Superior Dairy Brings Back the Flattop

(Image courtesy of the New York Times)

The common milk jug has been in the marketplace for quite a while, so it’s not surprising that its redesign would cause some reservations among consumers, but Canton, Ohio-based Superior Dairy and its offshoot Design Edge, felt the need to take the task on nonetheless.  Working in the company founded by his ancestors five generations ago, Greg Soehnlen redesigned the jug by extending the flat sides upward, flattening the top, and moving the pour spout to the corner opposite the handle.  These refinements have eliminated the need for plastic crates for storage and transportation, as the new jugs may be stacked on top of one another with shrinkwrapped cardboard bands (all to be recycled afterwards) in between, which has had the added benefits that water is no longer needed for cleaning crates, labor is reduced, and more milk may be delivered by each truck (4.5 gallons/cubic foot instead of 3) in a much shorter time frame.  In fact, Superior claims that they have cut overall water use by up to 70%, and due to the jug’s efficiency, can make less delivery trips to retail locations, and thus reduce fuel consumption.

In spite of some complaints that one has to learn a new way to pour from these jugs due to the different spout, Superior’s jug may be taking hold, having been sold at Sam’s Club in limited quantities for some time already, and poised for wider distribution at Wal-Mart and beyond - who knows, it might even show up at your local supermarket sooner than you think, considering the direct correlation it has with lower fuel consumption.  Examples like this make clear that as resources become more scarce and skyrocket in value, manufacturers and retailers will be forced to develop smarter solutions to packaging, and pass along the sustainable and cost benefits to their well-informed consumers.  As Sustainable Packaging Coalition director, Anne Johnson suggests, “What are the materials we are using? How are we using them? And where do they go ultimately?” will be some common questions that we will get used to asking in the years to come.

Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Why is it so Hard to Build a Small a House?

(Image courtesy of Tumbleweed Tiny House Company)

With the economy on the verge of a recession and the urgency to lessen environmental impact at an all-time high, it’s no wonder many people are turning to smaller homes. Marty Pieroni, a developer from Kuna, Idaho, has dealt with consumers that are seeking smaller spaces due to financial restrictions or just a need to simplify their lives. Although he signed a contract for 1,400 square foot houses with the City of Kuna, he recently requested to build 20 houses that were 1,250 square feet, 150 square feet less than his minimum. The City Council turned down the request, saying that they want to increase the value of housing in the area and attract buyers. Their fear is that Kuna would soon be known as a city with inexpensive starter homes that would deflate values of surrounding, established properties. However, Pieroni told them this wasn’t the case. He emphasized that with the help of sound material choices, a smaller house can appear aesthetically similar to a more traditional larger house, but with 695 square feet less space than the average house last year. And in using better quality and long-lasting materials, less maintenance would be required on the part of the owner, and ultimately environmental impact would decrease - even more so, with the integration of on-site solar, wind, and/or geothermal power.

What are the actual benefits of a smaller house, anyway? Quite simply, it is better for the environment and more economical at the same time, counter to the reflexive notion that all things green building-oriented are more expensive. Furthermore, a small house encourages simplified living, which results in less waste, less clutter, less use of electricity, and less water consumption. The less space that’s available for habitation, the less power is consumed for heating and cooling, therefore removing fewer overall resources from our ever depleting supply.

City of Kuna 

Small House Society

Tumbleweed Tiny House Company

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Nicole Maccarone is an Ecolect Super Intern based in the East Coast office in Providence, RI.

A Green Home Comes to Unst

No one said building a carbon-neutral house would be easy, so to build one in the often harsh conditions of Unst (100 mph winter winds!), the northern most island in the Shetlands, is a remarkable achievement indeed. Having retired from their former lives in Wiltshire, in Southwestern England, Michael and Dorothy Rea set out to design and build a house on the island that would be completely self sufficient or “off the grid”, incorporating renewable energy principles not uncommon to many of the innovative people inhabiting some of the remote islands off the Scottish coast. These include solar panels and wind turbines for power generation, a natural underfloor ventilation and heating system, a hydroponic greenhouse for vegetables, extensive reuse of rainwater throughout the house, and an effort to run the lights on no more than 100 Watts, through the aid of LED bulbs. The University of Delaware is even refitting an electric engine into a Toyota Yaris, which will be re-charged from power provided by the house itself.

It is no surprise that the house is fast becoming famous within the green building world, even garnering the attention of the Chinese Government for their planned eco-community in Guangzhou. With their Zero Carbon House Project, the Rea’s are demonstrating that homes can be built to have no negative emissions, and their website offers a number of ways to follow their progress, as well as many resources to learn about green building, alternative energy principles and technologies, and the many notable sponsors who have assisted in the process. You can even contact the Rea’s directly, so they seem to be making every effort to maintain a high level of transparency throughout the project. As Dorothy Rea exclaimed to the Guardian, “If we can do this here, anyone can do it anywhere”, so let’s hope that more homeowners take the sentiment to heart, and aspire to build their own zero-emission homes in communities throughout the world.

Please watch Living off the grid: Zero-carbon house from The Guardian for more information

A Great Idea from Moixa Energy Limited

London-based Moixa Energy has developed a NiMH battery that can be recharged using the innate electricity generating power of a computer’s (or monitor’s, game console’s, etc) USB ports, with an embedded LED indicator to reflect status of charge. Currently, the AA cell is the only model available, but the company will soon expand their product line to include AAA, C, D, 9V, and even specialized batteries for cell phones and PDAs. In their “Environment and Recycling FAQs” page, Moixa even speak to the environmental impact of the packaging in which the batteries are shipped, how the cardboard itself is recyclable, and that they are in the process of finding a biodegradable replacement (PLA perhaps?) for the plastic blister pack.

The USBCELL certainly represents a great step forward in making sensible electronics-based products with lower environmental impact, and for that, Moixa Energy won both a Gold award at the 2008 iF Product Design Awards, and a 2008 New Energy Award. However, it is important to keep in mind that for American consumers, the batteries still have a certain carbon footprint due to their shipment from the UK, which is an issue all too common to the majority of consumer electronics today, which are manufactured beyond our borders (that is, until the onset of a substantial U.S.-based green technology sector). Although less environmentally toxic than NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) batteries, it is still important to ensure that USBCELLs be properly disposed of when no longer useful. Moixa Energy will even accept USBCELLs purchased from USBCELL.com back via a freepost address, and one may visit Earth911.com’s Battery Recycling resource page for some great tips on how to recycle those bought elsewhere, as well as links describing the range of battery technologies.