Do you know the difference between "geothermal energy" and a "ground source heat pump"? All I know is they both run into the ground. But as this article from Green Building Elements explains how together they can more efficiently heat and cool your home at a...
Energy Efficient Products & Technologies
Solar Panels: The Next Generation
Solar panels orbiting the Earth and beaming electricity back to the ground sounds Star Trek to me but it's close to happening. Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and IHI Corp. of Japan recently reached a $21 billion agreement to develop the technology with the hope of being...
Raise the (White) Roof
There's a move afoot (or well, over-head), to encourage you to make your dark roof, white. Nobel laureate physicist and Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, is on a campaign to cut Americans' air conditioning costs (which has the side benefit of reducing global warming), by...
Green My House
Want to make your home more eco-friendly but don't know where to begin? Some homeowners are turning to environmental consultants for guidance on the issue, according to this article in the New York Times. For a fee, the consultants look over the person's home and...
Do Power Monitors Work?
With Americans looking to cut their electrical bill, many are looking into energy-monitoring devices such as Kill-A-Watt. These devices display how much electricity the device consumes and how much it is costing you to run. But do they work? Consumer Reports...
Daylight Savings
As I awoke bleary-eyed yesterday morning, I wondered, "Is daylight savings time worth it?" According to this article from Consumer Energy Report, daylight savings time started during World War I in order to save fuel by reducing the need for artificial light. The time...
Tax Credits for Energy Efficiency
Having an energy-efficient home not only saves your family money on monthly bills but also on your taxes. Energy Star has a list of federal tax credits to save your family money this tax season. According to their Web page, "Home improvement tax credits are available...
Solar Panel in a Most Unlikely Place
Browsing through this set of photos of one man's trek through the Caucasus mountains in the eastern European country of Georgia, I was awed by the sight of a solar panel on a home that resembled a centuries-old stone barn. As one commenter on the page noted,...
The Spread of Smart Metering
Everyone wants to cut their electrical bill but it's often difficult to tell which devices are using the most power. According to the Electric Power Research Institute, the typical American home has 27 devices that are always on. But fret not, homeowners. According to...
CFL Recycling Goes Big Time
You may remember the recent scare about trace amounts of mercury in CFLs (compact fluorescent lights), those energy-saving wonder lightbulbs. While the mercury is not a danger in household use, it can be a problem when thousands of the CFLs are improperly discarded...