All Blog Posts Tagged 'energy' (6)

Learn about these top 10 energy wasters and savers. Compact Fluorescent Lighting One of the easiest things you can do is to change your light bulbs. It’s best to switch out incandescent bulbs with CFLs in areas that are lit for extended periods of time, typically two hours or longer. Switching a CFL on and off too frequently will shorten its life. CFLs are four times more efficient (using 50 to 80 percent less energy) and last up to 10 times longer than typical incandescents, which hav… Continue

Plan for performance as well as looks when making homes glow High-performance lighting - lighting that's efficient and relates well to the design of the house - helps make homes look better, helps with visual tasks and also can reduce the home's energy use. However, don't expect t… Continue

I'm going off the conservation subdivison topic today. Wind turbines provide one possible funding source for landowners looking for ways to conserve land that also offer a monetary benefit. And wind energy is important to our energy independence. But wind turbines can be really ugly on a rural landscape. In the article “Wind turbines are green, but their design blows”, Detroit Fr… Continue

May 5, 2009 - Homeowners now can claim up to $1,500 in expanded energy-efficiency tax credits for remodeling their principal residence to reduce energy consumption. Available until the end of 2010, the revamped Existing Home Retrofit (25C) Tax Credit helps consumers save two ways: on their costs and on their utility bills. “Remodelers can help find the best methods of saving energy in your home with an assessment, like a home energy audit,” explained NAHB Remodelers Chairman Greg Miedema, CGR,… Continue

I am obsessed with the concept of sustainable energy. It is so Northern. Inherent in harnessing the wind and storing the sun’s energy is a self-reliant, DIY attitude that agrees with the way we live up here. Of course, we wood-burning Northerners have long loved the feeling of controlling our own energy destiny—if only long enough to toast marshmallows around a bonfire. Which brings me to my wood-burning hot tub. It was invented by students at the University Alaska—not Northern Michigan, true,… Continue

I am excited by the notion that we may be entering an era where we truly regard our fellow Americans as brothers and sisters, one in which we are willing to unite to address issues that affect all of us, one that looks and behaves like a national village. It goes without saying that we are concerned as a nation about the economy. If you’re like me you are ready to act and you guess that there are others out there who are also ready to start acting locally towards making a difference. If the ans… Continue