kids furniture. All of their furniture has a modern simplicity about it.

The furniture is made from sustainable bamboo or formaldehyde free medium density fibre board, uses no screws or glues, and has low/no voc finishes.


The rocking chair and rocking pony above are typical of their product range.

GREX is on this weekend

Just a reminder that GREX, the 2nd Australian International Green Build & Renewable Energy Exhibition and Conference is on over this weekend Friday 1 June - Sunday 3 June 2007.

It is being held at the Australian Technology Park, so get yourselves along.

aerobin - technology comes to composting

The Aerobin is a composting bin with a difference. It utilises an aeration core inside a sealed bin to promote aerobic break down of organic matter. This differs from most traditional compost bins which require regular turning of the contents to adequately aerate.

The Aerobin is an insulated unit that conserves heat, leading to rapid break down of waste. There is no need to turn or maintain the unit and it's completely pest proof. It has little odour and kills weeds and seeds.

The Aerobin is very easy to use - simply open the lid, drop in the waste and close. After a short period of time, fertile compost is produced, which is easily accessed via the lower side door.

Finding green products and materials

For a lot of people who are building and renovating, finding green and environmentally friendly products and materials can be a research challenge.

The easier way is to make use of ecospecifier. Ecospecifier is an online resource of over 3000 eco products, materials and technologies for the built environment.

The website is for those who want to save energy and water, use our resources sustainably, minimise pollution & our ecological footprint and to reduce negative human health impacts. The information available includes clarifying what is and is not ‘green’, enabling easier identification, specification or location of eco and health preferred products.

The service is a subscription based system which is aimed at businesses, however they provide a 6 week home user subsription for $88.00.

Rinnai gas clothes dryers

Electric clothes dryers consume an enormous amount of energy in drying our clothes and consequently are responsible for producing enormous amount of green house gases. Given our fantastic climate in Australia for drying clothes outdoors, one would wonder why a clothes dryer is necessary.

However given that they are used and loved by a lot of people, Rinnai has the solution, a gas clothes dryer.

Rinnai claims their gas heater produces one quarter of the greenhouse emissions of conventional electric dryers, are up to 70% more powerful than most electric clothes dryers and by using gas as the heat source rather than electricity, reduce running cost by up to 60%.

They sound like a win-win for both the consumer and the environment.

Know your green certifications

With the number of green products and services available growing by the day, we thought it would be useful to provide an outline of the green certifications that are increasingly being used to market products or services.







The Good Environmental Choice label is run by a not for profit organisation who utilise a national network of registered assessors. The program awards the label for recognition for products that meet standards of environmental, quality and social performance.






Greensmart is a scheme run by the Housing Industry Association which showcases builders who utilise green processes and principles in the construction new homes and alterations and additions.





Eco select is a brand created by the Timber Promotion Council (TPC) Victoria, Australia. The brand is used to highlight local timber that is responsibly harvested from sustainably managed forests, giving consumers a choice over imported timbers which may be sourced through exploitative means.






The Forest Stewardship Council is an International organisation which was created to represent the world’s strongest system for sustainable forest management. FSC standards for forest management have now been adopted by over 57 countries around the world.

















The Greenguard Environmental Institute is an independent, not for profit US body who overseas the Greenguard Certification Program. The Program is a certification scheme for low emitting products and materials which are tested against the US Environmental Protection Agency's specifications and the recommendations from the World Health Organization.





The Green Building Council is a not for profit organisation who's objectives are to encourage sustainability by promoting green building programs, technologies, design practices and operations. Their focus is on predominantly commercial, industrial and institutional buildings.

Mortgage rewards for going green

Two lending institutions have introduced products to encourage people to purchase green homes.

Bendigo Bank have introduced their generation green range of products, which includes mortgage and personal loans as well as a carbon offset program. To qualify, both loans have a set of criteria that must be met, for example the personal loans are for the installation of products or fixtures that improve the environmental efficiency of your home.
Both loans have a rate significantly below Bendigos standard variable rates.



The Maleny Credit Union has three products, the enviro loan, the dam busting loan and the green appliance loan.
The enviro loan is for houses that achieve a 5 star energy rating, the dam busting loan is a no application fee loan to encourage people to install rainwater tanks and the green appliance loan is for the installation of fixtures and fittings such and solar panels or solar hot water heating.
Each loan has a rate below MCUs standard variable rates.

The win-win with products such as these is that you will save money on your loan, save money on running costs of your house, and the environment and natural resources all get to have a break.

Green Maven - green search engine

For those who are looking for green information on the Internet, Green Maven is the search engine for you.

Green Maven is the Internets first green search engine. Made up of three parts, a green search engine, green news and a green directory.

The search engine trawls through the best 4000 green websites on the Internet, the green news comes from the best green blogs on the Internet and the green directory is made up of green businesses and products that submit their details to Green Maven.

Only recently launched in late 2006, the website is the work of a team of recent MBA graduates from the Dominican University of California's Green MBA program, where graduates receive a Masters of Business Administration in Sustainable Enterprise.

Terra Grass Armchair

TERRA by Nucleo is a grass armchair for outdoor use. Consisting of die cut cardboard pieces which fit together to make the form of an armchair. Once assembled simply fill the form Fill with dirt, sprinkle with grass seeds and water.

The perfect addition to any backyard, look out for the sofa and coffee table to come...

GREX

GREX is the 2nd Australian International Green Build & Renewable Energy Exhibition and Conference. To be held in Sydney at the Australian Technology Park over the weekend Friday 1 June - Sunday 3 June, 2007

The event last year was a little disappointing, to us highlighting just how far we are behind the rest of the world when it comes to the communities attitude towards sustainability. We felt it didn't go far enough to try and bring green building and renewable energy into the mainstream, away from it's "straw bale and hair shirts" past. This years event is at a bigger and better venue, hopefully indicating an improved desirability to do just that.

Some confirmed speakers of note include Architects Caroline Pidcock and Tone Wheeler, both confirmed advocates for green design and building practices.

H-RACER - Hydrogen fueled miniature car

Recently named as one of TIME magazines best inventions of 2006, the H-RACER is the world’s smallest hydrogen car at 16cm x 7cm and comes with its very own solar-powered hydrogen refueling station.
It was developed by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies who's goal is “to greatly accelerate the global commercialization of clean, hydrogen fuel cell power.” The H-Racer is a great opportunity to easily see the advantages of Hydrogen Fuel in action. It is non-toxic, renewable, clean to use, and comes from the most abundant element in the world - water. The hydrogen "fuel" is created through a mini solar powered Hydrogen fuel station that comes with the car. A zero emission vehicle, the H-Racer is a working miniature version of the same technology being developed in life-size cars, and the best part of all that, no batteries required. Available from ecoshop in Australia.