Not everyone can afford to pay the freight for one of those new electric cars hitting the market this year. Others may be leery of the long-term viability of hybrids. What to do if you’re driving a conventional gasoline-powered car and still want to help the environment? Maintaining your vehicle’s fuel system can improve performance, lower emissions and save you money, too.

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Getting back to the back-to-school routine may be a pain for parents and students, but the family members most upset with the change may be the dog and cat.
All that attention and time and playing and going outside whenever he or she liked is yanked away and your pet may be very lonely and stressed by the change.
Their solution? Pee on the carpet or poop on the fancy rug. The unspoken message: That’ll show you not to leave me alone.
Now you’re searching for a stain- and odor-removing cleaner with safe, natural ingredients that pose no chemical threat to pets or people. Whether in the store or online, you’ll find many cleaners labeled “natural” or “eco-friendly” or “green,” but don’t always believe what you read.

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OK, so you’ve done the environmentally correct thing and replaced most of your incandescent bulbs with CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Lightbulbs).
CFLs use less electricity and as a result, reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In an average home, lighting accounts for about a fifth of the electric bill. Because CFLs use about 75 percent less electricity than incandescent light bulbs — and last about 10 times longer, it just makes sense to switch.

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If you are dutifully recycling as much as possible, and your neighbor isn’t, you obviously aren’t getting the same share of trash collection bang for your tax buck. That inequity – not to mention overflowing landfills – is causing some communities to give their not-so-green members a not-so-gentle nudge in the right direction. The solution is “trash metering,” requiring residents to pay by the bag for curbside collection.

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Ready to banish the plastic water bottle? You can choose to drink water straight from the tap, which the federal government says is largely safe, or you can filter that tap water for contaminants and chemicals, and to freshen the taste.
If you choose to filter you be joining an apparent migration away from disposable bottled water to more efficient home filtering. The estimated revenue for the water-filter pitcher/carafe market last year was $183 million (excluding Walmart), a 24 percent growth rate since 2005, according to one research group.
There are at least a dozen systems to choose from, starting with market-leader Brita (owned by Clorox), which has dominated the water-filter pitcher market in the U.S. for years, and including number two seller, PUR, and an array of other big and boutique brands. All offer a variety of styles, safeguards, bells and whistles.
Here are the highlights of 12 brands on the market:

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Line drying the clothes. How did this become such a radical idea? Just 50 years ago, it was the norm.
Then everyone got electric dryers, and we burned more coal to run them. But now that we’re enlightened about that, we’re heading to the backyard, the basement or the patio with a basket of wet clothes.
Re-adopting the ways of past generations is energy efficient — and it’s easy to get the hang of.

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According to a recent survey, 59 percent of Americans considered green alternatives for their home improvement projects in the last quarter, with window energy efficiency a runaway leader when it came to the final decision. ServiceMagic’s Q2 Home Remodeling and Repair Index reported an 81 percent increase in window upgrades from the same quarter in 2009.

The survey compiled data from 1.6 million service requests received through ServiceMagic’s online marketplace from May to July of this year, as well as results from a survey of over 1,200 homeowners and 500 service professionals conducted in July 2010.

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We tell our children to turn off the tap while they’re brushing their teeth. Which is a good idea. It saves a little water and gets them thinking about natural resources.
But then we grown-ups clomp across the room and use three gallons of clean potable water to flush the toilet. And we do this repeatedly, throughout the day.

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This year is well on its way to becoming the hottest year the world has seen since scientists began record-keeping in 1880. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the rising worldwide temperatures are responsible for erratic weather – including severe droughts and heat waves.
What does this mean for your lawn and trees? Two experts from Cornell University have some advice that may surprise you.

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A new beverage industry study found that 94 percent of Americans are concerned about the long-term effects that their packaged beverage purchases and consumption have on the environment. The study also shows that environmental concerns are driving down the consumption of bottled water.

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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — Everything from cell phones to digital music players rely on batteries these days and what consumers do with those batteries when they are no good anymore, can make a big difference. San Francisco is considered a leader when it comes to recycling just about anything. Now a nationwide push is underway to get the rest of the country to catch up:

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The world’s foremost experts on storm and surface-water quality will convene in San Antonio Aug. 2–5 to explore the newest water pollution prevention and mitigation technologies, share experiences and discuss which strategies are most effective in minimizing surface water pollution.

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