Apr 5, 2011

(CBS News) Fax machines can be found is almost every workplace and in plenty of homes. But you could be putting yourself at risk of identity theft by using many of these machines. Some, called thermal fax machines, actually keep a carbon copy of every document ever sent, “Early Show” Consumer Correspondent Susan Koeppen reports. All you have to do is...

Last week the city approved a plan to pay property owners to replace there lawns with native plants or other low water landscaping. In an effort to cut down on summer water use, the city of Austin will pay you to cut the grass! Well to get ride of it all together. This should be good news to many home owner who don’t like to mow there lawns anyway. ...

How I wonder if my appliances qualify.  If you have purchased a home appliance in the last ten years you probable have noticed the Energy Star label.  The Energy Star label is one of the most recognizable labels in the world.  Recently that label has fallen from the heavens. A  recent Department of Energy Audit of the Energy Star label program revealed...

Sloan has a product on the market that allows a home owner to capture water from the sink and use it to flush the toilet.  I think this is an easy way to do something a little green.  The system which cost around $375 can be installed by anyone who knows a little about plumbing.  As you can see from the picture, a tank sits under your sink and stores...

My mom called me today.  She started talking about the 99k house competition.  I had never heard about this so I had her explain.  Basically the competition was to design a house that could be built for 99k.  Sounds nice, so I checked out the houses.  The winning house had some really cool things.  For one, rain water catchment...

“More than 1 million ENERGY STAR® homes have been built in the United States since the program first began labeling homes in 1995. Thanks to the dedication of our partners, families living in ENERGY STAR qualified homes will save more than $270 million this year on their utility bills, while avoiding greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those from...

Last week I flew out of town on Southwest Airlines.  I noticed an article in there magazine about Phantom Energy.  For those of you who are not familiar with the topic, it is simply the energy used by an appliance while it is “off”.  Most appliances never really turn off.  For example your VCR still displays the clock when it is...

Many of my friends know that I am interested in the environment.  Recently I completed some course work which entitles me to add the designation GREEN to my title.  The GREEN designation is a simple outward sign that I have expanded my understanding of GREEN real estate.  I have been trained to understand what makes a property green, to help...