Do you find the idea of making your home energy efficient overwhelming?

The Money Pit has just the answer for you. The first ever video podcast by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) ENERGY STAR program which shows the simplicity of home energy efficiency.

“This podcast is an invaluable resource for anyone looking to make green improvements to their home while saving money,” said Kraeutler. “Homeowners can use it as a step-by-step guide to improving their home’s energy efficiency. The tips we discuss are incredibly simple yet make a great impact on energy bills and the environment.”

Taking you on a room by room tour of a typical American house and offering tips for improving energy efficiency.

The New York Times recently ran an article about people who are capitalizing on their windy locations and installing turbines to harness the wind and provide energy for their homes.

Sales of wind turbines have been growing steadily since 1990, when the American Wind Energy Association, a nonprofit advocacy group in Washington, D.C., began tracking them. Last year, about 7,000 small wind turbines — defined as those that have a capacity of up to 100 kilowatts, roughly enough to power a large school — were purchased in the United States, according to the group, which said it expects sales to reach about 10,000 this year.

If I lived somewhere windy enough I would definitely consider this. While the cost sounds high, when you figure in your utility costs and heating costs, which for those of us in northern states are significant, a turbine would pay for itself in within a decade.

Residential turbines… are typically 33 to 100 feet tall… cost between $12,000 and $55,000, but in recent years, 19 states, including California, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Ohio, have begun offering incentives and rebates that can cut purchase prices by up to 50 percent… the United States House of Representatives passed a bill that would help states provide grants and low-interest loans for residential turbines (as well as solar panels and geothermal heat pumps), and that would offer a 30 percent federal tax credit on turbine purchases, up to $4,000; the Senate is now considering a similar measure.

One man featured in the article has a turbine which not only powers his entire house, but makes surplus power which he “sells” to the power company. How awesome would that be? Not only would you be reducing your own carbon footprint, but helping to make the power company a little more green.

However, there is a booming market right now beyond the homeowner. In places like Texas where there is lots of empty land and lots of wind, enormous turbines are beginning to dot the landscape.

Photo: Brian Harkin for The New York Times

The wind turbines that recently went up on Louis Brooks’s ranch are twice as high as the Statue of Liberty, with blades that span as wide as the wingspan of a jumbo jet. More important from his point of view, he is paid $500 a month apiece to permit 78 of them on his land, with 76 more on the way.

Texas, once the oil capital of North America, is rapidly turning into the capital of wind power. After breakneck growth the last three years, Texas has reached the point that more than 3 percent of its electricity, enough to supply power to one million homes, comes from wind turbines.

Utilizing wind energy has grown 45% over the past year. While still a small percentage, if it continues to grow as expected it will eventually make a significant contribution to the electrical contribution of the entire nation. To quote the television commercial, moving towards a more energy efficient and environmentally friendly future, priceless.

A Hong Kong designer has come up with a novel way to beat the city’s soaring housing prices and cramped living conditions. He pulls his house behind him on a tricycle.

It comes with a door, a window, a writing desk and a fold out bed.

Let me tell you, after dealing with home repair after unexpected home repair, I would consider pulling my house behind me like a hermit crab. Except I would need a bathroom. And electricity.

What kind of light bulbs are you using in your house?

The last time I was at the store buying light bulbs I was confused by the vast array of choices. There was literally an entire aisle of light bulbs. I had no idea what I wanted or what the differences are between the various types. I want a nice warm glowing light. And while I am all for saving energy, the environment, and puppies, I hate the greenish cast of some florescent lights I have tried. The odd shape puts me off for some applications. The buzzing noise is somewhat annoying, though I have children who adequately cover that up for me.

It seems that I am not alone.

In a recent article in the NY Times, a panel of staff members from the Times tested and rated 21 different light bulbs that were provided by various manufacturers. Almost all of them were rated as unacceptable.

There were a few that got good marks from the reviewers:

The n:vision TCP Home Soft White, for example, was deemed “a warm pleasant light.” The TCP Spring Light/Soft White was “almost warmer than incandescent,” one person said. And the MaxLite SpiraMax was generally liked, considered “pretty good” and “clean.”

One thing that I did not know until reading this article is that compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) contain mercury and can not just be thrown away with your regular garbage. They need to be properly recycled. I wonder if I am alone in my appalling lack of knowledge in this area or if this is something that needs to be addressed better. The Energy Star website answers the questions of disposal and what to do if you should break a CFLs.

Most of the light bulbs in my house have long ago been replaced by fluorescent bulbs. The few lone remaining incandescent bulbs are in places where the bulb shows. But now that there are new bulbs that have the tell tale fluorescent coil hidden in an outer case, I really have no excuse.

And it seems we had all better just get used to it.

After more than eight months of intense deliberations between Congress and bulb manufacturers, environmental groups and other parties, a law that requires light bulbs to become more energy efficient became part of the energy bill that President Bush signed into law on Dec. 19.

Over a three-year period beginning in 2012, all new bulbs will have to use 25 percent to 30 percent less energy for the same light output as today’s typical incandescent bulbs.

Why wait until 2012? Go buy your CFLs now and break yourself in slowly.

The old house that we are currently in the process of renovating was built in 1898. Then in 1911, for some inexplicable reason, the owners decided to pick up the house and move it 100 ft back further from the road. I can’t even imagine how they were able to manage that.

Whenever my husband thinks that my renovation plans for the house seem extensive I remind him that it could be worse. He could be married to the woman who hounded her husband until he moved the entire house.

This video is of Harvard law School moving three old houses down the block. Thanks to time lapsed photography you can see the entire house move down the road in minutes rather than the two days that it took it real time.

First there was Black Friday, now there is Cyber Monday. Perfect for those of us who love good deals, yet hate to leave our houses and deal with people.

I have never been out on Black Friday. The images of people pushing and shoving, coupled with the gross consumerism is enough to make me stay home and vow to whittle all my children’s presents out of sticks I find in my yard.

Luckily for my children I usually shop in early November.

Invented by retailers just a few years ago, Cyber Monday was a way for retailers to create a buzz around shopping online. Retailers are counting on people going back to work on Monday, logging onto their computers, and shopping. Excuse me, I thought that people were actually working. Who knew! According to the research firm comScore, 60% of shoppers were shopping from their work computers.

Shop.org reported that 72 percent of online retailers ran special promotions for Cyber Monday this year, up from nearly 43 percent just two years ago.

According to an article at abcnews:

Last year, Cyber Monday saw $608 million in online retail spending, which was the heaviest online shopping day on record at the time, Lipsman said.

But that record didn’t last long.

In the next month or so, there were 11 days that broke that record. The heaviest day of them all was Dec. 13, with $667 million in spending.

Why Dec 13? The last day for an item to be shipped in time for Christmas using standard shipping methods.

But what about this year?

U.S. online shoppers spent a record $733 million this year according to market research firm comScore Inc, up 21% from last year. Not surprisingly, Amazon, Wal-Mart, Target, Dell and Best Buy were the most heavily trafficked sites. Dell and Best Buy for their cheap laptops.

Although you can forget about using the free shipping option at Amazon and expect your items in time for Christmas. On a personal note, I placed an order from Amazon a full SEVEN weeks before Christmas and they would not guarantee shipping before Christmas. In fact it said February 6th as a guaranteed ship date. Once I paid a boatload of money for shipping I could have it before Christmas. I am sure the excessive shipping charges wiped out most of the savings on the items. But at that point I already had put everything into my cart, and really had shopping fatigue. Next year I will be avoiding Amazon during the months of November and December. I wonder how my family would feel about moving Christmas to February?

Let’s see what happens this December 13th. Will online shoppers come back for more like past years? Only time will tell.