Greener Homes: New Products From The Builders Show

The color of the year was definitely green at the National Association of Home Builders' International Builders Show this month in Orlando. Builders, manufacturers, architects and more clearly think the best way to keep us regular folks buying and building is to offer up green products. As someone who has attended this show since the early 80s, I can tell you this is revolutionary. We at TheDailyGreen say, "Yeah!" Kudos to the American builder who is catching on about the red, white and blue of going green faster than anyone thought possible.

Here are my favorite finds from this year's show.

Trane CleanEffects Air Filtration System Manufacturers are clearly catching on to what environmentalists have been saying for years: with the Clean Air Act improving outdoor air quality, indoor air quality at home is now often less healthy than outdoor air. And with a surprise strain of flu shot-resistant influenza virus gripping much of the country this year, this system caught my attention. According to research done on this product by the Harvard School of Public Health in cooperation with scientists at a concern called Environmental Health and Engineering Inc., this "whole-house air filtration system" removes more than 99 percent of the common flu, or influenza A virus from the filtered air. According to the researchers, because of the similarities among flu viruses, the CleanEffects system is supposed to also remove more than 99 percent of other forms of the virus, including influenza B, influenza C and the one we're all worried about jumping from birds to people, avian influenza.

In addition to the flu bug, Trane asserts that the CleanEffects filtration system will also eliminate allergens and other particulate matter including dust, pollen, bacteria, pet dander, smoke, mold spores. That should also make it interesting to people like me who suffer from Every Airborne Allergy Known To Man.

The system attaches to your home's existing central system. For more info, visit Trane/Flu

Freshaire Choice Paint

The Freshaire Choice No-VOC Paint at Home Depot

You know the score about paints and how many traditional paints "off-gas" in homes and schools for months after they dry and how this is a major contributor to indoor air pollution? Well, paint manufacturers have responded with new "Low VOC" paints, and this is a very good thing.

One of the real bright spots at the builders' show was a new line of paints called Freshaire Choice, a part of Home Depot's already strong Eco-Options program. Manufactured by ICI and available only at Home Depot, this is a paint system where both the paint and the tints used to color the paints continues with this brand new paint product shipping to their stores this month. It is a paint system where the base paint and the tint used to color the paint both have no VOCs. The paint comes in 66 very fashionable colors and even the packaging is green. The paint cans are made from recycled materials and can be recycled and even the labels are printed w/ soy inks. For more go to Freshaire Choice

Environmental Turf

Environmental Turf For people struggling with keeping a green lawn in drought-stricken warm areas of the country, there now comes environmentally friendly turfgrasses that meet Green Building standards and save drinking water supplies. The company, Environmental Turf of Florida, has six varieties of grass that use less water, grow more slowly so require less mowing, or which require the use of fewer fertilizers. Check out Environmental Turf

Kenmore Steam Dishwasher

Steam Dishwashers The most exciting thing to hit energy and water efficiency in the laundry room...washing machines with steam cleaning cycles...has now moved into the kitchen with dishwashers that use steam to clean dishes, pots and pans and more. In addition to saving water, the steam cycles kill bacteria. Manufacturers such as LG, KitchenAid, Kenmore Elite, Whirlpool, Maytag, GE Profile and Jenn-Aire all presented new generation versions of dishwashers with steam settings.

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Deborah Barrow is The Daily Green's founder.

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