Dear Bill: I keep reading articles and hear people talk about lumens from a light bulb and watts from a light bulb. I'm told that if I buy a compact fluorescent lamp, that swirly light bulb, that I have to get the right watts or lumens. What's the difference between watts and lumens on a light bulb?
Adding just one of these suggestions to your holiday celebration can make a difference.
Did you know that cranberries are one of the few fruits native to North America? And only five states grow the majority of cranberries in our country - Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Oregon, Washington and New Jersey?
As warmer temperatures threaten to devastate plant species across the globe, scientists are taking the lead by relocating plants to safer grounds, according to a recent New York Times article.
I never used to roll my eyes when gardeners talked about their compost, describing texture and smell of their "black gold."
Dear EarthTalk: I don't understand why many people oppose wind power just because they have to look at the turbines. If you ask me, wind turbines are much nicer-looking than coal-fired, waste-to-energy or nuclear power plants.
My reusable Built wine bottle carrier's always gotten me compliments - while saving those rather useless little brown paper bags grocery store baggers like to put bottles in. But I just watched a video that now makes my reusable wine bag seem rather shabby.
Q: What's the deal with cloth diapers and should I use them?
On a small lot tucked between conventional homes on Boise Avenue in Boise, Idaho, Mark Lung is hard at work stacking bales of straw and mixing mud.
Most people use disinfectants to keep from getting sick.
WASHINGTON By acknowledging over the weekend the world would have to wait at least until next year for a legally binding treaty to curb global warming, President Barack Obama and fellow Pacific Rim leaders dramatically lowered expectations for next month's climate negotiations in Copenhagen.
RogersSAN JOSE, Calif. SAN JOSE, Calif. - In a victory for Cargill Salt, the IRS has awarded the company most of the tax break it had been seeking in connection with its sale six years ago of 16,500 acres of acres of industrial salt ponds in the South Bay area in California for wetlands restoration.
DETROIT A group of federal agencies criticized in the past for failing to move quickly to stop Asian carp from entering the Great Lakes announced Friday that they're taking every precaution to keep them out, even poisoning thousands of fish next month to prevent any leaping, dangerous bighead or silver carp from escaping the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal.
The kayak trip was an up-close peek at a section of the rejuvenated San Joaquin river in California that not many people have boated over the last several decades because it usually is dry.
After basking Tuesday in the glow of a presidential visit, Florida Power & Light Co. officials Wednesday were addressing questions about the “smart meters” whose deployment will be accelerated with $200 million in federal stimulus money.
The nonprofit Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy rated the 50 states for energy efficiency. California was No. 1. The five doing the least on efficiency were Nebraska, Alabama, Mississippi, North Dakota and Wyoming.
WASHINGTON -- Energy Secretary Steven Chu on Tuesday laid out the scientific risks of inaction on global warming and went straight to his main point — the climate and energy bill starting its way through the Senate could help drive what he called "energy opportunity."
Generating electricity by burning coal is responsible for about half of an estimated $120 billion in yearly costs from early deaths and health damages to thousands of Americans from the use of fossil fuels, a federal advisory group said Monday.
As energy increasingly dominates the economy, a quiet little agency in Washington holds the responsibility for tracking the particles that conduct, fuse, blow, heat, combust and convert the earth, wind and water into the energy that makes our society run.
The roof of a North Sacramento plastics factory will host the biggest West Coast installation of a new type of solar panel. The racks of solar cells are roughly the size and shape of long fluorescent light tubes, which allows the panels to harvest sunlight from any angle, including what's reflected from the white rooftops common on large commercial buildings.
NEW ORLEANS Federal officials announced Wednesday that they are removing the brown pelican from the endangered-species list, capping a century-long recovery that started under President Theodore Roosevelt.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. When is a tree that acts like a tree not a tree at all?
SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Susan Silva's grass never looked right, no matter how hard she tried.
FREMONT, Calif. As biologist Josh Scullen drove toward a maze of salt ponds here in late October to conduct his monthly monitoring of California gulls, he pointed to a green field dotted with more than 3,000 of the birds.
Driving through western Kansas, you’ll see hundreds of whirling wind turbines. But you won't see lots of people — or high-voltage power lines. And that is the big obstacle to realizing the wind-energy potential of Kansas and the Midwest: You can put up all the towers and turbines you like, but without more transmission lines, the added electricity won't get to the cities that could use it.
WASHINGTON United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Senate Republicans and Democrats on Tuesday and urged them to save international climate talks next month by speeding up work on a climate and energy bill.
WASHINGTON As the son of Cuban immigrants, Miguel Diaz was drawn to Barack Obama for his ability to cross cultures and engage people from different backgrounds.
Can't say the notion of laying our sleepy head onto a pillow of recycled plastic pop bottles made us want to dive into bed. So, natch, we got an 8-year-old to give it a romp. Well, he gave it a nod, all right. Plopped down his noggin and snoozed the night away. Nary an odd, once-fiZZZy dream all night.
Near Mark Oldfield's desk at the California Department of Conservation sits a ream of copy paper that is more than a routine office commodity. Made in part from recycled fiber, it is a symbol of the state's green spirit. There is a dark side to those sheets of bright, white paper: the part that isn't recycled comes from trees logged in the biologically rich but endangered forests of Indonesia.
Dear EarthTalk: I'm a travel agent and our firm has several clients wanting to go with green vendors, including for travel (airline or rental car) and lodging. Our company is supportive so would like to know which airlines, hotels and car rental agencies are going affordably green?
