Sustainable Living - Eco-Friendly - Green Living Tips & Information

Living in an energy-efficient, environmentally sustainable home is now more easily attainable. Here are a few hints that may help from the experts at the United States Department of Energy:

1. Keep appliances clean and in good repair; clogged air vents or worn-out parts make motors work harder, which wastes energy.

2. Insulate your water heater and hot-water pipes.

3. Plant trees, shrubs and hedges around your home so they shade your home in summer and let sunlight right in, in winter.

4. Change your lights to energy-saving compact fluorescent lights (CFL). If every American home replaced just one lightbulb with a CFL bulb, we would save enough energy to light nearly 3 million homes. We'd also save more than $600 million in annual energy costs and reduce greenhouse gases by the equivalent of nearly 750,000 cars. The average CFL lasts 6,000 to 15,000 hours, and when you replace it, you can recycle it.

5. Use solid-state lighting (SSL) for holiday tree lights, nightlights and walkway illumination. They're durable and long lasting and use about a tenth as much energy as incandescent bulbs.

6. Turn off power strips or unplug electronics. Electronics--computer, TV, VCR, even your phone chargers--use energy even when they're turned off. Standby power can account for as much as 20 percent of home energy use.

7. Caulking your window seals around the glass can provide insulation.

8. Air seal and insulate your attic and ventilation ducts. More than half the energy used in a typical American home is for space heating and cooling. Much of that conditioned air escapes through poorly sealed, underinsulated attics.

The Department of Energy and homebuilders are working together to combine advanced building techniques with renewable energy sources to minimize energy needs from outside providers.

When you live in a "green" home you reduce the amount of carbon dioxide, the building block of greenhouse gases, that you add to the environment, otherwise known as your carbon footprint.

Fortunately, you don't have to spend a lot to do so. New homes built green from the ground up can cost the same as a conventional house, as homebuilders incorporate innovative technologies directly into new homes.

Take, for example, Trilogy by Shea Homes, eight active lifestyle communities located across the country.

The company uses a number of technologies and products designed to reduce the carbon footprint of each home by up to 48 percent. These include dual-pane, low-e windows, solar electricity systems, solar-powered attic fans, high-performance insulation, wood from sustainable forests, weather-responsive sprinkler systems, Energy Star appliances and more. As a result, Trilogy homes exceed the 2006 International Energy Conservation Code by 45 percent.

Learn More
You can find energy-saving and eco-friendly tips and other information online at Trilogy Life or by calling (800) 685-6494.

For a special introductory price of $99, a Green Irene Eco-Consultant will walk through your home with you and develop a customized set of recommendations on what you can do to save money, energy, water, and live a healthier life. Your Eco-Consultant sells many of the green solutions you select.

Green Home Makeover Topics include:

* Energy conservation improvements
* Energy efficient lighting replacements
* Water conservation and purity tools
* Green energy sources available in your area
* Improving indoor air quality
* Toxic free living by reducing harmful chemicals in use
* Recycling and waste reduction
* Safety and emergency preparedness
* Tax Credits, rebates and other financial incentives available in your area
* Your carbon footprint and Carbon Offset Programs
* Referrals to members of Green Irene's Sustainable Contractor Network

For more details, or to find a Green Irene consultant in your area, visit their website.

Green Business:

As sustainability challenges continue to mount for organizations, senior management now more than ever needs information on a wide variety of topics from legal and regulatory affairs, carbon trading and emissions management to environmental best practices; reporting and measurement standards; greening their supply chains; and purchasing more environmentally friendly products and services.

Renewable Energy World:

Provides authoritative articles, case studies and essential news on global developments in the renewables sector. Every issue includes features on wind power, solar thermal, photovoltaics and biomass. Regular coverage is also devoted to geothermal, energy storage, small hydro, and hybrid systems.

Today's Energy Solutions:

Even with widespread conservation measures, the need for electricity is estimated to increase by 40% by 2030. This demand for energy is the new frontier for manufacturers with the foresight and determination to design and build systems and components for generating new energy solutions as well as reducing the cost and improving the capacity of existing energy sources. Provides valuable information to help manufacturing professionals improve productivity on current processes as well as facilitate the creation of new processes for alternative energy solutions.

Recycling Today:

Recycling Today is published monthly and is edited for the secondary commodity processing/recycling market. News is targeted to dealers, processors, material recovery facilities, and consultants and engineers designing recycling systems, and brokers in addition to scrap generators and consumers.

As the Obama administration calls for cutting 80 percent of U.S. greenhouse emissions by 2050, a number of experts say the question has shifted from "why nuclear power" to "when."

Nuclear plants are the biggest providers of energy that don't produce any greenhouse gases. And as the arguments for nuclear energy-its outstanding safety record, environmental advantages, affordability and reliability-continue to grow, policy makers are eyeing nuclear for an additional benefit: It could power the economy.

In 2008, the nuclear industry estimated that it created 9,000 new jobs-from construction and parts manufacturing to plant workers. And since President Obama called for a $150 billion, 10-year effort to help build a "clean-energy" future, 17 applicants have sought government approval to build 26 new nuclear plants.

Nuclear proponents are further encouraged by the appointment of Steven Chu to head the Department of Energy. Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, has expressed a commitment to the construction of new nuclear power plants and supports accelerating a government loan program to help speed the efforts.

Just as important, Chu is in favor of finding new ways to process and safely handle spent nuclear fuel. "I think [nuclear fuel] recycling can be part of the solution," he told the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. "This is a research problem."

Current U.S. solutions for nuclear-waste disposal involve "dry-cask storage," a method where waste is sealed in high-tech containers kept at nuclear plants. Other countries such as Japan and France reuse spent nuclear fuel. France gets almost 80 percent of its electricity from nuclear energy. Nuclear power produces about one-fifth of U.S. electricity.

The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that demand for electricity will increase 50 percent over the next 20 years. America will need to build between 1,300 and 1,900 new power plants by 2020, which will require exploration of the pros and cons of all sources of power, including the latest nuclear technology.

According to Entergy, a company actively working to develop policies that address global climate change, nuclear energy is the only available method for generating large-scale volumes of electricity without emitting any greenhouse gases, air pollutants or precursors of acid rain.

The company has stated a goal of reducing its own carbon emission to 20 percent below its 2000 level by the end of this decade. As more companies follow suit, America is expected to join countries around the world, including England and Canada, as it looks to nuclear power for clean, safe energy.

Renewable Energy Solutions: Topics covered in this guide include how to construct a wind generator, discover everything you need to know about solar panels and how to install them, and how to create biodiesel fuel yourself.

Make Natural Power: Reduce your energy bill with materials you probably already have at home! Guide includes instructions for building your own solar panels and wind turbine.

Earth4Energy: Everything you need to know about producing your own electricity by using wind and solar power. Complete, step-by-step illustrated manual enables you to create your own renewable energy solutions.