Drew Dowdell

Of course there are alway appropriate uses for all of these suggestions. YMMV. For me, I installed the motion sensor devices in my basement, attic, and garage. For my front door light, I use a timer.

Most of the things that I have proposed in this thread will save both money and resources over time while causing no "inconvenience". This is one of those situations where it's better to act and be wrong about global warming rather than not act and be right.

Power off or hibernate your PC when you aren't using it. After your major appliances, PCs are the largest users of electricity in your house. However, there are some machines that must stay on all the time. For those machines, adjust your power settings so that the hard drives and screen power down after an idle time of 5 minutes. Install motion sensor light switches In places like your garage or basement, how many times have you forgotten to turn out the lights? Motion sensor lights will remember for you. There are even types that simply install in the base socket place of the light bulb. Outdoors they can increase the security of your house. Select EnergyStar Appliances Next time you upgrade an appliance, look for the energy star label. Buy the most energy efficient appliance you can afford, it will pay you back over it's lifetime. Don’t hand wash your dishes or clothing. You’ll use more water that way rather than using your machines–particularly if you have newer, Energy Star machines. And you could be wasting a lot of water rinsing off your dishes before you put them in the dishwasher. Most dishwashers can wash your dishes clean even if you haven’t rinsed them first.

Reduce your plastic usage * Bring your own grocery bags. In my area, Giant Eagle sells cloth bags for 99 cents and donates a portion of the proceeds to environmental issues. I put them back in the car after I've unloaded them. If you don't want to buy bags at least reuse the bags you took last time. I've found that Target bags last the longest. My "set" of Target bags has been in use since mid-may. Each reusable bag you use has the potential to eliminate thousands of plastic bags over its lifetime. *Don't use produce bags. Does the lettuce really need it's own bag? Is is going to harm the peppers it's next to? *Recycle the bags you do have. Before I was a "greenie" I would simply save up grocery bags till I had so many I had to throw the excess away. Most of the larger grocery stores have plastic bag recycling stations. Deposit your bags there. *Kick the bottled water/Starbucks habit - Are you an office worker? Buy a Brita pitcher and keep it in the fridge at work. It's cheaper for you and better for the environment now that you're not buying plastic bottles of water. Buy a stainless steel travel mug for your coffee and make it at home. If you *must* have Starbucks.... take your reusable coffee mug with you..... then get help for your Crackbucks addiction. *select recycled plastic or compostable garbage bags.

Here's one we can all agree on even if you're not a "greenie" *Reduce your junk mail - Link to help you get off junk mail lists. You can potentially reduce paper consumption by over 100lbs a year. *Opt to have your bills delivered electronically. It saves paper and postage. *Opt to pay your bills electronically. It saves paper and postage, many of the larger banks are now offering this service for free.

If you replace the CRT <yes they use more energy>, make sure they are either recycled, or are given to a charity. Next time you replace the suburban, select a model that uses E85 even if there aren't currently E85 stations near you. When I bought the Avalanche, there were no E85 stations near me, now there are 5. I'm not telling anyone to give up anything in their daily life, however, small changes in the choices we make do matter.

Calculate how much money you can save by using compact florescent light bulbs. I usually buy a 5 pack of <60 watt equivalent, 15 watt actual> compact florescents on sale at Home Depot for $7.99. The ones in the orange box seem to have a nice color to them and people can't tell that they aren't incandescent. Keep in mind that these bulbs last for much longer than normal bulbs. I still have the first compact florescent I ever bought in 1998. In fact, it has outlasted the original lamp I purchased it for. Dimable compact fluorescents can be found here

The ice at the north pole has now melted so much that free passage via water is now available around the northern part of North America. Link The yellow line indicates the route of travel. The cyan line would be a route around the northern part of Europe and Asia. The dotted part indicates where the ice hasn't melted enough yet. Please consider making some life changes to be more resource efficient. You'd be amazed at how much some small, simple changes can really help. The small changes now make the bigger changes down the road easier. In this thread, I will be posting links and advice on the small changes that you can make to your daily life that can really have an impact.

No.... and only Pittsburgh, Philly and some of the surrounding counties even have emission standards.

Nope, I mean D. I'm moving to Germany in the spring and plan to aquire a 2008 CTS with the new diesel V6.

2008 Jeep Lieutenant Commander

I've been meaning to take a pic of one. The stretch Montego actually looks pretty sharp.

my breathing problems don't seem to change with the seasons. The doctor explained that it was the geography of the city that does it. Wind travels west to east....and pittsburgh is on the western edge of the Allegheny mountains. Apparently all the pollution from other cities gets backed up behind the mountains as it's heading west.

We have some strange Taxis here. PT Cruisers are used by a company called "Cruiser Cab". Stretched 500s and Montegos are used by a company called Classy Cab. Checker uses old Tauruses, LeSabres and Devilles.

Pittsburgh Air Quality Called Second-Worst In U.S. I've been suffering some breathing problems for well over a year but wasn't really able to pin it down to a specific cause until I went to Europe. After 3 days there, suddenly, I could breath again. I could sleep comfortably. I wasn't miserable. It's stuff like this that has been turning me into an environmentalist.

I demand my dashboard be manufactured by Serta

not that I don't like the concept of the Volt, but Enzl, there is nothing revolutionary about any of the technology in it. It's all existing technology that is just being put together in a new way. ICE, GM has been doing those for about 100 years. Electric motor, GM has been doing those for probably 90 years. connecting an electric motor to a generator to an ICE, GM has been doing that since 1922 GM did the electric car in the 1990s.... The only thing kind of new here is the battery technology. All GM is doing to work around the heat limitation of Lithium Ion batteries is expanding on the idea that the batteries should be cooled as Toyota introduced in the original Pruis. Seriously, this isn't rocket science.... heck, it's barely even automotive science. I really wish I could have been the guy paid to say, "I know! Lets liquid cool them!" and get paid $30,000 in consulting fees. Given the riced out nature of the liquid cooled PC business, I'm surprised the Asians didn't "get it" first.

One Camry, RAV4, or Corolla recall can vault them straight to the top of the list with ease. That's the downside of being best seller.

Just hope that it snaps a camshaft, throws a gear or sludges up before it can do too much damage.

Actually, it's not open. It's closed for construction.

I say let him visit.... would be a shame if there was some sort of accident though.

Sorry.. I can't read that name as anything other than Aurion Turd.

I want to see Mercedes bring the A-class here so I can point and laugh at those too.

Electra should be the trim line name for any Buick hybrid. Along the lines of Saturn's Green-line.

But think of the turtles!