See how caring, clever Americans save energy and $$ at home and on the road
Doing your own green project? We want your story 
Electrical independence on 2Kw of Solar
Project started on
January 1, 2007
Moving into our Central Coast of CA home in November of 2006, we did not have a history of energy use in this property. Coming from San Diego, with milder winters, a 1500 sq ft house, and gas appliances, to a 1900 ft house with electric appliances and a lot of high wattage recessed lighting throughout, we weren't sure how much energy we'd consume. Our ... more >>
Average Rating
5 bulbs (2 votes)
I live in Los Angeles and I prefer the ugly one! Please don’t get me wrong, my wife is very beautiful, but when it comes to solar power, I prefer the ugly one. Let me explain, for the past few years there has been huge interest in Solar Electricity (photovoltaic’s, PV, or solar panels), there are lots of incentives at both a state and federal level, ... more >>
Recycling, Composting and Reducing Garbage
Project started on
September 19, 2007
Projected Savings
Saving about $150 each year because we canceled our garbage service!
We got recycling bins for plastic, glass, cardboard and paper, and metal. We also got a compost bin. We canceled our garbage pickup, that's right canceled it! We haven't looked back since. We recycle and compost about 85% of all the waste we produce, so the small amount of garbage that is left over (generally one small bag per month) is just put into the ... more >>
GreenStar PC
Project started on
February 2, 2008
Projected Savings
The GreenStar Lite desktop PC saves about $5/month and $200 over the life of the computer. This translates into about 6000 less pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere every year, vs a traditional computer. The GS Lite Computer actually uses less electricity than a standard 60W light bulb.
We replaced our home computer and CRT monitor with an RoHS compliant, ENERGY STAR Approved GS Lite Computer and LCD monitor from GreenStar PCs. It saves us at least $5 each month on our energy bill and also came with a 2 ton carbon offset. more >>
Switch to CFL from Incandescent
Project started on
July 29, 2006
Projected Savings
Started out losing money, because the house came with incandescent lights throughout and we had to replace them all with CFLs. And since we didn't even wait to see what our energy bill would have looked like without them we don't know what the saving are. However, since CFLs use at most 1/3 of the energy that an incandescent does, we are probably saving around 4-6 dollars/month.
Swapped all incandescent bulbs in the house with CFLs. more >>