Years ago, I had heard that shutting down your computer and then booting it up again takes up so much energy that it made more sense, from a green standpoint, to leave it running.  People also claimed that shutting down and rebooting  wears out the power switch, drive motors, and other computer components at a quicker rate.... read more

Earth2Tech just did a great review of a surprisingly simple, but original initiative surrounding solar installation. The initiative is called 1BOG and hopes to use the power of community bargaining to bring down the price of residential solar. This initiative, cooked in that communal hot bed of San Francisco, is taking collective bargaining from the union hall to a neighbor near you.... read more

When shopping for new appliances or electronics, you might see this logo on the box:

But what does the Energy Star certification actually mean?

A little background:  Energy Star was created by the EPA in 1992.  Since then, Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Taiwan, and the European Union also have the Energy Star certification.  The EPA now estimates that it saved about $19 billion in energy costs in 2008 alone due to Energy Star products AND avoided greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from 29 million cars. WOW!  That is impressive! 

From computers to refrigerators, you can get all sorts of Energy Star electronics.   An Energy Star product will also help keep your electric bills down.  When we replaced our old fridge that was already in the house we bought (the fridge wasn't quite of the avocado green era, but the handles did have fake wood paneling!) our electric bill went down significantly on a monthly basis. 

Usually, when you shop for an Energy Star product, they'll have one of those yellow tags on it telling you how much money you can save by using an Energy Star product.... read more