Five major companies innovate by going green

Brian Clark Howard — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:21:09 PST

While environmentalists, and the public, have many reasons to remain wary about big corporations, it's also true that big business's tremendous wealth and power can be harnessed for good. While no company is perfect, particularly when it operates on an international scale and has a long history, it is worth noting the ways in which companies are going green today.

The following are not necessarily the greenest companies around, but they also aren't niche players. Let's see what lessons in sustainability we can learn from:

Kimberly-Clark

Paper giant Kimberly-Clark has been trying to reverse years of bad environmental press, and earlier this year was recognized by the EPA for being one of the top buyers of green power. After a long conflict with Greenpeace over clear-cutting in Canada's Boreal forest, the company has agreed to source all it's fiber from "eco-friendly sources."

Kimberly-Clark said it wouldn't buy material from the Boreal unless it had been certified by the third-party Forest Stewardship Council as sustainable. It's a major win for conservationists, who point to the Boreal as a major bulkhead against climate change and a sanctuary of biodiversity.

The company that makes Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle brands, among others, says that by the end of 2011, 40% of its North American tissue fiber will be either recycled or certified, an increase of more than 70% over 2007.

Staples

The office giant Staples has been heading in a greener direction for some time. The company's finance chief, John Mahoney, recently told Environmental Leader that sustainable initiatives are saving Staples serious money. (For example, switching from three-amp to two-amp light bulbs has saved the company $4.2 million after expenses).

Staples has also slashed diesel fuel use by 540,000 gallons per year, saving $1.5 million, by modifying its trucks so that they can’t go more than 60 miles per hour. Staples also boasts an impressive commitment to solar power and has also beefed up recycling for shoppers of cartridges and even printers.

The office superstore also announced LEED Gold certification for a branch in Boston, with energy savings of 34% over a standard store. Staples is also joining with one-time foe Dogwood Alliance and other conservation groups, wood products companies and landowners on a new, multi-faceted initiative ("Carbon Canopy") aimed at protecting forests and combating climate change.

The pilot program is working with managers of Southern U.S. forests to achieve rigorous Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification and to develop a transparent, effective carbon market. Finally, Staples has also entered Rainforest Alliance's SmartSource program, with the goal of further greening its supply chain.

Starbucks

As we recently reported, coffee kingpin Starbucks has pledged to upgrade 8,000 of its iconic, sometimes controversial stores with super-efficient LED lighting. Overall Starbucks has a goal of reducing energy use by 25% by the end of next year, and will be trying out other green building elements in select stores.

Starbucks continues to support Fair Trade coffee (though still not as much as some activists would like), and did you know that anyone can request their coffee grind waste to use for compost? The company has been innovating when it comes to listening to customers and critics.

Timberland

Trek over to Timberland's Website right now and see how the hip footwear maker has made green it's central call to action. Check out the Earthkeepers Collection of rugged boots. They are designed to be highly recyclable, and are made with recycled content and greener leather.

Some of the soles come from recycled tires, and for every pair of Yele Haiti boots sold, Timberland will donate $2 to Wyclef Jean's Yele Haiti Foundation, which is working to reforest the denuded and troubled island nation.

Instead of skirting around the impending global warming debate, as some companies are doing to play it safe, Timberland has taken the challenge head on, pushing a petition to convince world leaders to get a real deal at the upcoming Copenhagen summit. Backing up the "Don't Tell Us it Can't be Done" campaign with action, the company has pledged to half its emissions of greenhouse gases based on 2006 levels, and has made solid strides in that direction.

Nissan

As veteran green car journalist Jim Motavalli recently reported for us, Nissan-Renault hopes to break ahead of the surging pack in electric cars. Motavalli tested the working "mule" version of the Nissan Leaf for TDG, and found it exciting and promising. The electric car is expected to go 100 miles on a charge from its lithium-ion batteries.

But perhaps what's most exciting is the broad coalition that Nissan is building in America and abroad, partnering with nonprofit, utility, and government groups to bring accessible, affordable, convenient electric vehicle charging to many more markets.

It's an exciting time for innovation in clean vehicles, perhaps unparalleled since the early years of the 1900s, and Nissan is poised to make major waves in the much-heralded space.

Regardless of the specific field one is in, innovating by going green is a powerful way for companies to show true leadership, and improve their "triple bottom line."

Photos: Staples, Brian Clark Howard, Timberland, Nissan

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Five more ways to keep the heat in this winter

Loretta White — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:01:01 PST

Want to save money on heating this winter? Here are five steps you can take to keep the heat in.

The previous post in the Simple Ways to Save Money This Winter series focused on with exterior walls. Here we discover five other insulation solutions that are not only inexpensive but can be done in a short amount of time and don’t require you to tear down walls to accomplish.

Save money and heat with these easy insulation tips:

To determine the best place to start in your home, take an energy audit. You can either find a local energy auditor, or take your own free energy audit. Once you’re ready, here are some of the quickest, easiest, and least expensive places to insulate.

1. Plumbing: Inadequate insulation can create substantial heat loss, in and around your plumbing.

Stuff steel wool in gaps around the pipes using gloves and a chop stick or fondue fork to push in. Then fill with fiberglass or foam insulation
Caulking afterwards will give the project that “finished” look.
Add foam covers to hot water pipes. This will save on the loss of heat as the water travels to its destination. Of course, tank-less water heaters are the greenest way to go, and most luxurious!
Gas pipes should be checked as well.
Tip: Look under sinks, in the laundry room, in cellars, and around anywhere else that plumbing comes out from the wall.

2. Duct work: Seal around heat ducts and AC vents. The cellar is a good place to start here.

Stuff steel wool in gaps around the pipes using gloves and a chop stick or fondue fork, then fill with natural fiber, fiberglass or foam insulation.
Caulking afterwards gives the project a “finished” look.

3. Sill: This is the area where the ceiling meets the floor of your first floor.

Go around the sill plate and fill in gaps with natural fiber or foam.

4. Seal foundation with moisture block: Foundation repair can be very expensive if left untreated.

Consider using liquid rubber waterproofing to keep moisture from damaging your foundation.

5. Attic door or hatch

Place a blanket on fold-down stairs, making sure the blanket is touching the edges. When closing the stairs, you create a insulated seal.
Bead or squirt caulking or use spray foam around the gaps in the hatch.
Use fiberglass to insulate around the hatch.

Remember: Choose natural insulation whenever you can. As you can see, there are many options to fix these areas. If you have other ideas, please add them in a comment. We’d love to hear your heat saving solutions.

About the author: Loretta White is a respected member of the global manufacturing industry and brings over 20 years experience in consulting. Loretta lectures on: Sales, Business Development and Green Business practices and is a published author on sustainability techniques.

More from ecomii:

Cheapskates against talking while driving

Jeff Yeager — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 08:08:00 PST

I'm thinking about starting a movement to decriminalize drunk driving, reinstate smoking in all public places, and repeal laws that require parents to use child safety seats for their toddlers in the car.

After all, if it's still legal in most states to operate a motor vehicle while talking on a cell phone, shouldn't we have a "fair is fair" policy when it comes to allowing people to do stupid things that endanger the health and well-being of others? Maybe we could have a cap and trade system for jackass behavior. For example, if you don't talk on the phone while you drive, then you'd have the choice of either driving drunk or smoking in hospitals, day care centers, and other public spaces.

With all of the public concern and ongoing scientific debate over the possibly harmful effects of cell phone radiation, why isn't there more public outrage over the documented public safety hazard of cell use while driving? Even here at The Daily Green, I've counted at least a dozen recent articles about the yet-to-be-proven harmful effects of cell phone radiation, but not a single article (up until now) about the more than 2,500 deaths and 330,000+ injuries every year in the U.S. attributed to the use of cell phones will driving (according to the Harvard Center of Risk Analysis).

Could it be that it's easier for people to get up in arms about forcing cell phone companies to take responsibility for producing radiation-free devices than it is for us to take responsibility for our own actions and hang up the *&#@^ cell phone when we drive?

Numerous studies have shown that cell phone use (including hands-free phones) seriously impede our ability to drive safely. Several studies, including a 2006 study by the University of Utah, show that use of both hand held and hands free cell phones while driving is considerably more dangerous than driving while intoxicated, making it roughly four times more likely that we'll be involved in a crash. It's also widely accepted that the role cell phones play in causing auto accidents is grossly under reported. Up until just recently, police in most states were not even required to ask about or investigate cell phone usage in connection with auto accidents.

And yet, according to the Governors Highway Safety Association, only six states totally prohibit the use of cell phones while driving, and that's only for hand-held phones (no state currently prohibits the use of hands-free phones). Ironically, six other states have "preemption laws," prohibiting local jurisdictions from enacting their own restrictions limiting cell phone use by drivers. Man, my cap and trade system for jackasses is looking more reasonable all the time.

My disdain for cell phones and the negative impact they have on the quality of our lives is a matter of public record, and I am rapidly becoming the last American to live cell-phone free (and very happily and successfully so, I might add). No, I don't expect others to join my boycott of the cellulite lifestyle, but I hope that we'll pull our heads out of the sand and pass laws to prohibit all cell phone use while driving. The nonprofit National Safety Council is fighting to do just that, and I hope you'll support their efforts.

Jeff Yeager is the author of the book The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches. His website is www.UltimateCheapskate.com. Also check out Jeff Yeager at AARP.

Friend us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter. Follow Jeff Yeager on Twitter.

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Five simple steps to save

Marie Oser — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 10:51:49 PST

Saving energy saves money. And with Americans using a million dollars worth of energy every minute of every day of the year,¹ there are a lot ways to save money through simple, smart and more efficient choices.

These decisions can also help cut down on the 40,000 pounds of CO2 that is emitted to create all this energy.

By following just a few of these tips, you can make a significant dent in your energy bill and help cut thousands of pounds of CO2 emissions.

1. Better refrigeration

Refrigerators are the largest users of electricity among household appliances, so consider the following when using or purchasing your fridge.

Avoid setting refrigerator temperatures colder than necessary. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recommends that refrigerators be set at 37 degrees F and freezers at 3 degrees F.
Make sure the energy saver switch is turned on and check gaskets around the doors to make sure they are clean.
Test tightness of the door seal on refrigerators and freezers. If the seal doesn’t hold a dollar bill tightly when the door is closed, it’s time to adjust or replace the gasket.
Water dispensers and icemakers help to maintain a more constant temperature; however they can increase energy use by up to 20 percent.

2. Smarter cooking

There are a lot of ways to cook the same dish, so before you buy new appliances, use what you have more effectively. Think about the following when you’re in the kitchen,

Use the oven when you can instead of the cook top. Surface units heat continuously, but as a rule insulated ovens heat about one-third of the time it is in use.
Avoid opening the oven door to peek; oven temperatures can drop as much as 50 degrees every time the oven door is opened.
Only use the self-cleaning oven cycle for big cleaning jobs and it is a good idea to start the cycle while the oven is still hot from baking.
Use small appliances, such as toaster ovens, microwaves, electric frying pans and crock-pots in place of the oven to save time and energy.

3. Friendlier appliances

When you’re in the market for new appliances, the first best step is to look for the Energy Star Label.² An Energy Star refrigerator, clothes dryer, dishwasher or water heater will save thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the product while conserving resources.

Other new appliance considerations,

Appliances account for about 20 percent of household energy use. Determine your household needs before purchasing a refrigerator or freezer. One that is too large wastes energy.
Top and bottom freezer units are more energy efficient than side-by-side models. Bottom freezer models use about 16 percent less energy and top freezer models use about 13 percent less energy.

4. Lighter lighting

We’re all sick of hearing the same tip – “Avoid standard incandescent bulbs”. We keep hearing about it for good reason. If every U.S. household replaced one standard light bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, we could save the same amount of energy as a large nuclear power plant produces in one year.³

Other lighting considerations,

Use one high-watt bulb instead of several low-watt bulbs and use dimmer controls, high-low switches or three-way bulbs to adjust the level of light.
For maximum use of natural daylight consider skylights and solar tubes when remodeling or designing new construction.

5. Get the most from your heating and cooling

Regardless if you are hesitant to lower the temperature in your house this winter, you should be getting the most of the heat you are pumping into it. The first best and easiest step is to make sure that your air vents, radiators and baseboard registers are unobstructed by furniture, carpeting or window treatments. If air vents are adjustable, set them in the open position in the winter and closed in the summer.

Other heating/cooling considerations,

Schedule annual tune-ups for the furnace or heat pump. Maintenance checks can help keep the apparatus running smoothly and efficiently.
Shade room air conditioners from the sun to reduce workload and either clean or change the filters regularly.

Marie Oser is a best-selling author, writer/producer and host of VegTV. Follow Marie on Twitter: http://twitter.com/vegtv

Sources:

http://powerscorecard.org/scorecard.cfm Pace University, White Plains, NY
Special offers and rebates for Energy Star consumers.
http://powerscorecard.org/scorecard.cfm Pace University, White Plains, NY

More from ecomii:

Fastest computer in the world focused on climate change

Megan Treacy — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:55:00 PST

The Jaguar XT5 computer, housed at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Knoxville, Tenn., and owned by the Department of Energy was just named the fastest computer in the world by the TOP500 list. It has a performance speed of 1.759 petaflops or quadrillions of calculations per second and that power is being focused on solving the issues of climate change.

The Jaguar is an open science machine for performing peer-reviewed research. It is being used to create models and simulations for predicting regional climate change, studying enzymes for developing better ethanol and writing algorithms for fast nuclear reactors that would produce less waste. A billion hours of processor time have been scheduled for 2010 by users like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Argonne National Laboratory and the National Science Foundation.

If you're thinking that the fastest computer in the world should be used for other problems too, don't worry, the Jaguar along with the other supercomputers on the list are also being used for things like nuclear security, developing better medicines and examining the origins of the universe, among other things.

Oak Ridge hosts four of the supercomputers on the list, including Kraken which was number three in the world with a speed of 831 teraflops. Where the human brain's processing performance ends, these supercomputers pick up, allowing tons of information to be sorted, processed and analyzed. With all of the challenges facing us in tackling climate change, it's nice to have them on our side.

via AP

Tips for stress-free holiday travel

Lori Bongiorno — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:11:26 PST

(Photo: Getty Images)

One of the best parts of the holiday season is connecting with friends and family. But traveling during the holidays can be a real hassle.

Whether you're taking an afternoon drive or flying across the country, there are plenty of ways to make the trip less stressful.

Many of these tips will also save you money and are easier on the planet.

Pack light so you don’t have to pay for or deal with the hassle of checked luggage. You won’t have to arrive at the airport as early, wait around after your flight gets in, or worry about lost bags.

It also cuts down on fuel use because the more weight a plane, train, car, or bus carries, the more fuel it uses. So if you’re driving, that translates into spending less time and money at the gas pump. OneBag offers many creative tips for lightening your load.

Take public transportation to the airport. It’s less expensive than taking a car service or paying for parking. Airport parking lots can fill up quickly during peak holiday travel times, and it can be a real nightmare to deal with full lots.

Bring your own healthy snacks. You’ll avoid waiting on long lines or paying top dollar for sub-par food at the airport.

Carry your own water bottle. If the airport has water fountains, it will save you the cost of having to buy overpriced bottled water, which can quickly add up, especially if you’re travelling with a family of four. If you can't find those fountains, you can still ask the flight attendant to fill up your bottle so you don’t have to keep asking for water.

Carpool with friends or family members who are going to the same destination. It’s more fun than travelling alone and having company will help alleviate stress when you hit the inevitable holiday traffic. Planning your trip ahead of time and taking the shortest route possible will also help save you time, money, and the hassle of getting lost.

Stay home and use free or inexpensive technology, such as Skype, to connect to far-flung relatives.

Environmental journalist Lori Bongiorno shares green-living tips and product reviews with Yahoo! Green's users. Send Lori a question or suggestion for potential use in a future column. Her book, Green Greener Greenest: A Practical Guide to Making Eco-smart Choices a Part of Your Life is available on Yahoo! Shopping and Amazon.com.

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Set a fancy table for free

Trystan L. Bass — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:29:41 PST

(Photo: Trystan L. Bass)

You don't have to be a millionaire to serve your holiday meal on crystal and silver. Just hit the thrift stores asap before you need to carve that turkey or pour cocktails. Or call friends or Freecycle. Plenty of lightly used fine china is out there just waiting to be invited to a festive occasion.

Don't worry about mismatched dishes -- there are a few ways around the issue to make it all look pretty. First, aim for plain, solid colors when possible. White plates go with everything, no matter the style. Clear glass and shiny silver are lovely and sparkle when they're cleaned up.

Then decorate to tie the look together. Use lots of greenery around the table. Dim the overhead bulbs and light candles, which is always flattering. Pass the wine and toast a celebration that looks beautiful, didn't cost a lot, and reuses goods instead of creating waste.

Free stuff

People are always clearing out their closets on Freecycle and other reuse groups. Someone received two identical silver trays as a wedding gift and was too late to return one. Or empty-nesters realize they don't need place settings for 20 people anymore.

Find a reuse group in your neighborhood, and see what people are giving away. Look in the "free" listings under the "for sale" category of Craigslist. Not only might you find servingware, you could find extra tables and chairs.

And after the holidays, if you receive an extra turkey platter as an unwanted gift, pass it along on Freecycle to someone who can use it.

Borrowed stuff

If extended family and friends are already coming over for the big meal, ask them to bring another set of dishes, some silverware, extra glassware, or a few spare bowls or platters. They're not cooking, so they aren't using these things. It's a no-brainer!

New to town or looking for something your family doesn't have? Try NeighBorrow, an new online match-making service that connects people in a community to lend things to each other. If you need a punch bowl in Quincy, Illinois, you're in luck.

(Photo: Trystan L. Bass)

Second-hand stuff

Thrift stores across the U.S. are brimming with gently used housewares at incredibly low prices. At Goodwill, Salvation Army, and similar charity shops, you will find perfectly good wine glasses for maybe 50 cents each and dinner plates for around a dollar.

It's hard to find sturdy paper and plastic stuff that costs so little (or looks so good!), and when you buy the real deal second-hand, you're not adding to landfill trash or excess manufacturing waste.

In just the quickest search, you'll usually find stacks of silver (and faux silver) trays big enough for the largest turkey or ham. If you need a cake plate or pie server, huge bowls to serve salad, petite dishes for sides, just pick through the shelves.

Don't forget about the linens. Thrift stores are often chock full of tablecloths and napkins, even complete matched sets. From cutesy holiday themes to designer labels like Calvin Klein and Ralph Lauren, great table linens are ripe for the picking. Just give ‘em a wash and press, and you can set the table (or multiple tables) for far less than what new cloths would cost.

Shopping at charity stores is affordable for you, it helps people in your community, and you're keeping usable goods in circulation. Plus, if you decide after the holidays that you don't need those extra wine glasses in your kitchen, you can donate them back to the charity. You'll get a little tax break, and the charity can resell the goods again. Win-win!

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Test-driving the Nissan Leaf electric car in Los Angeles

Jim Motavalli — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:15:00 PST

(Photo: Jim Motavalli)

LOS ANGELES--Driving Nissan's new Leaf electric car around Dodgers' Stadium in Los Angeles last week was not as glamorous as it sounds. There were a lot of journalists in line under a hot sun. But there were compensations, including a touch of Hollywood -- actress Alexandra Paul, ex-Baywatch and a former General Motors EV-1 driver, was there.

This was the kickoff of a 22-city national tour for the Leaf, and it may be coming soon to a metro area near you. Go to this site, enter your ZIP code, and it will point you to the nearest stop. Or check the full list here. The tour ends in New York City, February 14.

Nissan is the only automaker (through the Renault-Nissan Alliance) to actually build charging stations. In LA, it announced its 33rd alliance, this time with Reliant, a subsidiary of giant Texas-based utility NRG Energy. Like most utility executives these days, NRG CEO David Crane talked about the virtues of the smart grid and charging electric cars off-peak during evening hours. He said the current U.S. grid could easily handle up to 10 million additional EVs. "We don't get into trouble until we're talking about 50 to 100 million cars," he said.

The Leaf, which has a 100-mile range on lithium-ion batteries and will be out next year, was revealed in sky blue. It was a little bigger than I thought it would be, with excellent seat layout and some of the same eco-verities as the Toyota Prius. Not to confuse you, but the Leaf we saw was actually a styling model and not drivable. The "Leaf" we drove was in the body of the Nissan Versa, with the Leaf's drivetrain. This is what they call a "mule," and it gives a very good indication of what the production car will be like. Here's what it was like from the back seat:

Since there were so many people waiting, we were allowed a short drive around a cone course in the parking lot, with an anxious Nissan guy riding shotgun (there are only two of these "mules" in the world). I wasn't trying to make a spectacle of myself, but I'm a notorious doofus around cone courses and that led me to a serious braking test -- they worked great, and I left such dramatic rubber that everybody rushed over to see if I'd crashed the car. No, just reduced the lifespan of its low-rolling-resistance tires.

The car is much improved since I drove it last in Bear Mountain, New York. At that time, it was in the body of the then-new Nissan Cube. Previous flat spots on the Leaf's acceleration at around 50 mph appear to have been straightened out and the car now accelerates dramatically well up to at least 60 mph (people were diving out of the way) and handles well, with only minor body lean. The actual Leaf may differ, of course, but probably not all that much.

Just after the Leaf event in Los Angeles, Nissan's executives, including CEO Carlos Ghosn (who's impressive in person) flew to Washington, where they announced the company's participation in the Electrification Coalition. It's a big tent of mostly CEOs (from automakers, including Bright Automotive and Coda Automotive, to utilities, including NRG Energy, and charging companies, including Coulomb). Their plan is to fast-track EVs, so that there would be 50,000 to 100,000 of them in each of six to eight U.S. cities/metro areas by 2013 (a total of 700,000 vehicles). And that would ramp up with 20 to 25 more cities by 2018. That would put seven million green cars on the road. The plan projects that by 2040, as much as 75% of the miles traveled on U.S. roads would be in either plug-in hybrids or battery electrics.

To help get this off the ground, the coalition calls for rapidly expanding the range of tax breaks and subsidies available to consumers who buy cars and businesses that build electric infrastructure. Great.

I note the following response, however, to a related story I did about this at the New York Times: "Lots of things need ‘jump starting,'" wrote a reader. "But the hard truth is we just don't have the money anymore. Groups like this that want something jump-started will just have to figure out how to be entrepreneurial and do it themselves -- sort of like Henry Ford and William Durant did back in the 1910s and 20s."

See how Better Place's robotic battery swap stations work.

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

The best holiday shipping deals

Lori Bongiorno — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 11:53:02 PST

(Photo: Getty Images)

Consider shopping online instead of making a trip to the mall this holiday season.

You'll save time (on driving, parking, and waiting in line) and money (it's easier to comparison shop online).

It's a lot less stressful since you don't have to deal with crowded stores.

Purchasing something on the Internet is more efficient than a dedicated car ride to the store, so shopping online is good for the environment too.

One downside to online shopping is that shipping costs can add up quickly. Luckily, several mainstream retailers, such as Apple, Kmart, and Nike, are offering sweet shipping deals this year.

Most of the free shipping offers are based on ground shipping, a plus for the planet as well as your wallet since sending a package by plane emits eight times more carbon dioxide than sending by truck.

These deals will get you started:

Adidas: Offers $5 flat-rate shipping on every order. You'll get free shipping when you spend $49 or more through December 16.

Amazon: Free super-saver shipping on orders $25 and over.

Apple: Free shipping on all orders over $50.

Blue Fly: $7.95 flat-rate shipping for all orders.

Crocs: Free shipping through December 31. Use this coupon code at checkout, CHOOSESHIP.

Gap Inc. stores: Athleta, Banana Republic, Gap, and Old Navy all offer $7 flat-rate shipping on every order. You'll get free shipping when you spend $50 or more through December 15.

Gaiam: $0.99 shipping on any size order through December 8. Use this code to redeem, WSSH99.

Flip Video: Free shipping on all orders.

Home Depot: Offers free shipping on most orders over $49 through December 2.

Kate Spade: Free shipping on all orders.

Kiehl's: Free shipping on orders of $50 or more. Enter this code at checkout, KIEHL.

Kmart: Free shipping on toy orders of $49 or more through December 17.

Nike: Free shipping on all orders through December 22.  Enter promo code, GIFT, at checkout

Steve Madden: Offers free shipping when you enter this code, SMFREESHIP.

Zales: Offers free FedEx shipping when you spend $149 or more.

Looking for more deals? The offers above are just the tip of the iceberg.

Check out FreeShipping.org, FreeShippingDeals.com, and CouponClock to find additional deals and coupons. Keep in mind that many retailers offer one day only or limited time deals so it's worth checking back.

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.

Everything you know about going green is wrong

Dan Shapley — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:39:13 PST

(Photo: Peter Dazeley / Getty Images)

What if that brand new Prius is worse for the environment than a 1995 Chevy Suburban, despite getting 38 more miles to the gallon?

What if that sirloin, shipped to the steakhouse from a newly deforested pasture in the Amazon, means less to the global climate than a hill of individually wrapped jellybeans?

What if using that old avocado-green clothes washer turned out to be better for the environment than the brand new Energy Star model?

These are the types of thoughts one thinks after reading two recent reports by Joshuah Stolaroff, who could do far more to turn "going green" on its head than your average faceless bureaucrat.

Stolaroff was at a low enough level at the Environmental Protection Agency when he wrote Opportunities to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Through Materials and Land Management Practices that he can't even "speak for the agency" when discussing it. The Product Policy Institute, which published is next paper, Products, Packaging and Greenhouse Gas Emissions encouraged him to talk, but the only reporters who sat in on his recent press call were writing for publications serving readers in the solid waste industry. (The second paper was like the first, but included a key addition: Consideration of the greenhouse gas emissions embodied in imported goods, not just domestically produced items.)

The reports have the same conclusion: The stuff we buy and the packaging that comes with the stuff we buy represents our biggest contribution to global warming -- far more so than the amount of electricity our stuff uses or the amount of fuel our stuff burns on the highway.

As a nation, the products we buy, and the plastic and paper those products are packaged in, account for 44% of our greenhouse gas emissions -- dwarfing all other sources of pollution. It's all about stuff. Good stuff, bad stuff, fuel-efficient stuff, organic stuff: The problem is too much stuff.

Powering every AC unit, boiler, and hot water heater in the United States adds up to less than half the impact of our stuff -- just 21%. Driving our cars, or -- why not? -- Hummers, as the case may be, accounts for just 13%, and food just 12%.

Even all our guilt-ridden, globe-trotting vacations and every one of those celebrity private jet trips -- "non-local passenger transport" in the parlance of these reports -- accounts for just 9% of all global warming pollution produced by the United States.

And, in a note that makes you want to gouge out both eyes with an electric fork, the electricity used to run all our appliances amounts to just 7% of our nation's greenhouse gas emissions.

The papers are written for policy wonks, encouraging such practices as lifecycling responsibility for manufacturers, so that the cell phone you buy today is dismantled and remade by the same company that manufactured it. "There's enough evidence here that we should institute policies around products or materials to control greenhouse gas emissions," Stolaroff said.

Good advice. But what about us?

Even as an expert on the topic, Stolaroff was surprised by the way the report affected him. "In the process of the report I became convinced that recycling is much more important than I thought it really was," he said. "Particularly appliances, cars, electronics, and construction and demolition debris -- those turn out to be pretty important. I never really thought about that. We hear a lot about recycling containers, but we're much less advanced in terms of recycling durable goods, like building debris and furniture. There's lots of potential to prevent greenhouse gas emissions."

Which isn't to say that energy efficiency doesn't matter (or that other studies don't contradict some of these findings) ... but Stolaroff's studies suggest that the types of products we buy and how much stuff we buy in the first place matter most.

Choosing to buy products made from recycled materials, that can be repaired or recycled -- or choosing to rent what we don't need to buy ... these amount to some of the most important choices we make for the environment.

More from The Daily Green

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Check out Yahoo! Green on Twitter and Facebook.