1. Chemical Free Cleaning: There are many choices today of chemical free cleaning products to help you reduce the amount of toxic exposure you submit your family to in your home. Fumes from cleaners seep into your body through the lungs and physical contact. Just by switching to chemical free product, which clean just as well as chemical laden products, you are reducing your impact on the environment and improving your health all at the same time. [...]

Simply defined, a green roof is a roof on a building that is covered with vegetation and growing medium (soil), planted on top of a waterproofing membrane. Precipitation is captured within the planting medium and utilized by the plants. Generally it also includes additional layers of insulation, root barrier, drainage and sometimes even supplemental irrigation systems.

An example of an extensive green roof is located at the newly-renovated building at 102 Broadway in downtown Fargo. This 12,000 square foot green roof features a large patio where visitors get a bird’s eye view of the heart of downtown. The roof is planted in native wildflowers and a large expanse of Blue Grama, a tidy and uniform native grass that has vividly dancing colors all season long, planted in just 4 inches of soil.

Toilets manufactured before the mid 1990’s use over 3 gallons of water to flush. Since the mid 90’s the federal government required that toilets could not use more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush. Although that federal mandate has saved a substantial amount of water throughout the country, there is still more water to be saved. In the average home the toilet is flushed several times per day and the majority of the time it is only liquids being flushed. In an effort to conserve even more water, the dual flush toilet can be flushed two different ways.

When Kris Noonan and Holly Malheim opened Pout Baby Boutique their goal was to provide mothers with unique products and accessories that couldn’t be found in the F/M area. Another priority for “Pout” was to offer an array of eco-friendly products for local earth friendly parents.

The first question to ask given this situation is, “Why install a green roof?” The answer to that question may help to determine if a green roof is appropriate for your home / business. What is your motivation for installing the green roof? Is it to reduce energy costs and increase the life expectancy of your roof? To have the newest technology as a talking point for your building? Reduce your stormwater runoff and protect natural areas? Reduce your overall impervious footprint on the site? Create a landscape destination that would otherwise not exist?

There are both environmentally friendly and economic benefits of green roofs:

Green roofs aid to capture precipitation and delay the peak flow volume, or storm surge, during rain events. They can hold large amounts of rain back from the initial surge into storm sewers, releasing it slowly and measured; thereby reducing the chances of a flood event. They act to filter pollutants and heavy metals out of rainwater.

The use of solar panels can greatly reduce the consumption of electricity or gas to power your water heater.  Solar panels can be mounted directly on your home or can be remotely installed on a garage or other places as long as they have southern exposure.  The secret to solar thermal is easy.  In this [...]

Everyone is concerned with the future of our planet and Volkswagen’s visions and commitment to our environment will make significant improvements, not just to the auto industry, but to the world we live in.  Volkswagen’s clean diesel Jetta TDI is a clean, efficient and powerful car.
 
Green Car Journal awarded the 2009 clean diesel Jetta TDI [...]

In our region winter cold equals higher energy bills. Here are three simple ways to save energy costs and green your home at the same time.

1. Stock your refrigerator. Yes, the more you keep in the fridge the more you save on energy. Here’s how it works. Keep as many filled liquid bottles, containers and cans as you have room for in the fridge. The cold liquid in those containers helps to regulate the inside temperature which allows your refrigerator to use less energy to keep your food cold. Using less energy saves money in your monthly electric bill and you’ll always have a cool drink to enjoy in the process!