Live Smart Daily | A Smart Take on Daily Life

David Gallaugher, a student at the Dalhousie School of Architecture in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has created a grass-lined wheel to simulate an eternal lawn environment.
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The 2010 Toyota Prius will mark the point at which the Prius shifts gears and moves up to the next league. Until now the Prius has been just one model, but Toyota plans to expand the Prius franchise with a range of different models as the company closes in on its bid to be making 1 million hybrids per year by the early 2010s.
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Consumers are expected to spend $3.12 billion on candy, costumes and other Halloween goodies this year, according to a survey conducted by BIGresearch for the National Retail Federation. That’s a big pile of candy corn. It’s also a lot of crumpled candy wrappers, paper party props and plastic political masks in the trash the very next day. So this Halloween, why not think green?

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Apple announced that all new MacBook, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air will be PVC and BFR-free. And if you think those chemicals aren’t a big deal, well, they are. PVCs release dioxin, a known carcinogen, and BFRs are reproductive and developmental neurotoxins that build up over time in the human body. The substances put workers and recyclers at risk during the production and discarding of products. A large portion of the credit for Apple’s announcement goes to the Greenpeace Green My Apple campaign, which calls on Apple fans to encourage the company to remove toxic substances from its electronics.

The ecobee Smart Thermostat, designed to help you conserve energy, save money and reduce your environmental impact. Created with the help of homeowners, just like you, who told us what they wanted in a programmable thermostat. A clear and easy to read full color touch screen. Simple programming that provides ease and flexibility. Automatically takes into account the specifics of your home and recommends the best energy saving settings. Anywhere, anytime access to your thermsotat. Smart features such as Quick Save and Weather Forecasts. Simplicity, savings and conservation, now that’s smart. The ecobee Smart Thermostat, green made easy.

HP developed a sturdy and stylish messenger bag and put the HP Pavilion dv6929wm Entertainment Notebook PC inside. The unique HP Protect Messenger Bag guards the notebook during shipping and is put directly on a Walmart shelf. Customers leave Walmart with just their new notebook, accessories and a convenient, reusable messenger bag— and avoid the hassle and waste of boxes and excess packaging.

Slovenian domestic appliance brand Gorenje has developed a fridge-freezer with a built-in iPod docking station and speakers. Launched at the IFA 2008 consumer electronics fair in Berlin this weekend, allows users to listen to music while cooking, browse online recipes or watch cookery videos.

Tired of using the same old cleaners around the house? Well here are a few house hold cleaning tips from the old days.

Pots & Pans:

To clean burnt and scorched pans, sprinkle liberally with baking soda, adding just enough water to moisten. Let stand for several hours. You can generally lift the burned portions right out of the pans. On non-stick cookware, stubborn stains can be removed by boiling 2 tablespoons of baking soda, 1/2 cup vinegar, and 1 cup of water for ten minutes. Before using, season pan with salad oil. For copper pots, fill a spray bottle with vinegar and add 3 tablespoons of salt. Then spray the solution on copper pot. Let stand, then rub clean. Rub on Worcestershire sauce or Ketchup, and tarnish will disappear. Or dip lemon halves in salt and rub.
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The Sahara Forest project will use seawater and solar power to grow food in greenhouses across the desert.
Photograph: Exploration Architecture

Vast greenhouses that use seawater to grow crops could be combined with solar power plants to provide food, fresh water and clean energy in deserts, under an ambitious proposal from a team of architects and engineers.
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The Dyson DC16 Animal Handheld Vacuum Cleaner ($200) Designed for pet hair pick-up, this handheld vacuum cleaner features a motorized brushbar that turns off at the touch of a button to protect delicate rugs and bare floors. It also comes with a crevice tool for cleaning between couch cushions and other hard-to-reach areas and a combination tool that converts from a nozzle to a brush tool for dusting computer keyboards, tabletops, bookshelves, and more. The vacuum cleaner supplies a constant suction power of 36 air watts–twice the power of other handhelds, while its Root Cyclone technology, which separates dirt from the air by centrifugal force, ensures efficient cleaning with no clogging or loss of suction. Like many handhelds, the Dyson Animal delivers up to six minutes of continuous cleaning on each full charge, but thanks to its lithium ion battery, it recharges up to three times faster. The unit’s hygienic 1/5-gallon clear bin quickly empties without ever having to touch the dirt–just press the button and dust empties from the bottom. Other highlights include an LED battery indicator, a wall-mounted battery charger and fixing screws, a 5-foot charger cord, and lightweight construction at just 3-4/5 pounds.

This “Food for Thought” lunch box has been specially designed to hold fruit whilst protecting it from bruising or overheating. Children will be able to enjoy lunchbox fruit at its best which will in turn enocurage them to reach their 5-a-day target. A unique, colour changing thermo-spot on the underside of the box helps achieve this by indicating when food has overheated.

NitWit Ridge: built by one man ‘Arthur Harold Beal’ over the course of 51 years using rocks, wood, beer cans, tiles, car parts and other assorted junk. It is considered a fine example of folk art and is a California State Historic Landmark. Its in Cambria (881 Hillcrest Drive), about 20 minutes north of Cayucos. The property is now owned and being maintained by Michael and Stacey O’Malley. Pretty cool.

The staff over at Treehugger has found some really cool Facebook apps for planet saving. Check it out.

1. Village Green Energy is using that potential to promote renewable energy projects in Northern California. When members add the “Green My Vino” application to their page they can give their friends “gifts.” With each gift of one minute, five minutes or ten minutes, money is donated to a collective of wineries in northern California that pledge to the equivalent amount of renewable energy at the wineries.

10,000 minutes of solar and wind gifts will power the entire winery at Iron Horse Vineyards. The project has already been so successful that the first four wineries: Iron Horse Vineyards, Girard Winery, Windsor Vineyards and Windsor Sonoma are all running on renewable energy. Ultimately if the projects is successful over 1.2 mW of solar will be installed – enough to power 500 California residents for a year. The next four vineyards to get green power are: Burning Hawk, Serghesio Family Vineyards, Benziger Family Winery, and DeLoach Vineyards.

2. SunChips is donating money to green Greensburg, Kansas, which was destroyed by a tornado last year. For every person that adds the SunChips widget on their page, Sunchips will donate $1 towards their goal of $50,000 to be used to re-plant trees. Almost all of the trees in Greensburg were killed during the tornado. *NOTE: For purposes of transparency, SunChips is an advertiser on Planetgreen

3. Green My RIde allows users to check off all of the green things they do and compete with other “green-heads” (their word, not mine) to see who is uber-green. Green My Ride, by Green Home is even giving away Renewable Energy Credits for members that score highest.

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