Biz&Tech

Today’s baby product manufacturers are not only innovative, but environmentally friendly too. Read on for some great “green” products perfect for the start of a lifetime beneficial to our planet.

Method laundry detergent is sold throug websites such as Amazon.com, and is perfect for washing all of those baby clothes and environmentally friendly cloth diapers! Highly concentrated, it lasts for quite a while, and all products by this manufacturer are 100% biodegradable and sold in recycled containers. Testing on animals? Forget it. To purchase:  BluePenguin.

Through Finemoments.com, you can find eco-friendly baby birth announcements, completely composed of recycled fibers. Thanks to this creative stationary, trees can continue to grow alongside your little one. (Source:  Great Green Baby)

Portable cradles are a great idea, but when they are good for the environment too, then you have found a double bonus. Made of recycled cardboard, this cradle is safe for babies up to three months old and can be packed flat and reassembled without the assistance of any tools or toxic glues. When baby outgrows it, throw it in the recycling or pass on to another new mom! Check it out at http://www.greatgreenbaby.com/

The Innovate or Die contest for the most creative, most energy saving, and best design of a bicycle-powered energy saving invention, is over. And the Grand Prize, announced this morning, goes to the invention pictured above.. The Aquaduct, the entry from a team of five California designers, addresses the needs of 1.1 million people in the world who don’t have access to clean drinking water.  See video! The winner was this monstrosity…

CARS TO POWER CITY

In an update to the ongoing Crazy Green Energy Idea saga I have some very interesting news from the city of Austin, TX courtesy of the TerraPass blog. The mayor’s office in Austin has put forth a proposal to use a fleet of plug-in hybrid vehicles as a/the power source for the city during daytime hours. Yes, you read right, the cars will power the city itself. The idea is definitely what I would call progressive (some people would say crazy) but it might just be crazy enough to work.

The basic idea is this: Drivers simply let their cars sit in parking lots most of the day and drivers of plug-in hybrids (for more on plug-ins and plug-in hybrids see this post) do the same. However, the plug-in hybrids will have generated and stored energy through breaking and other methods during the commute which means they have energy that can be harvested and sold back to power companies which can be then used to power the city.

Additional Sources: www.terrapass.com/blog

http://www.ericjohnolson.com/blog/2007/03/29/cars-to-power-city/