Energy Efficiency

Home Energy Resource Guide

Homeowners who want to cut their energy bills have a lot of options — and a lot of important decisions to make. Fortunately, you can turn to a wide range of energy-related re...

What's New with Energy Star

The Environmental Protection Agency started the Energy Star program in 1992 to promote energy-efficient products nationwide, with the overall goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissi...

Remodeling for Energy Efficiency

Many homeowners embark on green renovations without giving energy efficiency the priority it deserves. The energy a home consumes over its lifespan has a far greater environmental ...

SH Bookshelf: Saving Energy

Homeowners who are serious about reducing energy costs can turn to two recent books that provide real-world, hand’s-on advice and practical solutions that can help you trim y...

Desert colors are still popular in the Southwest and other areas of the country, but so is green — the shade of green that equates with eco-friendly products, such as the adobe bricks used in the construction of a home in North Scottsdale, Ariz. Owned by Greg Hartman of FHP Builders, a Scottsd...

Lower Your Energy Costs Now!

At this point in time it’s evident that energy costs are not going down anytime soon. In fact, as gasoline prices continue to set record highs nearly every week, it̵...

Designing a Passive Solar Home

My new passive solar home, located in the community of Fly Creek in upstate New York, looks just like a traditional-style 4,000-square-foot house and costs about the same to build, but it uses 70 percent less energy to heat than a home of a comparable size. From June 2007 to June 2008, I spent about...

Smarter Sunrooms

One of the simplest and most affordable upgrades you can make to your home is to add a sunroom, which will expand your living space, open up your home to the outdoors and even increase your home's value. Thanks to a number of design improvements, today's sunrooms are more efficient, more durable, mo...

Power on Standby

The big blackout in August 2003 that left 50 million people in the Northeast without power for days and power interruptions in 2004 in the wake of successive hurricanes that struck Florida and the Southeast have alerted many homeowners to the need for backup power.Whether they are caused by ...

Energy-Efficient Fireplaces

Fireplaces rank among the top three features desired by new homeowners, according to the National Association of Home Builders, and it's easy to understand why - there's nothing quite like a fireplace to create the perfect ambiance in a home. But your love affair with the fireplace would definitely ...