April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Check out the Whirlpool site for more green information

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Bosch has more information on how to be green at home on their website.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

For more information on Natura and all of the green products, check out their website.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

For more information on the green practices of Trica, check out their website.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Our new Maytag Range has an induction cooktop. Induction heat is a very efficient way to cook, the heat is generated by the cookware, not the cooktop. This means there is very little heat loss, this also makes induction a greener choice, as you are using less energy to cook. Come in today and see first hand how induction cook-tops work. We have a working induction cook-top in store for demonstrations.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Dryer Tips from Bosch

• Dry towels and heavier cottons in a separate load from lighter-weight clothes, since lighter-weight clothing dries faster. When combined with heavier cottons, their drying time—and energy usage—increases.
• Dry full loads when possible to optimize energy efficiency, but be careful not to overfill the dryer. Air should be able to circulate freely around the drying clothes.
• Don’t add wet items to a load that is already partially dried.
• Extra Hot is not the best cycle for energy efficiency, and over-drying clothes can damage the fabric or set stains.
• Taking clothes out of the dryer while they are still slightly damp reduces the need for ironing — another big time and energy saver.
• Dry multiple loads back to back. Take advantage of the heat still in the dryer from the first load, and reduces the time and energy needed to warm up the machine to drying temperature.
• Clean the lint filter after each use. Keeping this free of obstruction helps improve air circulation and makes the dryer work more efficiently.
• Clean the dryer exhaust venting system on the outside of the building on a regular basis (we recommend every three to six months). It should be clear of cobwebs and lint. Also check the vent hose to make sure it is allowing air to flow without obstruction.
• Use solar energy as much as possible — on a sunny day, hang clothes outside to dry. An indoor drying rack will save energy too.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Washer tips from Bosch:

• Fill it up—Load the washer to capacity when possible, because under-loading uses more energy and water than washing one large load.
• Since 90% of the energy used by your washer is used to heat the water, you can clean just as effectively and far more efficiently by presoaking heavily soiled clothes and using warm or cold water for the wash cycle instead of hot (except for greasy stains).
• Turn down the thermostat on your water heater. A setting of 120° F is adequate for most home needs. By reducing your hot water temperature, you will save energy with both hot and warm wash cycles.
• To optimize your washer’s effectiveness, use the recommended amount of detergent. You will end up saving water (and money), because the machine will have to continue to rinse (using more water) if there is too much detergent.
• It’s important to match water level and temperature settings on your washer to the size of your load.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Refrigeration tips from Bosch:

• Make sure the door seals are airtight. Check the door gasket occasionally to be sure the seal isn't broken by debris or caked on food.
• Minimize the amount of time the refrigerator door is open.
• When purchasing a new refrigerator, select the smallest size possible to meet your needs. For second refrigerators, consider a compact mini-fridge instead of a full sized model.
• The best location for your refrigerator is the coolest areas of your kitchen, away from bright sunlight and the oven.
• As a rule of thumb: a hand’s width between the refrigerator and the wall will save you up to ten percent electricity.
• Defrost food by putting it in the refrigerator the night before you want to use it. This will cool the refrigerator down and reduce its power consumption.
• Wait until food has cooled down before putting it into the refrigerator.
• Keep the freezer full of something, such as loaves of bread or milk jugs filled with water, to keep the cold air inside the freezer even when the door is open.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Remember, today is Earth Day!

Cooking Tips from Bosch:

• Compared to a cook-top with coils, an electric glass cooktop is not only easier to use and clean, but also more energy-efficient. Induction cooktops are particularly efficient.
• Use the burner that is the closest match to the pot size. Heat is lost and energy is wasted if the burner size is larger than the pot size.
• Electric cooktops take a long time to cool down. Use this residual heat to save energy by simply switching off the element earlier and allowing food to finish cooking with the remaining heat in the burner.
• Without a suitable lid, you need three to four times more energy when cooking.
• Steaming vegetables and potatoes is an efficient, easy and healthy way to cook; just cover the base of the pan with water and let the steam do the rest.
• Use a pressure cooker for cooking times of more than 20 minutes. It will save you up to 30 percent on energy.
• When baking, make sure the oven door seal is tight and avoid opening oven door—each time the door is opened, about 10% of the inside heat is lost. Even a “peek” can lower the oven temperature as much as 25 degrees.
• Don't preheat your oven for casseroles and meat.
• Turn the oven off a few minutes before the food is ready, and let the oven’s heat finish the job.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Some more green tips from Bosch:

• Scrape your plates - Rinsing dishes can waste up to 20 gallons of water before the dishes are even loaded, and Bosch dishwashers, used in combination with today’s detergents, are designed to do the cleaning, so you don’t have to.
• If your dirty dishes are going to sit overnight, use your dishwasher’s rinse and hold option. It uses a fraction of the water needed to rinse by hand.
• Fill your dishwasher to capacity to get the most out of the energy and water you’re using.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Trica uses certified renewable wood:

We use solid wood that comes from governmental forests in Quebec, Canada. The management of these forests is based on the Timber Supply and Forest Management Agreement which allows the natural ecosystem to maintain itself. The government guarantees long-term supplies to the forest companies, and in return it requires that they manage the forest responsibly in order to maintain or increase its productivity.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Natura organic latex mattress:


If you’re searching for an organic latex mattress, you know what I’m talking about. Lots of companies claim to have them, but skirt the issue of organic certifications. Until we have common guidelines, here’s what you need to know about Natura’s organic latex mattresses.

Latex is harvested as a milky substance from the Hevea Brasiliensis tree in Asia. The trees grow naturally in forests – without the use of herbicides, pesticides or large farm equipment. Harvesting of our latex is done by hand and, like tapping for maple syrup, the trees aren’t harmed.

Natural rubber changes consistency very quickly when exposed to air. Our latex is processed the same day and near the harvest site to reduce the need for chemical stabilization or contamination during transportation.

The latex is whipped into a thick froth, flash frozen and then heated to cure it into the flat slabs. Nothing is added to it and it’s 100% natural latex.

But if you’re an organic guru, you know that latex itself can never be certified organic – by any mattress manufacturer. Latex must be cleaned with soaps during processing to be considered safe for consumer use. Latex proteins, benign to most of us, can cause severe allergic reactions in some people and are carefully regulated.

And it’s that washing that bottlenecks the whole label of an organic latex mattress – from every manufacturer. Natura produces a line of organic mattresses that are 99.9% natural, including the latex, but only the wool and cotton are 100% certified organic by a third party source.

Natura’s organic latex mattresses have no artificial additives, harmful chemicals or fire retardants. They pass and exceed fire regulation laws with purely organic materials. They’re hypoallergenic, dust mite resistant and will not support mildew or bacteria growth.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

We at McLellan Brandsource are doing our part for the Earth. Besides providing green options for our customers, we have in house practices that reduce our impact on the environment.
Here are a couple of the things we do:

• We use power settings on our PCs that turn off monitors when not in use.
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• We offer information to customers by e-mail, reducing the amount we print. 
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• We have changed the light bulbs on our showrooms to compact florescent bulbs.

We will be posting more green tips for the month of April, keep checking in with us!

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Another tip from Bosch:

Refrigeration:

• The best location for your refrigerator is the coolest areas of your kitchen, away from bright sunlight and the oven.
• As a rule of thumb: a hand’s width between the refrigerator and the wall will save you up to ten percent electricity.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

BOSCH is another company who not only sells green products, but also has green practices for the company itself:


REDUCING ENERGY USAGE
One of the most significant means of reducing manufacturing consumption is to ensure that all products are designed to minimize environmental impact and conserve resources. As a result, we redesigned our dishwasher packaging to allow for three-high stacking on a standard trailer, as opposed to only two, resulting in 50% more product shipped with no increase in fuel consumption.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Natura has fantastic business practices that keep the entire company Green:

Natura walks the walk when it comes to reducing carbon emissions
If you know Natura, you know we believe a healthy sleep starts with natural ingredients. But what you may not know is that we practice eco-logic in everything we do – from our plant to our office to how we reach out to our retailers.
These are just a few of the ways we’re protecting our planet. Feel free to steal any of these ideas and make them your own.


    •   All lights are turned off every night and on weekends.
    •   All paper and cardboard in both the plant and offices are recycled.
    •   All plastic packaging in the plant is recycled.
    •   Printer cartridges are sent to a refurbishing facility where they are cleaned, refilled and resold.
    •   In our Customer Service Department, we have moved a portion of our records to be entirely electronic and are making efforts to offer electronic options available to customers. Online ordering, electronic order confirmation and electronic proofing.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Trica's Stools are not only green for the Earth, but they are Green for you!


-Our paint is lead and VOC free

When you buy a piece of furniture, bring it home, and set it down in a room, it doesn’t just sit there. No matter what it’s made of, chances are, it’s off gassing (or releasing substances into the air). Almost everything off gasses, which isn’t necessarily bad, but synthetic materials or those treated with synthetic substances can off gas chemicals which are toxic. Volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, are the most common family of chemicals that are off gassed and have been linked to birth defects, endocrine disruption, and cancer. Trica’s steel and aluminium products are protected by a high-temperature baked lead-free powder coating. Zero VOC’s! Furthermore, Trica’s upholstered seat boards and table tops are produced using low formaldehyde particle boards.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Whirlpool Canada prominently uses the ENERGY STAR® logo in advertising, literature, and point of purchase materials. The company believes it very clearly communicates to consumers both the energy savings delivered by certain appliances, along with the positive impact this energy savings has on the environment. A clear example of the environmental impact of newer, energy efficient models is the fact that today you can operate 3 to 4 refrigerators in your home using less energy than it takes to operate a single refrigerator that was purchased 19 years ago.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

We at McLellan Brandsource are doing our part for the Earth. Besides providing green options for our customers, we have in house practices that reduce our impact on the environment.
Here are a couple of the things we do:

• We shut off displays, and almost all lights when we close for the day.
• All of our cardboard is taken to be recycled.

We will be posting more green tips for the month of April, keep checking in with us!

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

BOSCH is another company who not only sells green products, but also has green practices for the company itself:

 REDUCING WASTE
By regulating production, from purchasing raw materials to transport logistics, assembly, and delivery, we keep environmental impact to a minimum. For example, each of our 29 purchasing sites around the world relies on locally based suppliers, which keeps transportation distances to a minimum and makes for a lower carbon footprint. Collecting and separating paper, cardboard, plastic, film, glass, wood and metal waste is also a standard practice in all our factories. As a result, 92% of the total waste volume is now recycled.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Natura has fantastic business practices that keep the entire company Green:


Natura walks the walk when it comes to reducing carbon emissions
If you know Natura, you know we believe a healthy sleep starts with natural ingredients. But what you may not know is that we practice eco-logic in everything we do – from our plant to our office to how we reach out to our retailers.
These are just a few of the ways we’re protecting our planet. Feel free to steal any of these ideas and make them your own.

    •   All lighting in the plant, office and outdoors have been switched out for energy efficient bulbs that require 55% less

        energy. All of the old bulbs were sent to a recycling plant instead of a landfill.

    •   Ceilings in the plant were painted white to reflect light and reduce lighting usage.

    •   Forklifts and tow motors are all battery operated to reduce emissions within the plant.

    •   All thermostats are regulated electronically to maintain even temperatures throughout the week and reduce

        temperatures at night and on weekends.

    •   All computers in the plant and offices are shut off every night.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Today we have more information from Trica on the importance of buying solid, durable furniture.

One of the most important but often overlooked aspects of green products (and this definitely goes for furniture) is durability. If something is tough and/or can be readily repaired, this lessens the chance that it’ll end up in the landfill, and could easily save you money in the long run, even if it’s initially more expensive. Even recyclable materials if they break (and can’t be fixed) require energy and other resources to reprocess and then replace. Durable goods that will last a long time can be passed on from person to person. Even if your style changes and that barstool or chair isn’t your thing anymore, a good strong barstool or chair will always be appealing to someone else, while a broken (and unfixable) one won’t.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

We at McLellan Brandsource are doing our part for the Earth. Besides providing green options for our customers, we have in house practices that reduce our impact on the environment.
Here are a couple of the things we do:

• In our lunch room reusable coffee mugs and dishes are used by employees. 
• We shred any unwanted paper and send it to be recycled.

We will be posting more green tips for the month of April, keep checking in with us!

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Green tips from BOSCH

Cooking:

Use the burner that is the closest match to the pot size. Heat is lost and energy is wasted if the burner size is larger than the pot size.

Steaming vegetables and potatoes is an efficient, easy and healthy way to cook; just cover the base of the pan with water and let the steam do the rest.

Don't preheat your oven for casseroles and meat.

Turn the oven off a few minutes before the food is ready, and let the oven’s heat finish the job.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

More Green options from Whirlpool:

Whirlpool Canada has introduced innovations in laundry appliances that significantly reduce energy consumption in the home. The Whirlpool Duet® front-load washer is the most energy efficient machine on the market, taking all elements into consideration. It uses at least 67 per cent less water and electricity than conventional washers, and uses the least amount of water per wash of all other machines of comparable size. This is a substantial savings when you consider most front-load and conventional washing machines use at least 100 litres of water per wash.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

One of the most environmentally friendly companies we buy from is Natura. The very heart of this company is organic, and green products.

Take a look at some of the products and innovations from Natura:

•   Shredded latex – We invented the process to rescue latex ends, shred them and use for pillow cores. Less latex in

         landfills and when the pillows have finished their life cycle, they are quicker to biodegrade.

    •    Wool – We are the only mattress/bedding manufacturer in North America to card our own wool, which cuts down 

         on cross-contamination and transportation costs.

    •    Foam products – Our foam products now contain 30% soy (instead of being 100% petroleum based)

    •    All products – In everything we manufacture, there is a percentage of natural and/organic component.

    •    Recycled water bottles – In our eco-green pillow, we use recycled water bottles for the core.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Green tip for today:
Defrost food by putting it in the refrigerator the night before you want to use it. This will cool the refrigerator down and reduce its power consumption.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Whirlpool® brand is committed to making the world a better place by constantly improving products. The new line of energy-efficient appliances saves more of the Earth's resources than ever before.

The EnerGuide Program:

The EnerGuide Program for Major Electrical Household Appliances

EnerGuide is a Government of Canada program designed to help you, the consumer, purchase the most energy-efficient household appliances on the market. Administered by the Office of Energy Efficiency at Natural Resources Canada, the EnerGuide program has two goals: 

• To protect the environment by reducing the demand for energy in Canada and the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change; and 

• To help consumers spend less money on energy.

For more information on the EnerGuide tag, and how to read it, click here.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Our Trica bar stools are a  very well made product and Trica is an environmentally responsible company.
Here is one of the ways Trica is making a difference:


We use recycled and recyclable steel, aluminium, and plastic

Recycled materials require less processing and fewer resources. Technologies are always improving, meaning that recycled plastics and metals are always going up in quality. Depending on the availability and on the suppliers, the steel, aluminium and plastic used by Trica are made from 10% to 80 % of recycled materials. We also recycle 100% of internally generated steel, aluminium, foam and plastic scraps as well as all cardboard, paper and glass.

April, Earth Month at McLellan Brandsource

Every day for the month of April we will be sharing with you what we do to be environmentally friendly. As well as providing information about the companies we do business with, and how they have reduced their impact on the environment.

Keep an eye out for tips we will be sharing on making your home a greener place.We have several product choices that can help you with this as well.

Green tip for today:

Fill it up. Load the washer to capacity when possible, because under-loading uses more energy and water than washing one large load.