Four Ways to Help Your Car Last

The current state of the economy seems to be benefiting those in the market for a new car in a major way. Dealerships are opening their doors to all shoppers even mildly interested in a new vehicle, and are doing their best to move cars off of their over-stuffed lots. It almost makes me wish I was looking to buy right now, because there are some great deals.

Consumer Reports has recently posted a helpful list on How to Keep Your Car in Top Condition. So, whether you just bought a new car or you're trying to keep your current one driving, some of these might help add some extra miles.

• Browse the owner's manual for some kind of maintenance schedule. Make a calendar for things like tire rotations, fluids and oil changes.
• If you hear a new noise when turning, braking or accelerating, don't write it off. Find out what's causing it.
• Check your car's fluid levels once a month.
• Once a month check the air pressure in each tire, as well as the spare.

To read more about keeping your car in better condition, check out ConsumerReports.

Cash for Clunkers Part 2: Home Appliances

Home appliances are some of the bigger energy wasters that we have. Though they are mostly necessary and good at making our lives more efficient, they also excel at being inefficient with energy, especially when they are older.

Recently, the government sponsored a Cash for Clunkers program which rewarded consumers for trading in their old automobiles in exchange for newer, more fuel efficient ones. Well, it seems that a similar program is on the way for our home appliances. CNET reports that a representative of the Department of Energy has announced that $300 million of the economic stimulus plan is being portioned out to states to offer rebates on Energy Star appliances, to encourage more energy efficiency around the house. All states are expected to participate, and have until October to apply for their funds as a part of this program. The appliances that will be eligible will be A/C units, heaters, water heaters, refrigerators, freezers, dishwashers, heaters and more.

For someone like me who is in the process of buying and furnishing a house, this is definitely a piece of good news. To read more about the home appliance rebate program and find out the status of state participants, visit the U.S. Department of Energy.

Hurricane Season: Have You Prepared?

Even though it's been a relatively quiet hurricane season thus far in 2009, those pesky and devastating storms are most active between the months of August and October. Since it's been so calm this year, I honestly keep forgetting we're right in the thick of it, but it could just as easily pick up in activity since the pinnacle of the season is from early to mid-September. If this happens, are you prepared?

If there's anybody that knows a thing or two about being ready for hurricanes, it's Floridians. So if you're uncertain of how to stock your home, the Sun-Sentinel of Florida has a hurricane supply guide with some links to increase your hurricane preparedness. The list covers first aid, supplies and food and water. In particular, the list of non-perishables food items you can buy well in advance is handy.

To read more about what you will need for the rest of hurricane season, be sure to visit the Sun-Sentinel. Besides, it's good to have some of this stuff around the home in general.

Fast-Food Restaurants Finding New Ways to Boost Energy Efficiency

Sure, fast-food restaurants aren’t exactly the darling of the green movement, but that isn’t stopping some of them from looking for clever ways to reduce energy composition and save some money in the process. The New York Times’ Green Inc. recently posted an article about Current Energy, a company that’s helping restaurants find innovate solutions to cut down on wasted energy.

Bassam Odeh, who runs 34 restaurants in Texas and Louisiana, has just installed a Current Energy system that alerts him with a text message whenever his employees leave the door to a freezer or walk-in refrigerator open. A remarkable success, the system has already slashed his electricity bill by 10 to 20 percent.

Current Energy also recently installed a system at a pizza joint that helps cut down on natural gas consumption. Before the system was installed, it was common for all three of the restaurant’s pizza ovens to be up and running, regardless of how busy it was. By monitoring the amount of people in the restaurant, and turning two of the ovens off and on based on occupancy, the system has already cut the restaurant’s natural gas bill in half.

On the energy creation side of the equation, CNET has reported that a New Jersey Burger King franchise is planning on installing a kinetic-energy capturing device in its drive-through. Essentially a speed bump that captures energy wasted when cars are braking, the system will harvest electricity for the restaurant in a similar manner to that of hybrid cars. With more than 150,000 cars a year rolling through the Hillside restaurant, that’s a lot of potential energy. The company that makes the device, New Energy Technologies, is planning on installing them in toll booths, checkpoints and other heavy traffic spots—so be on the lookout for one in your neck of the woods.

Chances are you don’t have a drive-through window, a walk-in refrigerator or three full-scale pizza ovens at your house, but these stories illustrate some tried-and-true green concepts that apply to everyone: don’t use what you don’t need and keep looking for new ways to harvest energy.

Introducing: The Energy Allowance

One of my best summers as a kid was the year that I started getting an allowance. Sure, it was only a few bucks a week, but suddenly having some money to spend on candy, soda and comic books was like a whole new world for me. Obviously, I had to work to get the money, but it was life-changing at the time to receive it, even if it meant doing chores.

Apparently, there is a way to give kids an allowance and teach them about active energy efficiency. Energy Circle is offering a way for you to provide the kids with a monthly allowance based on how much energy they help the family save around the house. It provides some easy-to-use tools for parents, so that kids can monitor their monthly progress and help save on the electricity bill. After that, they share in a percentage of the savings.

This seems like a win-win situation for parents out there. Not only does it teach kids about energy efficiency, it gives them a way to participate in it and see the benefits in a tangible way. To read more, be sure to visit EnergyCircle.

Getting the Most out of the Fridge and Freezer

Even though we are kind enough to provide food and shelter for our household appliances, sometimes they can be greedy and unappreciative, draining precious energy as quickly as taking money out of our wallets. While there are several appliances that act as energy hogs, it's no secret that the refrigerator and freezer are two of the bigger offenders.

The Simple Dollar recently posted an article that gives 7 Ways to Maximize the Value of Your Refrigerator and Freezer. Apparently, there are a few really easy things that everyone can do to start saving money and energy almost immediately. For instance, did you know that moving the fridge away from the wall by just a couple of inches can make it up to 40% more efficient? Likewise, filling your freezer with jugs of frozen water reduces the amount of time that it has to run.

Following some of these steps can lead to some quick savings. To read more about maximizing the value of the fridge and freezer, visit The Simple Dollar.

Downloaded Music Radically Greener Than CDs

Music fans looking for the greenest way to get their tunes now have an answer. The New York Times’ Green Inc. recently ran a piece focusing on the results of a study aimed at calculating the emissions impact of buying music in digital form, instead of CDs.

It should come as no surprise that CDs, with the manufacturing and transportation needed to get them to your house, end up with a much larger carbon footprint than purely digital music. In fact, when someone downloads an album instead of going to a store and buying the CD, they can cut carbon emissions related to acquiring that album by about 80 percent.

Thanks to this study, we now know for sure that downloading an album is a much more environmentally-friendly way of getting music than old-school CDs. But, what I really want to know is which is greener: an iPod or a CD player?

AT&T Executives Rappel Down High-Rise

As part of their support of the Xtreme Descent 2009 fundraiser for a local Boy Scout council, AT&T executives rappelled down the tallest building in Manchester, NH this past weekend.More than 80 participants took the 24-story plunge, each donating a minimum of $1000 for the scouts. That works out to about $41 per floor.

Before each participant stepped off of the building, AT&T offered them a choice of three “lifelines”: a phone call, a text message or an e-mail. Company representatives also filmed mobile video of everyone’s descent to share with friends and family.

This is a really cool way to raise money for a worthy cause, and with more than 80 people raising $1000 or more each, it seems to have been a major success.

Back-to-School Shopping Tips

It’s that time of year again, when children everywhere start counting down their last days of freedom and parents get ready to outfit them for another year of school. Here are some quick tips to save money this year:

• Bring a list – It may sound obvious, but make sure you bring along a list of all of the required school supplies and all of the clothing your kids need.
• Stick to the list – Back-to-school-shopping is already expensive enough, don’t make it more painful with impulse items.
• Leave the kids at home – What your children don’t know they’re missing won’t hurt them.
• Shop tax-free – Check to see if your state has a tax-free weekend, if it does you can save a bundle on supplies, clothes and expensive items like laptops.
• Don’t skimp on the important things – Going cheap on bigger-ticket items may be tempting, but there’s no point in buying a inexpensive backpack that you’re going to have to replace in a month.
• Don’t shop at just one store – It may be handy to get everything on your list from calculators to clothing under one roof, but you might be missing out on some great deals, so shop around.
• Check what you already have – You may be surprised at how many things are lurking in your kid’s desks and old backpacks.
• Shop late – Stores mark down lots of school supplies as soon as school starts, so see if you can wait it out or just stop in after your regular shopping to get enough refills for the year at a deep discount.

How to Slay Your Energy Vampire

Is your home infested with energy vampires? You know, those pesky plugged in appliances that suck energy even though they are turned off. Well if your answer is yes, then I've got a solution that will banish those energy draining vampires for good and lower your energy usage.

It's as easy as unplugging unused appliances and getting some up-to-date power strips. Doing those two simple things can save you money on your monthly electric bill.

Now I know some of you already use power strips, and that's great, but do you have the fancy new smart power strips that are out on the market? Some of these new power strips will automatically cut power to everything you have plugged into it when you turn off one designated item. Another power strip has a motion sensor that will turn itself on when you walk by.

Sure these new power strips will cost a little more but in the long run they will cut your energy usage and lower your energy bill. To read more about how you can slay your energy vampire, visit EnergyCircle.