Product Reviews: Celadon Road Laundry Detergent

Celadon Road Makes Green Products for a Green Home

By Nathan Kaufman

So, I would like to start this by saying that I am about to have a “first” moment.  I have never written a product review for a blog before, whether for a product carried by One Stop Green, or anyone else.  I would like to thank those in the blogosphere for trusting in my writing abilities and knowledge to give a fair and balanced product review.  So, here we go!

Things have been very busy with One Stop Green, and networking has been a huge part.  I found this networking site called Ozoshare for the green community (www.ozoshare.com) and created an account.  It was like joining Facebook all over again, I had tons of people wanting to be my Partner and I gladly accepted all of them.  Since I work for One Stop Green, I tried highlighting them on my Ozoshare page as well.  I got caught up in setting up the profile and remembered this was for networking purposes, and proceeded to start telling everyone hello and recommending the check out One Stop Green.  One of those people who I talked to was Amanda Arkans, an Independent Senior Manager for Celadon Road, and that’s where the basis for this product review comes from.

Celadon Road is a great company that was founded to promote a greener and healthier lifestyle.  Its products are all high quality and eco-friendly and are many products we use every day.  When I saw what some of their products were, I wanted to see about carrying them through One Stop Green, however Celadon Road markets its products through Independent Consultants.  Still, I like what they do and what they have, so Amanda asked if I could test a couple of products and review them.  Since I love new content to write about, of course I agreed!

The product I tested was the Celadon Road Laundry Detergent.  As a young twenty-something, I admit I have quite a bit of laundry I leave lying around my apartment.  While I am adept at using a washer and dryer, my apartment does not have them so I enlisted the help of my girlfriend, Stephanie.  The Lavender Celadon Road Laundry Detergent (item #020-006) came in a small sample Ziploc bag and is a light colored powder.  “There’s no way this little bag can do a load of laundry,” I said to Stephanie.  It actually ended up doing two large loads, living up to my statement (though not the way I meant it).  Celadon Road says their detergent can do a load of laundry with 1 to 2 tablespoons.  That’s much less than the name brand stuff I use, whether it’s liquid or powder detergent.  The Celadon Road website advertises their laundry detergent can also be used to clean floors and walls when dissolved in water.  The clothes came out smelling clean and feeling soft as ever, and that’s without fabric softener (another thing you don’t have to buy)!  The Celadon Road online catalog states that the laundry detergent was developed in response to “a child with eczema aggravated by commercial laundry products” which, as far as I’m concerned is a great reason to make a new type of laundry detergent.

I must say, I was very impressed with the Celadon Road Laundry Detergent.  It got my clothes clean, which is definitely to be expected from a laundry detergent, but the amount of detergent needed, or lack of detergent needed, was amazing.  When I first heard from Amanda, I asked if it were possible to carry their products on our website.  While that is not the case, I hope this review of their products will help Celadon Road because they definitely have a fan.  Overall, the detergent had a good smell and I loved that so little detergent could do so much laundry.  The clothes came out smelling clean and fresh as well.  Connect with Amanda and check out their other products at http://www.myceladonroad.com/amanda/ so you can get great products like their laundry detergent.  Or, help make the world a Greener place by becoming a Celadon Road Independent Consultant with Amanda’s great startup deal through Celadon Road!

Celadon Road is dedicated to promoting greener, healthier and more socially responsible living by offering our customers the highest quality natural, eco-friendly products for their everyday needs.  In following our mission, we inspire individuals to discover and explore their shade of green and to purchase with a purpose.  We strongly believe if we all make small changes toward a greener lifestyle, collectively we can have a profound impact on our world.

One Stop Green is looking towards a Greener Future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and Green Technology with you through our staff written blogs. Going Green is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green. We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.

Visit our website at www.onestopgreen.com or download the mobile app at http://fwd4.me/01gP

See the Light with CFLs

By Nathan Kaufman

Lighting is one of the least expensive ways to go green in your home and business.  It also generally takes the least amount of work, just unscrewing the old bulb and screwing in the new one.  Standard incandescent light bulbs for home lighting are 60 watt bulbs and cost $.50-1.00 each.  By spending a couple dollars more, you can save 75% on your lighting energy expenses by using compact fluorescent lamps, or CFLs.

75% is a huge reduction, but that is the average ratio of energy savings when switching from incandescent light bulbs to CFLs.  If you keep a brighter home, 100 watt incandescents translate to a 25 watt CFL and so on.  Another energy saving fact, calculated by ENERGY STAR, states “if every American home replaced just one light bulb with a light bulb that's earned the ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light 3 million homes for a year, save about $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent 9 billion pounds of greenhouse gas emissions per year, equivalent to those from about 800,000 cars.”  Think of all the energy (and yes, read that as money) we would save!

So, CFLs do have their fair share of myths and controversies surrounding them.  One of the biggest legitimate concerns is the mercury in CFLs, which although a very small amount, is important for the functionality of the CFL.  CFLs contain about 5 milligrams of mercury, which in comparison, is less than that of old mercury thermometers.  However, they do require special care when being disposed of.  Mercury disposal guidelines vary by city, so check with your local officials when yours burns out.  Another common complaint is the color of the light emitted by CFLs.  Like their straight-tubed cousins, CFLs come in a variety of colors, called the Correlated Color Temperature.  Without getting into technical details, to get the best results when comparing the light to incandescent bulbs, get bulbs with a 2700K to 3000K Correlated Color Temperature.  CFL packaging should soon be displaying this detail, along with better explanations, on packaging, since it will be required to receive ENERGY STAR certification.  Gone will be confusing color names, like “natural white” or “soft white,” because that does not help any.

In addition to energy savings, I pose a question: how many times do you change your bulbs over the course of a year?  Typical incandescent bulbs are designed to last between 750 and 1000 hours, or about 100 to 200 days when using the light 8 to 12 hours per day.  CFLs are generally rated between 6000 and 15000 hours.  At the high end of things, CFLs can last up to 15 times longer than incandescent bulbs.  At a 100 to 200 day lifespan, incandescent bulbs are almost guaranteed to need at least one replacement during the year.  Even a 6000 hour CFL, running 12 hours per day lasts almost 2 years, the span that between 4 and 6 incandescent bulbs would be running in the one CFL’s place.

An unexpected advantage of CFLs that is rarely touched upon is the heat reduction.  After an incandescent light has been on for a while and you put your hand up to it, how does it feel?  It is pretty hot, right?  Take that 60 watt incandescent bulb and try the same thing with its 15 watt CFL replacement.  The CFL is much cooler after being on all day than the incandescent!  If your home has a lot of lighting, think of all the heat those incandescent bulbs are adding to the air, and how much the air conditioner is running to cool things back down.  While the added heat may be great in the winter (well, where I live we don’t believe in winter!), the amount of energy saved by keeping your home cooler can surprise you, all because of light bulbs.

CFLs are one of the easiest, cheapest ways to make your home more green.  I will admit, there is a surprising amount of negative press surrounding these funky looking bulbs, but if you do research, you will see there are answers and solutions to every problem that people seem to find.  Through energy savings, lower replacement frequency, and even the heat reduction, CFLs can help save costs across the board and can be a way to jumpstart your path to a greener future.

One Stop Green is looking towards a Greener Future, sharing the latest and greatest ideas in green living and Green Technology with you through our staff written blogs. Going Green is no longer a choice, it's our responsibility, that's why it's so important to try and do the small things that can help change the outlook of the planet - and this is essentially the purpose of One Stop Green. We believe even the little things like recycling or using less water helps the environment out in a big way, and that's why our various solutions seek to nurture and edify your home or business in an eco-friendly manner.

Visit our website at www.onestopgreen.com or download the mobile app at http://fwd4.me/01gP