Making a home office eco-friendly is a topic we're hearing more often than ever these days. It might have something to do with the growing trend toward people working at home. According to a recent study, 37% of U.S. workers reported they have telecommuted or worked at home. I also work from home on a full-time basis as a journalist, reporter, and author. … [Read more...]
LED Christmas Tree Lights Are Cheap & Green – See For Yourself With This Free Holiday Lighting Energy Calculator!
I love brightening up the holiday season at home with LED Christmas tree lights and other lighted decorations -- even if that means it'll cost a few more bucks (reindeer?) on the electric bill. And, hey, I don't mind spending the extra money on the power bill to light up the holiday lights because I really just can't imagine the Christmas season without seeing eaves lit up with dozens upon dozens of red, blue, yellow, green, and purple lights. But I've learned over the past few years … [Read more...]
3 Green Lighting Choices LED vs Halogen vs CFL… What’s The Difference?
A little while ago, I wrote about the green lighting alternatives that have been coming to light (no pun intended) since the ban against some incandescent light bulbs took effect on January 1, 2014. For the record, the Incandescent Light Bulb Ban essentially does away with 100-watt, 75-watt, 60-watt, and 40-watt bulbs. At this point, low- and high-watt incandescent bulbs, decorative, and other types of specialty lighting are not affected. Many homeowners are feeling the pinch because the … [Read more...]
The Incandescent Light Bulb Ban: 3 Alternative Light Bulbs To Choose + Light Bulb Myths You Should Know About
The incandescent light bulb ban that affected Americans in 2012 (when the 100-watt incandescent bulbs were phased out) and 2013 (when 75-watt incandescent bulbs went dark) is now about to take effect on the biggest part of the lighting market: 40-watt and 60-watt incandescent light bulbs. As of January 1, 2014, it's illegal to manufacture or import traditional 40-watt and 60-watt incandescent bulbs. This law effectively turns out the lights on the most popular light bulbs in the United … [Read more...]
3 Important Considerations For Energy Efficient Remodeling
Let's face the facts – you are more or less dealing with utility bills that you'd love to see lowered. Thanks to remodeling opportunities, you might have a chance to make things better in terms of efficiency and saving money. The first thing to remember is that your home is a system which operates based on how you have it set up. Some of the remodeling you do will affect the way the house looks, with little to no effect on the overall quality of energy efficiency. However, in order … [Read more...]
Green College Tips: 10 Ways To Go Green At School
With students slowly returning to colleges and universities, one of the focuses for the coming school year should be to make it a more eco-friendly one. After all, when areas receive the influx of people on the scale that so many neighborhoods with campuses do, it can inflict havoc on local environments. I myself went to a school that had close to 20,000 students who swarmed the surrounding communities. As individuals we may not have realized the impact we had as a large group, but it was … [Read more...]
A Green Checklist For The Environmentally Savvy Individual Who Wants To Go Green At Home, At Work, And On The Go
Environmental degradation is ever present, as a result of past careless decisions, and it's time that we each take personal responsibility for our part in how to counteract this. Granted, adopting eco-friendly practices is rising in popularity by millions of people around the United States, but we can all do more to better our decaying environment. Contrary to what many may believe, incorporating green savvy practices into your lifestyle does not have to be complicated or expensive, as … [Read more...]
Good News: Americans Are Becoming More Environmentally Aware & Conscious Of Their Behaviors!
A new national survey of more than 1,000 Americans found that 'being green' is becoming more mainstream and has less of a stigma tied to it than it once did. According to the survey, getting caught littering is more embarrassing to Americans than getting caught cheating on taxes. Other behaviors that people admit to being socially aware that they're doing include: not recycling plastic bottles driving a vehicles that gets only a few miles per gallon letting the water run while … [Read more...]
Facebook’s Social Energy Efficiency App
Energy efficiency holds huge potential when it comes to being better stewards of the environment and stopping climate change (well, human-caused, extremely rapid and destructive climate change, that is). It could also help us save money. Reportedly, the U.S. could save $700 billions dollars with some energy efficiency improvements. How much time do we spend thinking about energy and these potential savings, though? The average American spends about 6 minutes per year doing so, according to … [Read more...]
How to “Use the Force” to Lower Gas Prices
If you are not one of the 42 million or so people who have watched the Darth Vader kid & Volkswagen commercial (“The Force”) on YouTube or who saw it during the Super Bowl, you should go check it out now (and then come back to this post). One of the best Congressmen out there today, in my humble opinion -- Rep. Ed Markey (D-MA) -- and the Natural Resources Committee (Democrats) recently made a great spoof of this video, or sequel you might say. But, beyond just spoofing or making … [Read more...]
