Manufacturers of cleaning products, pesticides and building materials tend to focus on their product’s benefits. We wonder how we ever managed without them, and any negative side-effects are rarely mentioned. But many air fresheners give off naphthalene, a suspected carcinogen; ammonia-based cleaners can cause irritation to the respiratory system and some cleaners contain ethylene glycol monobutyl ether which is believed to cause nerve damage.

Instead of welcoming these chemicals into your home, use healthier alternatives around the house. If you have had your bathroom decorated recently or bought a model from the range of electric shower from Mira, you will want to keep it sparkling. However, you do not have to resort to bleach and acid-based cleaning products. Because it is highly acidic, plain white vinegar is effective at killing germs, cutting through grease and dissolving limescale, so it is particularly good when applied with an old toothbrush to shower heads.

Whether you decided to get thermostatic mixer shower from Mira or a more basic model, you will still come across the problem of keeping your shower screen pristine. Why should glass cleaner, which is mostly water, cost you more per litre than diesel? Because the manufacturers have to fund their fancy marketing campaigns somehow. Make your own version for much less.

Simply pour four litres of warm water into a bucket, add 100ml white vinegar and a teaspoon of washing-up liquid, and stir well. If you’re cleaning a lot of windows, apply this solution with a squeeze-out mop, straight from the bucket. Otherwise, pour the mixture into plastic spray bottles, label them and store them for future frugal cleaning.

Whole websites and books are dedicated to the many uses of vinegar, it, like bicarbonate of soda is one of the most versatile things you will find in your home, so next time you have a cleaning conundrum, bear these two in mind.

For those of us who like to be environmentally friendly in our lifestyle choices, then buying new furniture goes somewhat against the grain. There is so much stuff already in the world, surely by buying more new furniture we’re just adding to the damage we all do to the planet.

So, next time you decide that your dining room needs a revamp, don’t rush out and buy that cheap dining table and chairs that you’ve noticed in the window of the local furniture store. Go and look around at flea markets, bric-a-brac stores or antique shops and see if you can find an old table that requires some tender loving care to bring it up to scratch instead.

The difficulty is that you probably won’t be able to get a matching set of chairs to go with it as chairs tend to get broken more easily than chairs. However, it can part of the charm to have chairs that go well together rather than being uniform in size and style.

Similarly you can find plenty of chests of drawers and cupboards that will only need some attention with wire wool and wax to bring them back to looking great, and it can help to add a sense of history to your home. As long as you choose items carefully, you can mix and match old and new furniture without it looking out of place.

There are some things it’s harder to buy second hand though. Sofas, for example.  Sure, you can find old sofas for sale, but they don’t stand the test of time in the same way that wooden furniture does. The cushions lose their bounce and the fabrics get worn and faded with use. You can get sofas refurbished (or do it yourself) but for the cost involved, it probably isn’t worth it. Harveys sofas come in a range of sizes and shapes, and you’ll soon find one that will fit nicely with the style you’ve chosen for your home.

With the launch of a new hydrogen transport initiative UKH2Initiative in the UK, it’s hoped that a number of the new eco cars UK consumers can buy in the next few years will include hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicles. However, so far only one commercial hydrogen charging station in the UK exists – at the Honda plant in Swindon. So there’s a long way to go before we see hydrogen powered cars on the UK roads.

For the train industry, the change could come sooner. With the railway tracks already in place, the infrastructure is less of a consideration. And apparently the technology is ready for Hydrail (hydrogen trains’ new name).

Already in North Carolina, people are campaigning for hydrail and the Department of Commerce has launched an initiative to make it happen. Similarly, in Denmark, hydrail technology is being promoted as an important part of making the whole country switch to renewable fuel. It is thought that the Danish hydrail system will be the first in Europe.

The benefits to hydrail are obvious. Hydrogen is renewable and will reduce the need for fossil fuels, of which there is a finite supply. Hydrogen will be produced domestically, so nations will no longer need to rely on other nations for foreign fuel. The only byproduct of hydrogen powered transport is water – so it’s a clean fuel, as long as the way hydrogen is produced is also environmentally friendly.

Hydrogen trains have already been used by the mining industry, and in Japan, the rail company JR East demonstrated its (and the world’s) first commuter hydrogen train in 2007. Designed specifically to run to locations that don’t have overhead power cables, the hydrogen commuter train also uses regenerative braking like a hybrid car,to recharge the lithium-ion battery pack. The demonstration train, named the New Energy Train, runs on 20 per cent less fuel than diesel trains.

Consumers who want to move to more environmentally friendly beauty produces – whether because they want to ensure that they are biodegradable as well as kinder to their skin are now scrutinising ingredient lists more carefully (though they’ll need a magnifying glass for some!). Several companies making beauty products are trying to jump on the “green” bandwagon and respond for increasing demand for organic and natural makeup and body and hair care products by writing eco-friendly phrases into descriptions of their products.
Organic ingredients have to be untreated and natural products need to have natural ingredients: the ingredients have to be present in or produced by nature, and have the minimum of physical processing. They have to be grown and not produced synthetically and should not include genetically modified ingredients.
This is an ideal that is rarely reached, though more and more companies are now producing “natural” ranges with a much higher proportion of natural ingredients though they may have up to half of their ingredients from a synthetic source.
Some beauty products, such as perfumes, are made from a selection of chemicals and cannot (or at least are not yet) be a natural product.
It is easy enough to spot natural ingredients in a contents list – jojoba oil and aloe vera are obviously from plants. However, to be natural ingredients should really be produced by the minimum of physical processing or extracted using very simple methods. The distillation used to extract, say, lavender essential oils, could be said to involve some chemical change, and other processes may alter the chemical composition in a significant way.
The best way to be sure that you are buying a natural beauty product to benefit your skin and hair then go for product ranges of trusted companies after checking the ingredient list!

There are literally hundreds of eco friendly gift ideas with gifts that are either made from recycled materials or biodegradable materials ( remember that all clothes made 100% natural materials such as cotton or wool are biodegradable).
Just a quick peek around will show you how you can switch your gift buying to environmentally friendly materials. Many are different, trendy and quirky and prices tend to be very reasonable too.

Just a few available include many of these at under £5
•    Wind up torches (some like animals or birds)
•    Wind up eco radios
•    Wind up toy microphones
•    Water powered clock
•    Water powered shower radio
•    Solar torch
•    Solar mobile phone charger
•    Low energy night light
•    Duck shower timer
•    Bamboo notebooks
•    Bamboo socks
•    A recycled mini circuit board keyring (for techie geeks)
•    Recycled tin wind-up toys
•    Tree in a bag
•    Herbs in a board pot
•    Summer garden seed

There are also a whole range of gifts where you buy something in your friend’s name to benefit the planet or help other people. These include such things as planting a tree, providing water for a village, buying an animal or medical service.

Not only will you feel positive about benefiting the planet however small your eco friendly gift is, but also you will be spreading awareness to the recipients. Children particularly will appreciate the need for planet-supporting and energy-reducing gifts.

More and more concern is being expressed about the amount of packaging being used on many goods. There are often layers and layers of different materials that are currently the main items of bob-recyclable rubbish that has to go into landfill. There are a number of different types of eco friendly packaging and consumers should be writing to their supermarket chains and asking them to use more of them.
Eco Friendly or Environmentally Friendly packaging causes far less damage to the environment. Packaging is of three different types:

•    Reusable packaging which are materials that can be cleaned and re-used. For example, glass milk bottles are reused, and carrier bags made from plastic that is non-degradable SHOULD be reused many times. However, shopping bags made from natural materials such as cotton or jute are even better as they are biodegradable as well as being reusable.
•    Recyclable packaging is made of materials that can be used again, usually after processing. Recyclable materials include glass such as glass bottles, metal such as drink cans, card and paper. Eco friendly recycled packaging includes such things as PET plastic cups, compressed paper and board cartons.
•    Biodegradable packaging will easily break down in the soil or the atmosphere. All kinds of different biodegradable packaging are now available such as PLA bioplastic, paperboard and sugar bagasse containers, palm leaf and bamboo containers. We can expect that new types of such packaging will become available and eventually become much cheaper.

Cleaning your house without using any cleaning products whatsoever? I use no cleaning products for much  of my cleaning and not only is my house cleaner, but also is not accumulating week by week another load of chemicals which may not ever disappear. I am not a person who jumps at the newest technical marvel and do not easily fall for marketingese. I did, though find myself impressed enough with publicity about steam cleaners to check out the range of equipment.
The steam cleaner I bought is just brilliant and I use it to clean:
•    The bathroom, including those cracks and creases around the taps and bottom of the shower. Dirt just washes away with the steam.
•    The kitchen including the outside of the microwave and cooking hob, oven splash back and cooker hood. Grease and stuck on yuccy stuff loosens and comes off easily
•    Conservatories – windows, window frames, doors and the wooden floor came up sparkling!
•    With the attachments I clean the chairs and sofa, the curtains and the carpets. No chemicals but the dirt comes off beautifully. It also will kill unwanted anythings crawling in your carpets and furniture after your pets have brought home little friends.
The steam also disinfects everywhere I clean so I also use the steam cleaner for
•    Going over the mattress, duvet, pillows and bedding  to kill dust mites (no spraying chemicals to breathe in)
One major benefit is how quick this equipment is to use, so even though it is using electricity that cleaners don’t, it is not for long, and it doesn’t leave an unpleasant residue when I’ve finished. After cleaning the house isn’t perfumed, it is just clean.
Used together with my vacuum with a hepa  filter my house has become so much more eco friendly  and much cleaner. My nephew who suffers from hayfever and asthma no longer sneezes when coming through the door.

More and more people are becoming environmentally aware and wish to shift their buying choices to be more natural and eco-friendly. This is not just for some doing-good feeling (though it does have this effect) but because they believe that these products will be kinder to their skin, cause fewer allergies and skin conditions and not load their bodies with chemicals that have unknown long-term effects.
Some companies are increasingly guilty of what is being called “greenwash” where they use words to indicate green and “natural” credentials and so associate their products with a positive and popular trend.
The following language may not be what you think:
•    Contains organic ingredients (and what else?)
•    Contains natural ingredients
•    Made with non-toxic ingredients (but may well be synthetic)
•    Earth-friendly (What does this mean?)
•    Environmentally safer (Than what?)
•    Vegan (?)
•    Cruelty-free (Chemicals can be cruelty free)
Check the ingredient list –if the product contains any of the following it can’t be termed as “Natural”
•    Petrochemicals – any kinds of alcohol, isopropyl, methyl  ethyl or butyl or the terms isopropanol etc.
•    Sodium Lauryl Sulphate –used in shampoos etc
•    Propylene glycol and ethylene glycol – used in all kinds of products
•    Formaldehyde and paraben preservatives
•    Synthetic dyes – usually with an E number, or there are other colour additives
•    Artificial fragrances – most perfumes and colognes are not made from natural ingredients
Such substances may be well tested and safe, and have a particular usefulness in some products. However, the point is that products that contain them cannot be truthfully labelled as “natural” as such products must be from a grown not synthetic source.