BillyKnowsBest

The Best Charcoal Lighter: Weber Chimney Starter

I converted to a gas grill years ago, but for most of my grilling youth, I was a charcoal guy, and some of my more foolish moments involved spraying additional lighter fluid on a pile of coals that hadn't quite gotten started. Then I learned about building the charcoal pyramid, and finally, I discovered the chimney.  With just a few crumpled pieces of paper under a vertical stack of briquettes, it's easy to get charcoal burning without the hazards, odors or expense of that nasty fluid.  Buy one online for $18.95 at Amazon.com.

The Best Battery Charger: La Crosse AlphaPower BC-900

Today's rechargeable batteries are much better than the ones from a decade or two ago, and they really are suitable replacements for the more than fifteen billion disposable batteries that are thrown out every year.  If you're ready to make the switch, get yourself the La Crosse Alpha Power BC-900 battery charger.  Unlike most cheap chargers, it has sophisticated technology to prolong battery life and ensure maximum battery capacity.  It allows you to charge AA and AAA batteries simultaneously, and comes with four of each size, plus handy adapters for C and D size battery needs.  The four separate LED displays and multi-function keys allow you to customize charging or reconditioning cycles for each battery, but if you're to lazy to read the instruction manual, just plug it in and charge.  The default settings and overcharge/overheat protection make it idiot-proof.  Buy it for $39.99 at Amazon.com.

Happy Earth Day: Easy Ways to Be More Green

Since 1970, Earth Day has been a rallying point for education and activism on issues of conservation.  The call grows louder and louder each year, as we discover how significantly our development and actions impact the health of our planet.  These issues, from habitat destruction to global warming are so enormous, that our individual actions seem insignificant -- and they are, until we add them all together.  Not only does every little bit help, our cumulative efforts are required if we are going to save the planet from the destructive effects of human development.  Going totally green can require a lot of effort and sacrifice.  But going greener is easy.  Some efforts require virtually no sacrifice or effort. Join me in committing today to becoming a little greener this year.  Nothing radical, but small steps in the right direction.  Turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth. Fit the lights you use the most with compact florescent bulbs. Plan tomorrow's errands in advance to minimize your driving. Eat a vegetarian meal. Reuse a plastic bag. Reduce the unwanted catalogs that get mailed to you.  Find more easy ways to be kinder to the environment in the Green Living section of BillyKnowsBest.  Start today. Earth thanks you.

The Best Toilet Bowl Cleaner:Natrics

First there was Seventh Generation, a leader in green philosophy and marketing, but not so much in cleaning technology.  Then came Method, which kicked up the cleaning quotient a little, and the style quotient a lot. Now the big guns, like Clorox Green Works and Arm & Hammer Essentials are jumping on green cleaning product bandwagon, but my favorite little-known brand Natrics still trumps most of them.  They only make a few products, but they make 'em really well. Natrics Toilet Bowl Cleaner has a thick, clingy plant-based formula that cleans really well without bleach, ammonia or petroleum-based cleaners. It's pet and family-safe. (I don't know about your kids, but my dogs prefer the commode to their water bowl most of the time.)  It has an angled lid for easy under-the-rim application, leaves a clean fresh scent, and costs less than Green Works. Buy it for $3.69 (with free shipping on $50 orders) from Drugstore.com.

The Most Energy Efficient Clothes Dryer

You were  expecting the latest energy-efficient clothes dryer, right? The sad truth is, there's very little variation in the energy efficiency of dryers (gas dryers are more efficient than electric, and there is heat-exchanger technology on the horizon that may change the game).  But in the mean time, there are lots of ways you can reduce the energy used to dry your clothes - which typically accounts for 6% of your electric bill!

Consider the clothes line.  It's August,  85° outside, and your air-conditioning is pumping 24/7.  Do you really need to throw the beach towels in the dryer? Although it can be cumbersome to line dry all your clothes, even drying the easy stuff (towels, sheets, jeans) on the line can cut your dryer usage in half.  I like this one -- the rust-resistant vinyl line retracts into the unobtrusive plastic housing.  It's less than $10 at Amazon.com.  Don't hang clothes over the line -- fold the edge of your clothes over the line, and use clothes pins to secure them. The free swinging of clothes in the breeze keeps them from drying rigidly.  (If your towels aren't fluffy enough on the line, pop them in the dryer for a few minutes without heat to fluff them up a little before folding.)

The Best Laundry Softener/Fragrance: Good Home Co. Pure Grass

My mother has many talents and strengths, but cooking and cleaning aren't among them.  Still, she tries, and appreciates a good laundry product as much as anyone.  She fell in love with the Good Home Co. Pure Grass Laundry Fragrance, but could not bring herself to pay the steep price ($25).  Yes, if you compare it to Downy or Snuggle it's mighty expensive, but on a per-wash basis, it's an affordable luxury, and it is natural, biodegradable and not animal tested.  So she got it for Mother's Day... because the mother of the son who knows best, deserves the best.  Skip the 32oz glass bottle, and go for the  64oz "refill."  And get free shipping when you order it from drugstore.com/beauty.com , where you can shop both stores with a combined checkout.  Other fragrances include Lavender, Paris Rain, Beach Days and Italian Citrus, but Pure Grass is our favorite.

The Best Surge Protector for Your Computer:APC Power Saving Essential SurgeArrest

My college buddy David Pogue wrote about this in today's New York Times.  The APC Power-Saving Essential SurgeArrest is a surge protector that also detects how much current your computer is drawing, so that when the computer is shut down, it cuts off power to three plugged-in peripherals that would otherwise continue to suck and waste power.  For those of you... um, us too lazy to reach down and flip the switch on our surge protectors to shut off our external hard drives, cable modems, printers and whatever else, this is the perfect solution.  It's in stock, and low-priced at PC Connection for $23.58.

The Best Bottled Water: Fiji?

With all the hoopla recently about many bottled waters coming from tap water, it would be easy to frame this question around the various qualities of bottled waters: mineral content, taste and purity.  And the people at Fiji have done a great job at making their case for how pure and healthy their artesian water is.  And while it may be the purest water on earth, coming from a remote source untouched by humans or even air, that completely evades the issue of the environmental damage in every bottle of Fiji water.  How do we justify the fossil fuel required to bottle that pure water, ship it across the pacific ocean and truck it to you? We can't.  The simple truth is that for almost everyone, tap water right out of the tap is safe, healthy and pure enough.  And if it isn't, a simple water filter can make it so. 

The best bottled water is the kind you make yourself with a refillable bottle, and tap water. It's a recipe that will save you money and save the environment from the needless waste of shipping water across an ocean.  I recommend Nalgene bottles for big gulpers, and the Oxo LiquiSeal Travel Mug for convenience and temperature control.  Check out  RefillNotLandfill.org for more information on the environmental costs of bottled water.

The Baggu Reusable Bag

Back when I was a travel writer, I got burned really badly writing about a hotel that hadn't quite opened yet, and never did.  Since then, I've really tried to avoid proleptic recommendations.  That said, I'm too excited about the Baggu to wait for it's release (though I promise to report on mine as soon as they arrive.)  I've been concerned about the environment almost as long as I've been an avid consumer.  As a pre-teen, I used to separate our cans and bottles and have my mom drive me to the municipal dump, where they were accepted for recycling.  And as much as I'm a fan of recycling, I'm an even bigger fan of re-use.  So I usually carry my own bags when I go to the market, but I'm often without one when I find myself on an unplanned shopping trip.  This dilemma was solved by the mother-daughter team who developed Baggu, a "super strong rip-stop nylon (holds 25 lbs)" bag that "holds the contents of 2 to 3 plastic grocery bags" whose "handles are the perfect length: you can hold them in your hand, on your forearm, or over your shoulder... they are light (2 oz) and compactible. They fold into a flat 5 by 5 inch pouch that easily slips in a purse or pocket."  I can't wait for the mid-august shipment date!  If you can't either, pre-order yours today at baggubag.com.

The Best Compact Florescent Bulbs: N:Vision

I still have the first compact florescent bulbs I ever bought.  They weren't really compact, in fact, despite their standard light bulb base, they were too big to fit into most lamps.  And they took a a few moments to light up, and the color was awful.  But they were so expensive at the time, I can't bring myself to throw them out.  Fast-forward 15 years, and it's a new bulb game.  The N:Vision compact florescent bulb I bought at Home Depot a few months ago fits in my lamps and provides light as pleasing, warm and color-correct as a regular incandescent.  No surprise N:Vision came out tops in this month's Popular Mechanics ratings.  Replacing incandescent bulbs with Compact Florescent bulbs is an easy way to start shrinking your carbon footprint.