Clean Energy
Solar Power Rocks (solarpowerrocks.com/minnesota) estimates that you can cover 50% of your electricity needs on a 400 sq ft roof and increase your property value by over $6,000 by installing solar photovoltaic panels. A solar hot water heater is significantly cheaper, just under $3,000 after rebates according to Solar Minnesota (solarminnesota.org). Solar hot water can reduce your hot water bill by 80%.

Your neighborhood, school, or place of worship can start a clean energy project with the help of Metro Clean Energy Resource Teams, or CERTs (cleanenergyresourceteams.org). CERTs will help connect you to resources, education, and volunteers to help launch your project, or set you up with a group already at work. One example is the Southeast Como Neighborhood Solar Thermal Project, where neighbors teamed together to receive a bulk discount on solar panels. More...

On a recent trip to the supermarket, my wife brought home a new detergent for the dishwashing machine. We both responded favorably to the “Eco” labeling on the soap, which indicated that it did not include phosphorous.

Increases in phosphorous in waterways can cause harmful algae blooms, so finding an opportunity to cut back can be a good thing. Unfortunately, the good feelings of reducing our impact on the water system faded with each new load of dishes. The soap left a lot of filmy residue, and more importantly failed to remove the food particles we wanted to wash off.

To get them clean, we had to run the dishes through a second cycle, which obviously brings us to the point of THIS SPACE: how to save electricity and keep a few more dollars in your bank account. More...

In my job I attend a lot of community events to share the same energy conservation message THIS SPACE is dedicated to: simple steps can cut your electricity use and keep a few extra bucks in your pocket.

One of the best and easiest options is to switch from incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs. They use about a third of the electricity and last up to 10 years, which can save as much as $33 in energy costs over the life of the bulb. More...

After the trick or treaters have retired and brushed their teeth, your neighborhood continues to be home to little vampires. Chargers, TVs, computers and other electronics on standby suck energy without a purpose, but at a cost. Good Magazine estimates that a plasma TV in active standby costs an average $160 per year. Use Halloween as a reminder to unplug electronics on this list and give copies to neighbors.

Next, we look forward to carving this CFL shaped pumpkin from Ready Made Magazine, an especially important reminder as upcoming Daylight Savings Time means earlier nightfall. Go ecomaniac and light your pumpkin with an LED. (Image: Flickr/oskay) More...

Personal behavior change is so subtle you don’t see it happening, and can forget how far you’ve come. There are thousands of tips for reducing your impact and living the green and good life, but realizing which you are really doing and what that means can be difficult to pin down. Your efforts deserve to be recognized, monitored, and charted over time.

Here’s how to start your own sustainability journal, which you can use to set goals and to look back on as you change your lifestyle. We'll bring you more features weekly, including printable guides to a home waste audit, travel diary, games for kids and a home energy analyzer, all from our green living guides. I’ll also be doing this all myself, and roping in guests from the EcoMetro staff and friends, so we can both gripe and high-five together. Ready? Read on... More...

I’ve been looking to replace the flood light in my small backyard because it makes a loud annoying buzz and puts out a cold unwelcoming light. I suppose these are not bad qualities to keep burglars away, but I’ve wanted something a bit quieter and warmer, while of course making an environmentally conscious purchase.

So I started checking out floodlights powered by their own little photovoltaic cells. I was surprised to find a pretty wide selection. SmartHome.com and SolarHome.org were two of the sites I spent some time on comparing features and prices. Both sites are pretty cluttered and a bit tough to navigate, but while SmartHome has better product information, SolarHome (as the name would imply) has a broader product selection. More...

Electronic gadgets fill our days. At work, I typically carry a pager, a work cell phone and my personal cell phone. And at some point all those devices need to be charged.

Obviously, that uses electricity. What many of us don’t recognize that once our favorite devices are done charging and we unplug them for use, the charger is still drawing electricity from the wall socket. Electricity is being thrown away, just like a leaky faucet wastes water. More...

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From the press release:
Big Need, Small Solution? Nanotechnology and Alternative Energy

Climate change concerns, rising energy costs, and dwindling natural resources are causing people everywhere to take a closer look at the relationship between human activity and our environment. The emerging field of nanotechnology presents great promise to address these issues, but it carries a great deal of uncertainty — and perhaps its own environmental risks. More...

A planet-friendly trend appears to be taking off around some new thinking in how we use energy.

There are many activities from manufacturing steel to storing data on computer servers that require significant electricity or other power and generate heat as a byproduct. Until recently, much of that heat was considered a problem to get rid of. Data centers use air conditioning to cool server rooms and the furnaces of a steel plant are vented after melting the metal. Now, some organizations are recognizing how that heat can be put to additional use. More...

On Earth Day, the Seattle Mariners are set to host the first carbon-neutral baseball game in major league history.

The Mariners are working with Seattle City Light-- and the utility’s Green Up program to power Safeco Field with wind energy all day April 22. Additionally, the team is purchasing carbon offsets for all its travel and operations that day while also promoting waste reduction and recycling. More...