What is eco-friendly furniture?

Strictly speaking, eco-friendly furniture is any variety of furniture that is created in a way that does the least amount of damage possible to the environment. For example, eco-friendly furniture might use wood that comes from renewable sources and chemicals that don’t pollute the environment.

There is a surprising amount of furniture on the market today that is by no means eco-friendly. Previous generations of furniture were often made from large amounts of wood and designed to withstand the test of time. These pieces of furniture are incredibly well built, but the process of building them is quite messy on an environmental scale.

Furniture has moved in a different direction during the past few decades. We now live in a world ruled by Ikea, where cheap, modular, self-assembled furniture is incredibly popular. However, these products, like their predecessors, aren’t eco-friendly in the long run. Low-cost furniture’s matching low quality results in a short lifespan and an early trip to the landfill—which means the cumulative effects on the environment are far from good.

What type of eco-friendly furniture to choose?

One great option for eco-friendly furniture is any one that is created using recycled materials. Models that are made from recycled plastic or other forms of rubbish keep these materials from going into landfills while creating comfy furniture in the process—it’s a win-win!

Another sneaky type of eco-friendly furniture is used furniture. From an environmental perspective, these pieces of furniture already did their damage to the environment when they were created long ago. Therefore, by choosing an existing piece of furniture, you won’t have to pay for another piece to be created (leading to more pollution).

Check out the rest of our Bright Insights blog for more information on renewable energy and energy efficiency advice!

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Everyone loves that renewable energy is great for the environment! So why doesn’t everyone use it already? Some people just don’t believe that renewable energy is a reliable long-term option. Will renewable energy be able to affordably lead us into a bright new future?

“Yes” was the consensus reached on a recent GreenBiz webcast according to reporters Sureya Melkonian and Barbara Grady. An article on GreenBiz notes they talked about long-term sustainability and how renewable energy can prepare us for a clean, green future.

“Renewable energy can reduce your energy costs—full-stop,” said Blaine Collison, managing director of Altenex, succinctly summarizing the thoughts of a great deal of the energy industry.

The sticking point here is economics. The benefits of renewable energy for the environment are widely known, but many people still question whether or not renewable energy is truly affordable.

On the side of renewable energy, another consensus was reached during the webcast: “The business case is straightforward: volatility in the price of fossil fuels represents nothing but massive, massive risk exposure for anyone who is responsible for an operational portfolio.”

It turns out that there are certain aspects of sustainability that run counter to continued fossil fuel use, especially when viewed through the eyes of an investor. The unpredictability of fossil fuel costs in the coming years means they may not be a good long-term investment—especially when you consider that it’s possible we’ll run out of fossil fuels altogether!

In comparison, renewable energy is quite predictable. Given the large amounts of data and experience we have with weather forecasting, we can accurately predict how much energy can be obtained through renewable energy sources. This kind of control makes renewable energy a safe and predictable investment: you know what you’re going to get!

Want to learn more about renewable energy and green energy products? Learn about the green products that we offer at our Green Energy page!

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What is The Great Transition?

The Great Transition, by Lester Brown, Janet Larsen, Matt Roney, and Emily Adams, discusses climate change, climate instability, and the future of coal with the new world energy economy emerging in support of renewable energy. The Great Transition details the accelerating pace of the global renewable energy revolution and contains a lot of great information about the current state of the renewable energy industry. This is an inspiring read for anyone interested in renewable energy! 

What are some of The Great Transition’s insights?

• Solar is becoming cheaper, and global adoption of solar technology appears to be inevitable. The price of solar photovoltaic panels decreased 99 percent over the last four decades, from $74/watt in 1972 to less than 70 cents/watt in 2014.
• Wind power adoption is rapidly altering energy portfolios around the world. Wind energy provides 12 percent of the electricity produced in nine U.S. states, with Iowa and South Dakota each generating more than 25 percent of their own electricity with wind energy! In addition, capacity is increasing more than 20 percent every year.
• National and subnational energy policies are promoting renewable energy, with many people also considering the effect of carbon emissions on the environment.
• The financial sector is starting to favor renewable energy over fossil fuels and nuclear power.
• S. coal use is in decline and will likely fall on a global scale sooner than we might have imagined. U.S. coal use dropped 21 percent between 2007 and 2014.

Ideally, all of these factors together will result in a future everyone embraces renewable energy. Given enough time, we might be able to secure our energy needs for the foreseeable future and help save the environment from global warming!

You can learn more about the book or purchase it on Amazon by clicking here.

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