It’s that time of year again when the Christmas tree lights come out of storage and houses all across America are aglow with festive decorative lighting. This year with advances in LED lighting I wondered how much energy could be saved using LED decorating. **Note: This post sparked some debate so I have edited it [...]

We have been using the Berkeley Institute of the Environment carbon footprint calculator to track our average ecological impact and our progress is shown below. When we started tracking our carbon footprint back in March 2009 we assessed that our household produced a shocking 68 tons of CO2 per year, this is equivalent to 158 [...]

#1 Wind turbines silently turn as the sun sets on the first full day of Spring. http://www.flickr.com/photos/flidais/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Did you know that a whopping 46 percent of home energy use is actually energy loss! In other words, there is no productive energy use at all! Here are 10 simple ways of reversing this energy lose, by changing some old habit and starting some new ones! Check out this list, these are some very [...]

After several years of debating this issue with my wife, I finally searched the web for answers. Not that I need to prove my side, because once again, I think I am right, but to prove my point, I needed some supporting facts. So, here goes: Are ceiling fans worth buying and running and do [...]

I’m on a quest to stop “Phantom Power Loss” in our home and become a smart electric saver! You may well ask, what is “Phantom Power Loss”, so here goes… Every household appliance uses electricity even when not in use, the biggest consumers are items like televisions and satellite or cable boxes. Electricity consumed by [...]

My husband and I have taken quite a few bike rides in the fall and spring; cruising the many biking trails available in the area.  While riding we typically listen to our iPods, kind of a serenade along the trail.  Last time we were out, about 10 minutes into the ride, my iPod went dead. [...]

Hi, I’m  Jim, a new contributor to Our Everyday Earth. This picture of me is included to show an unfortunately unforgettable example just how practical the strategies described in future posts to this column will be.  Real Problem ~ Solution stuff. “P ~ S” In this case, the problem  was my fear of Sharks.  My [...]

image by dominicspics Our recent poll showed that while most people have already started implementing green technology like CFL and LED bulbs very few have been able to start using Solar Power systems. The main reasons people avoid installing a solar panel system seem to be; 1/ Solar Panels are Ugly! (To Some People) Many communities will [...]