From Green Right Now Reports

PECO, FirstEnergy and PPL Utilities are working together on an environmental project that will help Pennsylvania residents lower their energy usage — and get rid of clunker appliances.

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The EPA says homes use half the water in the U.S.

By Kate Nolan
Green Right Now

If you want to save something, try water. It’s going fast. Depletion of the U.S. water supply isn’t something you can argue about. It’s visible, measurable and predictable. Since 2005, every U.S. region has been short on water, and use increases annually. Even New York City has experienced drought in recent years.

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From Green Right Now Reports

Get your pipe fittings ready, next week is Fix a Leak week, starting March 15.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsors the annual five-day blitz to promote repair of leaks and replacing appliances with those that have WaterSense labels, the EPA’s designation for low water use products. Did you even know that some faucets are engineering to use less water without a reduction in flow. That’s how they get the WaterSense label, and you can find products and models at the WaterSense website.

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Editor’s note: This is the first of a periodic guide series called “What You Need to Know.” These stories will give you a quick overview of key topics related to sustainable living.

By Bill Sullivan
Green Right Now

For most folks, the arrival of the electric bill is not among the month’s highlight moments. Even families who work on conserving energy by turning off lights, unplugging appliances and easing up on heating and cooling, can only do so much. Ultimately, it’s still pretty expensive to keep a household adequately powered up.

How can we avoid sending so much of our monthly income to the local utility company? There are plenty of options, each of which has its good and bad aspects.

Here’s a look at some ways you can take powering your home into your own hands:

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

As you get ready for the annual war on weeds in your front lawn this spring, you can choose to load up on conventional weed-and-feed and launch a chemical offensive, or you can call the local lawn service to begin the assault on your behalf.

Clean Air truck with solar panels charging lawn mowers (Photo: Clean Air Lawn Care.)

Or…you can skip the harsh chemicals and the usual services and find an organic lawn service.

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Green Right Now Reports

A new Harris Poll finds that Americans are still acting cautiously when it comes to weathering the sour economy.

And some of the money-saving steps they are taking qualify as green behaviors, though whether or not this has been intentional was not addressed in the poll of 2,576 adults surveyed online between January 18 and 25, 2010 by Harris Interactive.

The poll found, for instance, that:

• 34 percent of Americans polled said they had switched to using refillable water bottles instead of purchasing pre-bottled water.

• 22 percent said they had cut down on dry cleaning

• 14 percent said they had begun carpooling or using mass transit

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By Bill Sullivan
Green Right Now

A sudden cold snap created a spike in consumption. Christmas lights were fun at the time, but they, too, kept that meter running. Kids routinely leave electronics on, even when they’re not in the room.

Advanced Metering System

Sure, you try to do all those little things that, in a perfect world, can help keep cost and environmental impact down. Unfortunately, this is not a perfect world, and a big number on that electric bill each month can come as a shock to both the system and the budget.

But what if your world was just a little more perfect? What if you could log on to your computer and check consumption down to, say, a 15-minute period? What if you could figure out that your teenager is running the TV, stereo, a game player (or two) and every light in his room — all despite the fact that he’s spending the night at a friend’s house?

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From Green Right Now Reports

While the rest of America has seen plenty of video footage of drenching rains in Southern California, at least some state officials are seeking a long-term solution to assuring water remains plentiful in the Southland. At a congressional hearing earlier this week, water authorities insisted that the problems of farms and cities across the state will not be solved by the occasional freak storm.

“A couple of days of rain are certainly a nice relief, but they are a reflection of weather impacted by variable ocean conditions and are not the long-term solutions to addressing the issues that underlie our water dilemma,” said Rep. Grace Napolitano, D-Santa Fe Springs, who held the hearing.

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From Green Right Now Reports

The modern consumer’s penchant for buying the latest electronic gadget has certainly contributed mountains to landfills worldwide and led to other ecological sins, from chemical leaching to demand-driven, warp-speed obsolescence of products.

But the electronics industry once again showcased several eco-conscious items at the recent Consumer Electronics Association tradeshow. Aside from lower energy TVs, the newbie offerings foretell of a world where we will control the power we use, much like we control personal electronics now, but with more precision and far less waste.

Here’s a look at some of the most intriguing green offerings:

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Got a refrigerator that’s not so chillin’ anymore? A washer that’s approaching its last spin? When that appliance goes kaput, or maybe beforehand, you’ll want to check out your state’s federally funded appliance rebate program.

Energy Star Front Load Washer by Whirlpool

That’s right, you may be able to get a federal kickback, courtesy of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, just for replacing that old appliance with a new Energy Star one. But you’ll have to check your state’s guidelines.

Under the $300 million U.S. Department of Energy appliance rebate program, each state was

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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

One thing we’ve learned in 2009 is that you can’t wait for big institutions to take the green lead. For every green entrepreneur, there’s a climate change heel-dragger. We’re thinking of Copenhagen, Congress and entrenched fossil fuel interests.

You can, however, do what you can.

And in that spirit, here are 11 ways to lower your carbon footprint this New Year. Adopting even one of them can help reduce the pollution that’s leading to dire consequences. And while some New Year’s resolutions are hard, and cost you money (gym fees aren’t going down you know), these resolutions are likely to save you money, reduce your exposure to toxins and help you lead a healthier life. We’ve included only those ideas that really make a big impact, and scuttled those that we consider to be “boutique green” — those non-starter nice ideas that matter, but just a little bit.

To help make this list something you can really use, we’ve included some nifty online tools that can help you find a greener track in 2010.

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As people try to shift to using compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs, one of the challenges is that the common screw-shaped design is less aesthetically pleasing and harsher than a typical incandescent, glass bulb. There have been a few attempts to disguise the CFL within a bulb-like cover but now GE is announcing a CFL that the company says comes much closer to replicating the classic light bulb we’re all familiar with.

Using miniaturized electronics developed by GE Consumer & Industrial engineers and scientists, the company says its exclusive new design — protected under more than a dozen U.S. patent applications — is practically identical to a standard incandescent light bulb. The GE Energy Smart CFL bulb features a spiral CFL inside the glass bulb and the electronics housed in the neck of the bulb. GE says the new bulb is Energy Star qualified.

GE says the new bulb will help with certain fixtures were made with the traditional shape in mind. For example, many small lamps use a clip on shade that can’t easily accommodate a corkscrew–shaped CFL.

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