TreeHugger Picks: Why Buy When You Can Rent?

TreeHugger is a huge fan of the Product Service System (PSS). Though the name is easy to trip over, the concept is brilliant: that there are ways to rent products or services on-demand, and then just pass them on where you're done. Here are our picks for some great ways that show how renting is the new buying.

1) Car sharing: If you don't need one every day, it's a great way to go from here to there without worrying about gas, insurance or where to park it at the end of the day.
2) Bike sharing: Even better than cars, biking is a fantastic way to zip from place to place; when you share, there are no more worries about safely storing it or lugging it on the bus or train.
3) CD sharing: For just a buck, you can swap albums around the world, and there's enough left over to go to charities of the musician's choice.
4) Book sharing: Both in the UK and the US, books can be more than paperweights when you're done reading them.
5) Sun sharing: That's right; SunEdison has got a deal for you; they pay for, install, own and operate solar panels and systems. They even handle the insurances. They just want your roof space and your agreement to buy the generated electricity, at or below current grid pricing.