Spring Cleaning

March 10th, 2010

You may have noticed a staggering drop in the number of products on GreenCrawler.com.  We like to call it “Spring Cleaning.”  In a sense, taking the vacuum and sucking out all of the products that we label as not “truly” green (and making sure that all future products we receive have some kind of “green” characteristic).  Making sure products that we list in our database are made of eco-friendly, recycled, natural, organic, pesticide-free, recyclable, energy-efficient, water conserving, biodegradable, sustainable and/or renewable materials.

But it doesn’t end there.  We are enforcing strict merchant “listing” rules and guidelines as well.  We accept merchants (large online retailers like REI.com, Zappos.com, Newegg.com, etc. or smaller online retailers like BuyGreen.com, VashonOrganics.com, ShopOrganic.com, etc.) that sell eco-friendly products, but on top of that, we are making sure these sellers keep an updated product inventory in our database.

Every merchant must submit or send at least one updated product inventory every 60 days, or else that merchant will be contacted, products will be removed, and that merchant will not be listed on GreenCrawler.com until a new product catalog is received.  This will help ensure that the prices you see correlate with the actual price on the merchant’s site, it will ensure that the link is working, and ensure that the product you see on GreenCrawler is still in stock.  Hopefully this will improve every green crawler’s (hopefully this name for our users will catch on, too) experience.

This is definitely a step in the right direction in providing accurate product information and legitimate green products. This is only a fraction of what we are currently working on.  We are preparing the Green Crawler site for its next launch, including enhanced search options, browsing options, user interactive features that will be reason for every green crawler user to keep checking back in.  These new elements will go into effect in mid-April, so stay tuned.  For now, keep checking back in to see the latest Fresh Finds, and keep searching.  You never know what types of green alternatives you may find.

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Green Crawler Adds “Fresh Finds”

March 3rd, 2010

As our database of products continues to expand on a weekly basis, one of the key pieces we wanted to include with our growing site was a “Fresh Finds” feature.  You can find these fresh, handpicked products on our homepage, with an entire archive as well. As we continue to add new merchants and thousands of new products, we continuously find cool, unique, useful products that we don’t want hidden in the mix, and only accessible through a specific search.  This is how we developed “Fresh Finds”.

Green Crawler's "Fresh Finds"

They are either great deals ($10.99 recyclable aluminum usb flash driver from Newegg, for example), great alternatives (slippers made from recycled plastic bottles from The North Face that can easily replace a pair of Uggs, $30 vs $90), and products that you never even knew existed (like shipping an old tee to Hellow Rewind so that they can turn it into a laptop sleeve for you).

This was the idea behind “Fresh Finds”.  Sharing our green discoveries with you.  Be sure to check back often for the latest finds. You can also join our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter to get notified whenever we add a new ”Fresh Find”.

This is just one of the new features that Green Crawler will be developing over the next 2 months and presenting to you in mid-April, for our anniversary and Earth Day.  Stay tuned for our next round of features…enhanced searches, browsing options, and many new products to choose from (just to name a few).

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The Copenhagen Wheel: Technology for Biking 2.0

December 15th, 2009

M.I.T. researchers (who else, right?) have invented a bicycle wheel that uses the technology from hybrid cars, which is believed by many to be the next big thing in biking…Biking 2.0.

Here’s how it works: “The new wheel uses a kinetic energy recovery system, the same technology used by hybrid cars, like the Toyota Prius, to harvest otherwise wasted energy when a cyclist brakes or speeds down a hill. With that energy, it charges up a battery inside the wheel’s hub” (nytimes.com).

The Copenhagen Wheel (image via nytimes.com)

The Copenhagen Wheel (image via nytimes.com)

If you’re saying to yourself…”don’t we have electric bikes already?”  You’re right, we do.  But, unlike previous Read the rest of this entry »

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Why Climategate is a Pathetic Reason to Discredit Climate Change

December 9th, 2009

Discredit climate change all you want, but I'm fairly certain these smokestacks aren't making our air cleaner.

Discredit climate change all you want, but I'm fairly certain these smokestacks aren't making our air cleaner.

Suddenly, when a hacker in the UK gets a hold of e-mails between leading climate scientists that show an effort to raise fears about global warming through data “editing,” the whole issue is debunked.

You may have heard the term “Climategate” being thrown Read the rest of this entry »

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Samso: Denmark’s Energy Self-Sufficient Island

December 2nd, 2009

Can a 30-mile by 15-mile wide industrialized island of 4,000 inhabitants be completely energy self-sufficient?  With 21 wind turbines, power plants that rely on furnaces fired by wood chips and straw, and farms of man-sized solar panels (kept trim by herds of sheep), an energy self-sufficient island is a reality.  It’s the Danish island of Samso.  It has become one of the first industrialized places in the world to qualify as being totally energy self-sufficient.

How Samso has become energy self-sufficient (image via ngpowereu.com)

How Samso has become energy self-sufficient (image via ngpowereu.com). Click to zoom in on the Infographic.

In 1997, Samso won a competition between 5 Danish islands to become Denmark’s renewable energy island.  How?  It presented a 10 year plan to to Read the rest of this entry »

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Welcome to Green Crawler’s Facebook Page

December 2nd, 2009

So you’ve either joined Green Crawler’s Facebook page or you’re looking at it and thinking “okay, what is this website all about?”

In the booming industry of “green” shopping, many of us are still unaware of our options online.  “Where can I buy green? Do my favorite stores have green products? If so, how can I locate these products on their websites?”  This is where Green Crawler comes into play.  Our mission, in a sense, is to provide savvy shoppers with a one-stop resource to find products that contribute to a healthier, more eco-friendly lifestyle.

Now, you must be thinking, “What constitutes a “green” product?”  The fact is; you don’t have to dress like your 8th grade art teacher to be more eco-friendly.  When you come to Green Crawler, you aren’t just browsing through pages and pages of Birkenstocks, hemp pants, and tie-dye ponchos.  You are finding “green” alternatives.  CFL bulbs, Energy Star TV’s, fashionable jeans and shoes (organic 7 jeans for example), SIGG reusable bottles, messenger bags made from recycled sails and billboards, etc.  These products are both from reputable merchants (Buy.com, Zappos, Shop.com, Amazon’s Endless.com) and merchants you probably haven’t heard of (Mothernature.com, Shoporganic.com, Nimli.com).

In addition, we constantly strive to keep our users informed about green news.  We will be using this Facebook fan page to share what we find via Twitter, our favorite Blogs, our own Blog, YouTube, and tons of other resources.  And of course, this can be a place for you all to share your findings, thoughts, and favorite products…and of course, give feedback.

That’s Green Crawler.  If you like what we’re doing, join the page and spread the word.  Our job… keep looking into new ways to make the site more user-friendly, adding more sellers and products, and allowing you all to collaborate with us.  We have some new features in the works right now and will be sharing them soon! Talk to you all soon. Thanks for joining our fan page!

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The Paint-Less Coca Cola Can…Slick and Eco-Friendly

November 29th, 2009

Between classic Coca Cola, Coke Zero and Diet Coke, 37.7 billion cans are sold each year (excluding the other cans that are produced and not sold) (gizmodo.com).  Think about the aluminum and paint required to produce this unfathomable amount of Coke cans.  Here are some numbers (from a simple Google search): 1 empty can = 13.6 grams = 0.0299828677 pounds. .029983 x 37.7 billion cans = 1,130,359,100 pounds of aluminum per year…or, 565, 179.55 tons of aluminum.  Painting all of these cans is one of the biggest polluters during Coke’s production process (air and water pollution from its coloring process and then the energy required to separate the paint from the aluminum during a can’s recycling process).

Now I’m not a fan of aluminum cans to begin with, but Coke has definitely taken a step in the right direction.  In order to offset the staggering amount of paint required to put Coke’s logo, nutrition facts, ingredients, etc. on each of these cans, Coke has introduced a naked, paint-less can.  And to be honest, it looks Read the rest of this entry »

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The New Green Crawler Homepage Goes Live

November 28th, 2009

You want to go green, but you’re not sure where to start.  Or maybe you do have an idea of what you’re looking for, but you’re curious about the other green alternatives out there.  One of the new features of the Green Crawler homepage will assist you in your “green” shopping journey.  It’s called Fresh Finds.  Through this feature, we will give you ideas of some of the cool, unique, low-priced and/or popular items that we discover when adding merchants and their products…or products that we just happen to stumble upon.  This feature will help give our users more “green” gift ideas, updates on deals that our merchants are having at the moment, a different approach on everyday products that can help them go green, etc.

Need ideas? Check out "Fresh Finds"

Need ideas? Check out "Fresh Finds"

In addition, we have added a Read the rest of this entry »

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Green Inventions Dominate TIME’s List of “Best Inventions of 2009″

November 13th, 2009

From “the Edible Race Car” designed by WorldFirst, to “the Smart Thermostat” designed by EnergyHub, green was the theme in this year’s list of “Best Inventions” by TIME.com.  Just skimming through the list of 50 breakthrough ideas, inventions and gadgets, you notice the wide array of eco-consciously influenced inventions…the solar shingle, vertical farming, the Nissan Leaf, rubber made from dandelions, the living wall, the personal carbon footprint, and as mentioned, the edible race car and smart thermostat all made TIME’s list.

The people voted, too.  Two of the top 3 inventions (as voted by the people) were “green” inventions.  Philip’s LED equivalent to the common 60-watt household bulb received the most votes (with over 10,400 votes) and was voted as the 2nd most-important invention of 2009, with an average rating of 86 out of 100.  60-watt lights account for 50% of the domestic incandescent market and if they were replaced by LED bulbs, the U.S. could save enough electricity per year to light 17.4 million households.  Philip’s LED bulb emits the same amount of light as its incandescent equivalent but uses less than 10 watts and lasts 25 times as long.

Which inventions do we think are the most important? The people have spoken (image via TIME.com).

Which inventions do we think are the most important? The people have spoken (image via TIME.com).

In 3rd place, also with an average rating of 86 out of 100 (and a total of Read the rest of this entry »

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How Fitting: The City of Angels is Now Basking in a White Glow

November 6th, 2009

The city of Los Angeles has taken a huge step in becoming more energy-efficient.  The city has decided to replace its street lights and bus stop lighting with LEDs – bus stop lighting will be solar-powered and off the grid (cnet.com).  LA’s existing 209,000 streetlights will be replaced.

LA's 6th Street Bridge with Sodium-Vapor Streetlights

LA's 6th Street Bridge with Sodium-Vapor Lamps (Image via cnet.com)

Talk about savings.  When complete, the city’s energy consumption for public lighting should be cut by 40 percent and save 40,500 tons of carbon emissions per year, according to city statistics (cnet.com).  On top of that, Read the rest of this entry »

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