I admit, I don’t have a big lawn. But even if it was 2 or 3 times as
big - I would be quite happy using my push reel mower. Here’s why:

• With no loud engine or motor, I can mow early in the morning or late at night and not worry about bothering the neighbors.
• I’m not spewing noxious pollutants in to the air like a gas mower does.
• My mower starts when I do - no pulling a crank or plugging in a
  cord - or with rechargable electric mowers, worrying about having a
  charged battery.
• My mower is considerably safer - with no gas or electricity powered
  blades whirling at very high speeds. No gas to store in my garage, no
  cord to worry about running over - with lot’s of little kids in my
  neighborhood safety is a big concern.
• Push reel mowers are cheaper!
• Fewer parts & no engine or motor means fewer breakdown and lower maintenance required.
• Reel mowers are better for your grass (no kidding!). While rotary mowers tear your grass, reel mowers work more like scissors.
• It’s pretty good exercise - and who couldn’t use some more excercise?

Reel mowers have come a long way since the time when there were no
other options. So do the world and yourself a favor and replace your
gas or electric powered mower with a human powered one. Check them out here.

The recent consumer uproar about BPA (Bisphenol-A) in consumer products such as water bottles has led Nalgene to announce that they will be phasing out the use of BPA in their Outdoor line of polycarbonate containers in the next several months.


BPA has been shown to be an endocrine disruptor and tests have confirmed that it can leach in to liquids stored in containers made with BPA. The jury still seems to be out on whether this presents a significant health risk to humans - however in cases where not all the evidence is in, I like to follow the precautionary principle - meaning I am avoiding products containing BPA.


We just added a subcategory for BPA-free Reusable Water Bottles - the inventory is quite low now, but we will be adding more products in the near future.

Thought I would make a short mention of the earthNOW ‘Green Retail’ conference in Las Vegas on June 5 - 6. I don’t have much information as to whether this is a worthwhile conference that can lead retailers down the path of environmental stewardship or merely a conference capitalizing on green hype and promoting greenwashing. However, Vegas, with its huge monstrous hotels and every growing thirst for energy and water seems to me to not be the greatest choice of venues.

A couple weeks back in late April, the EPA revealed a new energy star specification for set-top boxes (those boxes that deliver television and video content). The new specification will ensure that qualified set-top boxes are at least 30% more efficient. According to the EPA, if all ~148 million set-top boxes in the United States were energy star qualified this would result in $2 billion in energy cost savings and a reduction in greenhouse gas equivalent to removing 2.5 million vehicles annually.

The specification will be effective as of January 1, 2009 - I would suggest contacting your cable or satellite provider and letting them know that you would be very interested in upgrading to a Energy Star qualified set-top box when they become available.

Well sort of. The battery charger for this cordless electric mower is energy star qualified.

Qualified battery charging systems use, on average, 35% less energy when charging a battery than similar conventional models. How do they do this? The charger is smart enough to know when the battery is done charging and reduce its power draw accordingly. According to the Energy Star organization conventional battery chargers can be quite wasteful - drawing as much as 5 to 20 times more energy than is stored in the battery.

Until now we have only considered hand push lawn mowers green enough to be in our catalog. Electric mowers, while not emitting point-source pollution, were not going to convert over gas mower users who need the freedom from cords. And cordless electrics are generally underpowered and wasteful of electricity during the charging process. However, this new Energy Star Qualified Black & Decker CMM1200 cordless mower seems to be a step in the right direction and we have decided to include it in our lawn mowers section.

It also got some pretty good usability ratings — check out the consumer reports article on it.

We are told that disposable batteries are environmentally damaging (containing heavy metals that contaminate the environment when disposed of improperly) and that we shouldn’t use them. Rechargeables, however, have had many flaws as well. Up till recently NiMH batteries lost their charge within a month or two (up to 4% a day) resulting in frequent top-up charges. In addition, battery chargers waste energy as they continue to draw current as long as they are plugged in - whether or not the batteries have finished charging. Certain battery chargers can also harm your batteries — especially some quick charge ones that burn up the batteries with too much current. At the end of the day, reducing the number times you have to recharge your NiMH batteries would be preferable.

Recently I was looking to buy some NiMH AA batteries and I came accross the Duracell Precharged NiMH, which are a new type of Low Self Discharge (LSD) NiMH batteries. These batteries only lose 15-25% of their charge per year and can be charged with ordinary NiMH chargers. They also come fully charged out of the box.

Apparently these batteries have been around since late last year (No one told me!) but were quite expensive and have only recently started to come down in price. A number of other battery manufacturers have also recently come out with LSD NiMH batteries.

In my opinion, from the information I have seen, these LSD batteries are definately a greener choice for powering consumer electronics and their benefits should be enough to finally convince those dry-cell disposable alakaline holdovers to switch to rechargable.

I have added a low self discharge battery subcategory to the energy saving devices category in our price comparison database so you can find them at the best price online.