We have to give the festival credit, maybe it seemed as though more authentic green businesses showed up at this year’s version. We didn’t see much corporate greenwashing like the not as Green as it used to be Burt’s Bees. Also, Coke owned Honest Tea sold its not so green corporate drink but that would be a minor quibble. Aside from checking out some of the various discussion groups (state of small Green business) and even some cooking demos (how to make organic stew) most of the time we spent wandering the trade floor.

Without spending too much time or words (we’ll post some more ramblings soon) here’s some of the cool stuff we found. Zen Honeycutt’s mother roped us in (or rather grabbed) us to introduce us to her daughter who is busy creating her own lavender empire with her practically lavish lotions, eyeshades and creams. Just down the long aisle, we spotted the reusable sandwich bag the Fresh Snack Pack. Great idea in place of the sandwich bags that get tossed. These packs contain no PVCs but we’d like to find out what these bad boys consist of. We had no doubt about what the Organic Essence lip balm consisted of. But we licked our lips for more than just the organic ingredients. The 100% FSC compostable non-plastic tube really wowed us. Why hadn’t someone thought of this before? Like us? We also ignored the wishes of our dentists and sampled the multitudes of chocolates, and we sampled them all but we liked Alter Eco bar (especially the dark) not only for the best and richest creamy favor but also for the organic ingredients and the fair trade philosophy that the relatively small company abides by.

As for 2010….bring it on!

For those of you who don’t read the New Yorker, you might consdier it. For those who can’t be bothered to read long articles, we pasted an amusing Green cartoon form the recent issue.

Although only in prototype stage, this new machine may be able to save up to 90% of water compared to a conventional machine and will also cut carbon emissions. Created by Xeros, this machine replaces the old school idea of cleaning clothes. The technology goes with full on chemistry advances by replacing the majority of the water with reusable nylon polymer beads, the machine can clean clothes in less time than traditional machines, and we see these waterless wonders then you can thank Professor Stephen Burkinshaw, from the University of Leeds who made the discovery that certain types of polymer beads could be used for cleaning.

We’re even more impressed that these machines will use significantly less detergent than normally required, and that the electricity savings can be increased further by reducing the need to tumble dry, assuming that all the happy homemakers out there don’t already hang their clothes on a line and dry them the old fashioned way.

No, we haven’t taken this new “waterless” bad boy for a spin (yet) but we’re impressed that Xeros commissioned an independent Life Cycle Assessment from URS Corporation. The report found that the process has the potential to display a significantly smaller carbon footprint than that of a conventional wash.

Xeros aims to have a commercially viable product in production by the end of 2010. Although we hate to get too lathered up about this “potential” it does seem like a product that we can get fired up about. Hopefully this won’t be a full load of greenwashing because we don’t want to be taken for a spin.

Now if only this washer can do something about those missing socks.

Ah, the smell of coffee wafting through the evening air. Except this time that aroma doesn’t come from our French press but rather our fireplace. No, we haven’t thrown can of perfectly unacceptable canned, non-fair trade supermarket java into the fire, but rather a firelog partially made from coffee grounds. Sounds rather sustainable, huh?

Okay, we probably won’t often claim that burning anything is sustainable as the CO2 wafts into the atmosphere. However, some firelogs present a greener way to warm up a room while creating that sexy atmosphere that only fire can offer.

We checked out some firelogs to see what makes up these bad boys.

What’s in a name? The Java-Log contains recycled and spent coffee grounds and all-natural vegetable wax. Historically, fire log makers used wax derived from petroleum – paraffin wax.  Many firelog makers have gotten with the program and switched off the petroleum base.

We like the industrious thinking to use coffee grounds for create this log instead of using the grounds for compost (or yikes) the dreaded landfill. Better yet, the coffee Java-Log grounds are post-industrial (not post-consumer: e.g. coffee shops) that come from companies that manufacture coffee flavored beverages, ice creams, syrups, etc.

The Pine Mountain log comes from more traditional recycled sawdust and 100 percent natural vegetable wax which, although isn’t as creative as the Java-Log, still cuts the emissions release by up to 80 percent versus natural wood.  About a year-and-a-half ago Duraflame took the smart step to dump their petroleum base wax in favor of a bio-wax. They also use recycled sawdust for their firelogs.

Since we’re not scientists we checked out some of the results by Omni Environmental Services that studied many aspects of the various logs including the fact that dioxin/furan emissions (g/hr) from burning Duraflame firelogs in a fireplace are significantly less than burning Douglas fir cordwood. But what about versus other logs?

Their study of emission rates indicated that the Duraflame Easy Time and Xtra Time products produced about twice as much carbon monoxide as the Conros Northland and Pine Mountain products.  They noted that the Conros Northland (which we could not find in our local stores) product is about half the size of the Duraflame Easy Time and Xtra Time (1.4 kg vs. 2.3 kg), however it produced the same level of CO as the other Conros product, while Pine Mountain eqauled the same size as the Duraflame products.

The study noted that Biowax-fiber firelogs reduce Green House Gas emissions by more than 63 % and 82 % as compared to either natural gas or Liquid Propane Gas burned in dedicated vented gas fireplaces or vented gas firelogs installed in open-hearth fireplaces, respectively.  Biowax-fiber firelogs also emit 22% fewer green house gases than equivalent cordwood fires.

For esthetics, most people like to warm their tootsies in front of a fire. On the health side, these non-oil based firelogs in general released less emissions than burning pure wood, but the amount of metals such as aluminum, barium and copper varied from log to log which can’t be good.  There’s proabaly no winning to buring anything but if we want to sit with a glass of single malt by a fire, we will proabaly take our chances with one of these non petroleum based bad boys.