Posts by Category : Green Tips

Some of America’s most historic buildings are being retrofitted to become the most energy efficient and sustainable buildings in the country. New York’s iconic Empire State Building recently insulated 6,514 windows by adding a layer of energy management film between re-conditioned window panes. A California based company, Serious Materials, was able to transform 90% of the building’s existing windows just through retrofitting.

Window films can be the ideal choice for retrofitting older commercial buildings by helping to balance energy savings

How do we expose a generation brought up on video games and sophisticated special effects to a home of the future that is optimistic, eco-friendly and viable? We can look to the past to see how well our parents predicted homes of the future.

A syndicated news article released in 1954 extolled the  virtues of the “house of the future,” featuring such oddities as nickel size gas burners, refrigerators that preserved food through gamma radiation instead of cold temperature, wireless electric

Organically grown vegetables or exotics like orchids can be produced year round by gardeners willing to make a minimal investment in a backyard greenhouse.  Innovative do-it-yourselfers can use salvaged materials combined with cutting edge solar films to produce tomatoes, squash, herbs and greens, even during the winter months. It is remarkable how a small space can reap big benefits.

Some of the most aesthetically pleasing greenhouses can be built by acquiring discarded French doors and windows from salvage yards. 

“So what is the problem with carbon dioxide? We exhale it all the time?” You have probably heard these phrases over and over again. It’s certainly true that humans and animals exhale CO2 into the atmosphere constantly and plants use carbon dioxide in the photosynthesis process. The problem occurs when other environmental conflicts combine to raise CO2 to dangerously high levels. Carbon dioxide does not dissipate quickly enough to offset its’ rise in our atmosphere. Excessive amounts of CO2 is

It is the architecture of universities which often defines their presence within a community, reflecting leadership in thought and progressive ideology. Many universities are leading the way to showcase buildings which promote energy efficiency and conservation of resources while still providing stunning architectural detail. The days of  staid and stuffy campus structures covered in ivy are falling away to updated versions which more closely reflect our times.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) was developed by the U.S.

We talk a lot about energy efficiency and ways to save energy, but what about ways to save our human energy? While there are many ways to save our own energy one of the most fruitful ways is through good time management.  In the broadest sense, managing our time wisely not only helps us to prioritize where and when our energy is going to be spent but also actually can decrease our carbon footprint.

Just as our home, business and

When Warren Buffet takes interest, so does much of the financial world. Mid-American Energy is a Berkshire Hathaway company, of which Buffet is the CEO. Buffet revealed his growing interest in securing long term investment in renewable energy through the Hathaway owned, Mid-American Energy. Mid-American has ventured into this industry in the past, but they just announced their purchase of Sun Power, primarily based on two future solar projects yet to be built.

Sun Power is a French owned company.

There is a lot of talk about replacing fossil fuel use with other forms of renewable energy. The discussion, though worthy of discourse, has become somewhat simplistic in the process. Fossil fuels out today and wind power in tomorrow; fossil fuels out today and solar panels in tomorrow. Of course, if the answers were that simple, we wouldn’t need so much discussion, would we?

Unfortunately, these conversations become cloaked in politics and partisan points of view. There are few sources that

The concept of “eco-tourism” has evolved into sustainable tourism. There are ways today to be a responsible tourist by helping to alleviate the stress on our planet’s remaining biological habitats and unique cultures. Sustainable tourism is really an equal relationship between those that manage destinations like hotels and those of us that go to visit them.

In the early 1980’s, the concept of “eco-tourism” was introduced. This term generally refers to travel in fragile or pristine habitats, where a small human

These ideas have been around for awhile now but it is surprising how many of us don’t practice them. All have been proven to save real dollars. True, this type of savings is measured in hundreds and not thousands. Considering these are free or very low cost tips, no one can scoff at a few hundred dollars these days.  If we all did them, these small changes would go a long way towards healing our planet.

Here in North America it’s