When you think about vacuum cleaning, you probably imagine your mom pushing around a heavy upright vacuum. But vacuums have come a long way since then. Lightweight designs and updated technology have changed the way we clean our homes.
If you still settle for traditional uprights with limited features, check out Dyson’s canister vacuums. They may (finally) change the way you look at vacuum cleaning. Here are a few features that many Dyson models offer:
Last Saturday, a band of eight fearless Sylvane team members took their passion for better air to the stairs – 1,012 of them!
For years, the American Lung Association has hosted stair climbs in some of the tallest buildings across the country. The Fight for Air Climb event raises donations and awareness to benefit those suffering from lung diseases like asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung cancer.
Georgia’s Climb took place at One Ninety One Peachtree Tower, the 4th tallest building in Atlanta. Over 400 climbers (including firefighters wearing full fire gear) hustled their way up 45 flights of stairs to honor loved ones and strangers alike struggling with lung disease.
What is an Air Quality Evangelist? This term goes to certain bloggers or writers who demonstrate a clear knowledge about and appreciation for indoor air quality. Their sites may focus on green living, energy efficiency, allergies – anything! Like the guidance on our site, the information they offer can help you better understand how your actions impact the air you breathe.
It’s time for another roundup of Air Quality Evangelists!
Go Green America TV
Go Green America TV (GGATV) is an upcoming series about getting started on an eco-friendly lifestyle. Until the series launches in May, host Jeff Davis (also known as the Go Green Guy) offers online news and tips about staying green.
Winning Post: The Go Green Guy breaks down NASA’s findings about house plants that improve indoor air – which chemicals were tested, what health concerns they pose, and the top 21 plants that help clean the air around you.
You know breathing clean air benefits your lungs and heart. But what about your waistline?
More and more researchers are uncovering links between obesity and long-term exposure to toxins, chemicals, and compounds.
A recent hypothesis suggests that rising carbon dioxide (CO2) levels in the environment might be contributing to the obesity epidemic in our country. The idea is that breathing too much CO2 causes our blood to become more acidic, which triggers neurons that regulate appetite, sleep, and metabolism to fire more rapidly. As a result, we could be eating more, sleeping less, and gaining more weight.
Since its inception in 1970, Earth day has marked a time for festivals, rallies, and celebrations focused on the awareness of environmental issues that impact our planet’s health. People across the globe gather to plant trees or pledge energy conservation goals.
But what if you can’t find the time? You care about the Earth, and you’d like to do something to promote its well-being.
One of the best ways you can celebrate Earth Day is to inspect your indoor environment for ways you could improve energy efficiency, eco-friendly behavior, and indoor air quality.
You may be asking: how does my behavior indoors impact the health of our planet? While the air you breathe in your home can be drastically different than the air you’re exposed to outside, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) consistently ranks indoor air pollution as one of the top five environmental risks to public health.
Whynter is known for having some of the most eco-friendly portable air conditioners on the market. Their features aren’t just good for the environment: They save money and make your life easier. Combining efficient designs with powerful cooling and convenient features make Whynter ACs a top choice for our customers.
Whynter’s “Go Green” Mission
Whynter does their part to preserve the environment’s natural resources. Their mission to “Go Green” means that all Whynter models use the eco-friendly R-410A refrigerant, meet RoHS standards, and consume less energy than comparable portable ACs.
Dehumidifiers are getting smarter when it comes to getting rid of stuffy mold-causing humidity, helping cut your energy costs, and being easier on the environment. The newest line of Soleus Air dehumidifiers leads the pack with the Soleus Air SG-DEH-70-2 Dehumidifier, recently named a Best Buy for efficiency, among other features, by a leading consumer reporting magazine.
But what exactly makes a dehumidifier eco-friendly? These days, it’s much more than an Energy Star seal of approval. Mostly, it comes down to energy-saving features that help reduce the machine’s impact on the environment. If you’re looking for a home dehumidifier and you’ve got energy and the environment on your mind, let these bells and whistles guide the way as you narrow down your choices.
Adjustable Humidistat Dehumidifiers with adjustable humidistats let you set your desired humidity level for your space. These give you more control over the humidity in your home and automate the dehumidifying process, so you have the best shot at energy savings. Onboard humidistats also mean that once your ideal humidity is reached, the fan and compressor run intermittently to maintain humidity, reducing the unit’s energy consumption overall.
For those of you planning to dye Easter eggs this weekend, you may be concerned about what kind of dye to use. While most conventional dyes are labeled non-toxic, many FDA-approved dyes are made with toxins like coal, tar, and other petroleum-based products. This can be an issue for those of us with sensitivities or parents who prefer to raise their children in an eco-friendly home.
Instead of buying store-bought chemical dyes this year, make your own Easter egg dyes using fresh produce. This natural dyeing method protects your children from chemical exposure, and you probably have many of these ingredients lying around your house.
Just in time to help you manage your symptoms through a pretty trying pollen season, a leading consumer reporting magazine has released its 2012 list of top consumer-rated air purifiers. Four of Sylvane’s bestselling models round out the top 5, with impressive ratings in allergen removal and noise level. If you’re in the market for a room air purifier, be sure to check out these picks as you shop.
Best Buy – Whirlpool Whispure 510 Air Purifier
Receiving the highest ratings out of 33 tested air purifiers, the Whirlpool Whispure 510 Air Purifier continues its streak as a Best Buy and best bang for your buck. Equipped with a true HEPA filter and a light carbon filter, the Whirlpool 510 received Excellent and Very Good ratings for allergen, pollen, and smoke removal on its highest and lowest speeds, respectively.
As noise level goes, at 40 decibels on its lowest speed, the 510 is just about as quiet as gentle falling rain—great for the overnight hours when you need a soothing sound to lull you to sleep. The Whirlpool Whispure 510 is designed to remove dust, allergens, and other particles from rooms up to 500 square feet.
Last month, we announced the launch of our new Air Quality Evangelist program. The goal of this project is to celebrate other blogs and websites that appreciate good air quality and provide insight on how you can improve yours.
Now it’s time to announce this month’s Air Quality Evangelists!
SafeMama
Kathy Scoleri is a web designer, author, and mother of two boys. When she was expecting her first child in 2007 – and spending hours researching Bisphenol-A, hormone mimicking chemicals, and toy recalls – she knew she couldn’t be the only parent scouring the web for this information. So she created SafeMama to keep it all in one place.
Winning Post: There are many choices you can make to Keep Toxic Chemicals Out Of Your Home. In this article, SafeMama hits some major points – from losing the shoes while inside to using HEPA-filtered vacuums.
It’s springtime, and you know what that means: yellow-covered everything. Especially here in Atlanta, where pollen counts are breaking records and a sick yellow tinge coats the city streets. For allergy-sufferers, this is devastating. So we wanted to give you something to smile about.
Send us a picture of your pollen-covered car, and you’ll be entered to win a free $50 Visa gift card!
That should cover a few good car washes to rinse away that nasty pollen.
Post your photo on our Facebook page, tweet us a link, or email it to us at contest@sylvane.com. On April 6th, the most pollen-soaked car will win a $50 Visa gift card!
Show us how desperately your car needs a good cleaning. Send us your photo today!
And remember to keep those windows rolled up and wash your clothes when you get inside. That pollen settles quickly on our cars, but there are steps you can take to keep it out of your home.
The beginning of spring is the one time of year that I get super jazzed about cleaning, so I always make sure to take it seriously. I leave no blind un-dusted and no pillow cover un-washed. Dust, dirt and allergens don’t stand a chance in my home.
This spring, you owe it to yourself to enjoy a clean that’s more than dirt-deep. I’m talking allergen-deep. Dust mite-deep. Get down to the nitty gritty and really tackle what’s lurking in your home’s air. With the help of these 10 spring cleaning tips, you can do it without making yourself crazy.
1. Make a schedule. If you have a basement, start there – this room usually has the worst air quality. The next day, tackle germs and bacteria in the bathroom. Move onto the living room on day three, and so on. Even if you live in a 600 square foot apartment like mine, this method helps you stay focused on the task at hand and avoid becoming overwhelmed with the amount of work ahead of you.
2. Ditch the store-bought cleaners for a vapor steam cleaner. Typical household cleaners often contain harsh toxic chemicals that can aggravate allergies and ultimately cause health complications. Steam cleaners use pure vapor steam to naturally disinfect and deodorize counter tops, windows, appliances, and upholstery.
With spring just a week away, many of us are already suffering through the usual line-up of aggravating allergy symptoms. An allergy air purifier may be the answer you need to finally be able to enjoy the season again. But if you’ve done any amount of research on air purifiers designed for allergies, you know that your options are endless. It’s often difficult to sift through your choices and figure out which model will be the best for your needs.
We want to help you with your choice. That’s why we’ve created a cheat sheet of sorts to help you easily identify our tried and true models, those that are a hit with customers and industry insiders alike. Read on for a peek at our top allergy air purifiers for the season.
Best Overall Allergy Air Purifier
Consistently ranked a best buy and Sylvane’s Air Purifier Category Winner, the IQAir HealthPro Plus Air Purifier is a workhorse machine designed to remove 99% of all allergen particles from your indoor air. Using HyperHEPA filtration, the HealthPro Plus removes even more irritating particles than standard HEPA filters while a 5-pound gas and odor filter absorbs odors and chemical fumes that may aggravate asthma and chemical sensitivities. Upgraded control features, a large coverage area, and a mobile design round it out as our pick for best overall.
I’m a huge fan of wine. Up until I started dating a certified wine specialist, I pretty much solely enjoyed the drinking process. However, after two years of swirling and sipping, undertones and tannins – I have an entirely new appreciation for the art of wine-making.
Have you ever bought a really nice bottle of wine, brought it home and saved it for a special occasion – only to find yourself greeted by a disappointing bitter taste when you popped the cork? It’s an all-too-familiar story for many wine lovers. Sometimes, the culprit is a faulty cork. More often, however, it’s the air conditions.
Most homes maintain a temperature of about 70° F, with humidity levels around 20-30%. The proper conditions for storing wine are very different, however – and not exactly ideal for daily living. That’s why many wine enthusiasts store their wine in a cellar that is separate from their homes.
When it comes to creating a safe and healthy indoor environment, the more you know, the better. However, sometimes online research can lead to an overwhelming amount of options.
That’s why we created the Air Quality Evangelist project!
Each month, we will scour the web for the best blogs and websites you can confidently add to your list of air treatment resources. These sites may focus on allergies, asthma, green living, air quality, anything – most importantly, they have a deep appreciation for breathing clean and healthy air. At the end of the month, we will choose our top picks and name a few Air Quality Evangelists.
An Air Quality Evangelist is someone who appreciates the importance of healthy indoor air and celebrates products and lifestyle choices that can help improve the quality of the air you breathe. Air Quality Evangelist blogs are invited to sport the Air Quality Evangelist badge so you can spot them easily.
When you think about vacuum cleaning, you probably imagine your mom pushing around a heavy upright vacuum. But vacuums have come a long way since then. Lightweight designs and updated technology have changed the way we clean our homes.
What is an Air Quality Evangelist? This term goes to certain bloggers or writers who demonstrate a clear knowledge about and appreciation for indoor air quality. Their sites may focus on green living, energy efficiency, allergies – anything! Like the guidance on our site, the information they offer can help you better understand how your actions impact the air you breathe.
You know breathing clean air benefits your lungs and heart. But what about your waistline?
Since its inception in 1970, Earth day has marked a time for festivals, rallies, and celebrations focused on the awareness of environmental issues that impact our planet’s health. People across the globe gather to plant trees or pledge energy conservation goals.
For those of you planning to dye Easter eggs this weekend, you may be concerned about what kind of dye to use. While most conventional dyes are labeled non-toxic, many FDA-approved dyes are made with toxins like coal, tar, and other petroleum-based products. This can be an issue for those of us with sensitivities or parents who prefer to raise their children in an eco-friendly home.
That should cover a few good car washes to rinse away that nasty pollen.
The beginning of spring is the one time of year that I get super jazzed about cleaning, so I always make sure to take it seriously. I leave no blind un-dusted and no pillow cover un-washed. Dust, dirt and allergens don’t stand a chance in my home.
I’m a huge fan of wine. Up until I started dating a certified wine specialist, I pretty much solely enjoyed the drinking process. However, after two years of swirling and sipping, undertones and tannins – I have an entirely new appreciation for the art of wine-making.
Most homes maintain a temperature of about 70° F, with humidity levels around 20-30%. The proper conditions for storing wine are very different, however – and not exactly ideal for daily living. That’s why many wine enthusiasts store their wine in a cellar that is separate from their homes.
