Faith-based activism is certainly in vogue these days so it should be no surprise that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced last week that houses of worship can now earn the Energy Star label.

There are an estimated 370,000 houses of worship across the United States which now can use Portfolio Manager to receive an energy performance rating, and the most energy efficient among them can earn the Energy Star label.

According to the US EPA website, most congregations can cut energy costs by up to 30% just by investing strategically in efficient equipment, facility upgrades and maintenance.  Worship facilities in the United States spend more than $3 billion annually on energy costs. Improving the energy efficiency of America’s houses of worship by just 10 percent would save nearly 2 billion kilowatt-hours each year, preventing more than 1 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions and representing a cost savings of about $315 million annually.

US EPA says that if America’s more than 300,000 houses of worship cut energy use by 10 percent nearly $200 million would be saved for congregations’ missions and other priorities. Think that’s all? They also say that more than 5.4 billion kWh of electricity would be available without additional cost and pollution and if that were not enough, more than 2 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions would be prevented, equivalent to the emissions of about 400,000 cars, or to planting over a half million acres of trees.

Don’t waste another minute reaching out to your house of worship and helping reduce the congregation’s carbon footprint. US EPA has a guide to help members work with their church, synagogue, mosque or any other religious building. With your help, your congregation could be the next to be awarded the Energy Star Congregation label and would be well on your way to reducing greenhouse gases.

Today we give a shout out to eco-friendly taxi services. Everyday hundreds of thousands of people use taxi services to get around America’s cities. More often than not, those rides are for just one person. Certainly this is not the most environmentally conscious way to travel and it’s not the most economically savvy method either. But fear not, there is a new website that  can make you at least feel better about your taxi use – at least if you are hailing one in New York!

CabCorner.com is a new website which helps you find people to share a cab which will either get you both to your same destination or help you share a ride which will reduce your overall cab fare. Currently, they are only in New York City, but their site says that they are coming soon to Washington, DC, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. What could be easier than planning a bit ahead, letting the database know where you are headed and finding someone to split the cost with you – all in the name of reducing your carbon footprint and saving a few bucks? This site is simple to navigate and even allows you to decide the sex of your traveling companions. Brilliant, I think!

The only thing that could be better for local for-hire transportation is to hail a hybrid. Eco-friendly cab services are popping up all over the country. Numerous cities nationwide are turning over their taxi fleets to hybrid vehicles making it easier for residents and tourists to hail more energy efficient vehicles every day. Even in markets where there have been mandates, cleaner vehicles are hitting the roads to give you a lift.

Looking to get even one more leg up on the eco scale for your local transportation needs? Take a bus or ride the local trains. Buses across the country are getting greener everyday too. Many cities are cleaning up their fleet by introducing natural gas and hybrid electric buses to the city streets. These vehicles significantly reduce pollution and are more energy efficient. Next time you hop on a bus, check out the side to see if it says what type of fuel it uses – you might be surprised!

Welcome to August – the month of more water usage than any other month of the year in the United States. It’s time we identify methods to keep ourplants happy and green and still reduce our appetites for the ubiquitous clearliquid.

On average, an American household uses about 260 gallons per day, but this amount climbs to around 1,000 gallons per day during peak water use season with some households using as much as 3,000 gallons a day, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

But we can all do more to reduce our water consumption. According to EPA’s WaterSense Program, homeowners can save as much as $110 a year just by following a few tips and making a few changes.

August tends to mean hot, dry weather leading to more yard watering just to keep our plants alive and our neighbors from wondering why we stopped caring for our yards. To save money on your water bills set sprinklers to water your plants only early in the morning or at dusk. Watering in the middle of the day when it is hottest means more of the water will evaporate before being absorbed by vegetation. Purchase a rain gauge and water only one inch of supplemental water in the absence of rain. Your rain gauge will tell you how much water will be needed if your area received rain. Also before watering plants, press your finger into the soil up to the first knuckle and see if it is moist. If the soil is dry and your finger comes out clean, the plant needs water.

If your grass needs water, set up sprinklers in the early morning hours or in the evening and attach timers to them. Nothing wastes more water than forgetting about your sprinkler for hours. Timers are available at most hardware stores and can be as simple as an egg timer mechanism or as technologically advanced as a digital interface. Prices vary so check out reviews online so you can make the most informed decision before purchasing.

Install rain barrels around your home at the ends of gutter downspouts. These barrels will hold rain water for you until your plats are ready to use it. I installed one this summer on our new home and we have barely used our hose at all for our vegetable garden and household plants. Purchase or make a rain barrel which has a spout as close to the bottom as possible. Make sure the barrel has a screen on the top to reduce the number of bugs which can enter the water. To keep any larvae from germinating, add mosquito dunks to the water – they are non-toxic and will not hurt your plants. If the water in the barrel begins to smell at all, do not worry. Add a capful or two of bleach to the water and let it sit for a day before you use it again. Rain barrels offer free water and help reduce runoff in your neighborhood. Some municipalities offer financial help with purchasing these inexpensive barrels and some have tax rebates. Make sure to check with your municipality to see what they offer.

Outdoors isn’t the only place you can save a little water, though. Keep a pitcher of water in your refrigerator so that you always have cold water on hand and you do not have to run the tap water until it is cold. Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes, and scrape dishes instead of rinsing when loading the dishwasher. Lastly, put your favorite handyperson to work fixing leaks around the home, which can waste about 200 gallons per week. Fixing leaks can add up to about $50 in utility bill savings annually.

Renovating or planning to upgrade your kitchen or bath? Look for EPA’s WaterSense label on toilets, faucets and faucet accessories which have helped Americans save more than 9.3 billion gallons of water and realize more than $55 million in savings on water and sewer bills in just 2008. That is enough water to supply 100,000 average households for a year.

Yesterday, we talked about installing motion detectors to help reduce your power bills while saving precious energy and reducing your overall carbon footprint. Today, let’s look at another type of outdoor lighting that can help keep your home safe, beautiful, and eco-friendly.

Solar lights are great for lighting gardens, walkways, driveways, and other landscaping you want to highlight. You can even find solar lights which float in pools and are activated with motion detection too. Most solar lights include a dusk and dawn sensor which monitors the amount of light around so that it only illuminates after dusk and goes off at dawn.

Generally, solar lights have LED bulbs or incandescent bulbs. LED bulbs, as they exist currently, have a very bright light but tend to disperse quickly, so they are not great for up lighting or illuminating wide walkways and driveways. Instead, these lights tend to be better suited for guiding guests to a front door like lights along an airplane landing strip.

Incandescent bulbs in solar fixtures are becoming harder to find as LED bulbs become more popular. However, they offer more dispersal of light so they are brighter and often found in warmer colors. The light, therefore, is better suited for use in up lighting against a home or other places a homeowner would want illuminated.

Solar lights are simple to install and usually a fraction of the price of electric outdoor lighting. Most are simply dug or pressed into soil and require no wiring at all. Usually each fixture has its own small solar panel and for those times when you would not want their light, tiny switches where they can be turned off.  They can be found at most hardware stores or box discount stores, but in my opinion, you get what you pay for. Pricier versions tend to work better than the discount priced lights. It may be better technology in the solar panel or the quality of the fixture itself. Check reviews of the product and if you see some you like at your neighbors’ house, ask where they got them!

Looking for a great way to illuminate your next evening barbeque? You can even get solar lights which connect to outdoor umbrellas to illuminate the table at night as well as string lights which can make for great ambiance and a real decorator’s touch. You can even get solar string lights for your Christmas decorations next year!

Already have solar lights illuminating your landscape and home? Let us know which ones you like and how well they are working.  Found a particularly neat solar lighting fixture? Let us know about it in the comments section below.

Over the last few weeks I have continually been amazed at how many people leave their porch lights on all night. It’s not clear to me if it is an effort to show that someone is home and to scare off burglars or if our neighbors are trying to leave the lights on for the feral cats. Either way, it’s a huge waste of energy and a place where homeowners can cut down – even a few bucks a year – on their power bills.

Motion detectors when attached to lights offer a great way to reduce your home’s energy use by ensuring that the lights are only turned on when they are needed. It is by no means a new technology, but it is definitely a technology that should be used more.

A variety of motion detector lights are widely available at your local box hardware store, and likely your locally owned hardware store too. While they sell outdoor porch lights which have motion detector features already included, my home did not come with them. As one of our first projects on the home, we went to the hardware store to find an attachment which would make our lights motion sensitive. What we found required a simple installation which involved changing out our light switch and hanging a battery operated sensor on the outside of the house. The installation took less than a half hour and it works beautifully. Our porch light only goes on when you drive up our driveway or when you leave through our front door. Of course if you are in the market for a new fixture, it’s much easier just to get one that comes already hooked up for motion sensitivity.

Outdoor lights aren’t the only ones you should think about adding motion detection to. If you have a closet light that frequently gets left on, motion detection lights can really help. When the door opens the light goes on and stays on for a set number of minutes unless the sensor is presented with more motion. These sensors are available in as simple a product as a light socket which gets screwed into the existing socket or more complicated versions which require the installation of wall switches. Either way, these are essentially do-it-yourself projects which you can easily do to help reduce your overall power consumption.

Did you know that some of your favorite retail stores actually generate some of the energy they use onsite? Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a list of the top twenty on-site energy generators in the country. You might be surprised to find some retailers you frequent on the list.

Just to name a few, Macy’s, Khols, Wal-Mart, Safeway, and even Sierra Nevada Brewing Company,  are just a few of the companies that together help generate millions of kilowatts of green power onsite. This is a great start, but of course there is always more that can be done to increase the amount of green power we use in this country. Learn more about the others who made the top twenty list of onsite green energy producers.

Businesses, however aren’t the only ones getting in on the efforts to generate the energy needed to operate daily onsite. Around the country, cities and municipalities are helping too. From San Diego and San Francisco to Ann Arbor, Michigan and Iowa University, public offices are getting in on the green energy action by generating their own wind, solar and biogas power.

Green power is generated from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas, and low-impact hydropower. On-site green power is deployed directly at energy users’ facilities rather than at central power plants. Green power electricity generates less pollution than conventional power and produces no net increase in greenhouse gas emissions.

If you have a small business, or a business of any size that wants to purchase green power, take a glance at the Green Power Partnership program operated by US EPA. While you may not make the top twenty list next year, you will be helping to reduce your company’s carbon footprint – a sales point your customers will appreciate.

It’s officially summer, and that means bees. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, bees are simply a necessity of nature. Think about a world without bees and then include all the fresh fruit and vegetables you love which would no longer exist. Take the next step and think about the animals that eat vegetation which are a part of our food stream. Scary right?

In the process of garnering pollen to feed their larva, bees cross-pollinate plants with the bits of pollen that fall off of them on their way back to their nests. We rely on honey bees for one-third of our food supply, so when honey bees are in danger, we’re all in danger.

Over the last three years, one in three bee hives have died. The main cause of the problem is known as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a disease where bees are mysteriously deserting their hives and dying. Scientists have been baffled by the disease but believe that the cause may include viruses, mites, chemical exposure and poor nutrition.

Everyone needs to take notice of the bee’s plight and pitch in to help regain the bee population and ensure our food supply for centuries to come. Hagen Dazs, the ice cream company, is working to raise the buzz about this bee problem through education and a new ice cream flavor devoted to the bees. Each time you purchase a pint of the Vanilla Honey flavor found in your grocery store, you help fund bee research which hopefully will identify a true cause and solution for our tiny buzzing friends.

It may be the middle of summer, but you can still contribute to helping the bees by planning flowering plants which attract and feed bees. Consider what plants are native to your area. If you aren’t sure, contact your local botanical gardens or even your state department of conservation for a botanist or entomologist who can help. For more instructions on how to create check out the Xerces Society for more information.

If you are lucky enough to know where a bee hive resides around your home or local community, don’t smoke it out – protect it! In order to learn more about bees and help in conservation efforts, we are all being asked to speak up and fill out a survey about our local bee hives. If you know of a local bee hive, take a few minutes and help a bee out by filling out this survey.

Bees may have a bad rap, but attracting them doesn’t have to mean having swarms of bees in your yard. Just like we learned from the Bee Movie, bees tend to take stinging pretty seriously since they perish after stinging. So once you bring them to your yard, you can live harmoniously together by being conscious of them, but leaving them to their business and staying out of their way. They won’t bother you if you don’t bother them.

Ultimately, bees’ survival will depend upon us. With the ever increasing use of pesticides, genetically modified crops which kill bees, and continually reduced amounts of flowering plants for bees to visit, their livelihoods and lives are at risk. Consider the bees when you make your produce purchases and buy organic and pesticide free!