The Evergreen Institute's Center for Renewable Energy and Green Building just announced the 2010 workshop schedule. The Evergreen Institute (TEI) offers training for educators, energy professionals, homeowners and individuals interested in pursuing a career in residential renewable energy or green building. 

The schedule includes numerous hands-on workshops at the TEI's educational center in Gerald, Mo. TEI also has off-campus locations in Kansas City, Mo., St. Louis, Mo., Boulder, Colo., and in Clarendon, N.Y. TEI teaches workshops in solar electricity, solar hot water, wind energy, passive solar heating and cooling, green building, natural building, and home energy efficiency.

To help those wishing to learn about these vital topics in the difficult economic times we're facing, TEI has reduced prices on many workshops and offers substantial discounts for early registration. TEI is also offering numerous free-workshops. The schedule can be accessed online at The Evergreen Institute.

I’ve been off TV for five or six months, working diligently day and night at my new educational center in east-central Missouri, The Evergreen Institute, where I teach classes on solar electricity, wind energy, green building, natural building and more. 

So, when I moved back to Colorado for the winter and had a few minutes of free time at night, I started to watch a little TV.

One of the first things I noticed was that the bulk of the car ads are extolling the virtues of big gas guzzlers, SUVs and big trucks. I’m hoping it is Detroit simply trying to dump their unsold gas guzzlers, but I fear it is their effort to persuade us — once again — that bigger is better.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that those ads featuring high mileage vehicles often “brag” about cars that get a whopping 24 to 30 miles per gallon.

I have two things to say about this situation. First, have we no memory at all? Have we all forgotten the economic kick in the pants that $4 per gallon gas delivered?

Let’s remember: As the global economy recovers, chances are gas consumption will rise, dramatically, backsliding us into the ugly, painful days of $4 a gallon gas. This, in turn, could stimulate another economic downturn.

Let’s use our brains for once. Don’t let anyone tell you that a car that gets 30 miles per gallon is fuel efficient.  Fuel efficient cars get 40 and 50 miles per gallon, even more. That’s the target we should be shooting for, and fast!  Let’s insist on it.

Using compact-fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) is an easy way to save energy and money at home. These energy-efficient bulbs use much less electricity than an incandescent light bulb. (For a quick and fun overview of the benefits of CFLs vs. incandescents, check out the Common Craft video below.)

Over the last few years, CFLs have become much cheaper and easier to find. However, some people are concerned about the small amount of mercury in CFLs. Others are more interested in using LEDs — another type of energy-efficient light bulb. (Background information on both LEDs and CFLs is available on the Energy Star website, including this fact sheet on mercury and CFLs.)

We’d like to hear what type of light bulbs you’re using at home. Are you using CFLs, and why or why not? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

How long has it been since you last checked the real-world gas mileage of your car? Have you ever done it?

It can be all too easy to assume your car gets 30-something mpg — or whatever the sticker said when you bought the car — and never realize that its actual gas mileage has declined over the years and now is far off what you expect. But it's important to keep tabs on your car or truck's mpg.

First and foremost, "knowing is half the battle," as they used to say in the old G.I. Joe cartoon PSAs from my childhood. In other words, the first step to increasing your car's gas mileage (and saving money) is to know what it actually gets. Also, unless you're lucky enough to have a real-time mpg display in your car, there's no better way to better understand how driving habits influence gas mileage than to check the numbers. As in, on this tank I ran the air conditioning more than usual (you would see the mpg decline), or on this tank I drove the speed limit to work rather than speeding to make up lost time (you would see improved mpg). Last but not least, regularly checking your vehicle's mpg can spot maintenance issues before they become leave-you-stranded and wicked-expensive problems.

If you're a gas mileage geek like me, you'll calculate your car's mpg after every fill up. But even just checking mpg once a month or so will give you real numbers that will make it easy to adjust your driving habits so you save gas and money. Think of it as a personal challenge and you'll find it easier to get excited about the math — can you beat last month's personal best of 36 mpg? Can you beat the official EPA fuel economy estimate for your car?

And, to top it all off, you'll probably be surprised how easy it is to calculate gas mileage. Even a mathematically disinclined journalist like myself can do it. All it takes are two numbers and simple division. How to Calculate Gas Mileage will walk you through the steps.

For what it's worth, here's my system. I write down the number of miles on my trip meter on the credit card receipt from the gas station, which lists the number of gallons I bought. I also write down the car's overall mileage, just to help me track the car's mpg over time. I then plug all those numbers into a super-simple Excel spreadsheet, which does the simple division for me and automatically fills in the mpg for each tank. I can then track the car's mpg over time and see how it changes with the seasons, my driving habits, as I put off maintenance, after I got new tires, etc.

So, do you ever check your gas mileage? If so, how do you do it? If not, why not? Share your two cents by posting a comment below.

White roofs, aka cool roofs, have caught attention lately as an offbeat but relatively simple and effective strategy for reducing air conditioning costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

The idea is simple: white reflects heat instead of absorbing it. It's also a favorite idea of Energy Secretary Steven Chu, who said "when you're thinking of putting on a new roof, make it white" in his appearance last month on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (you can watch the video below).  Chu added that white roofs costs about the same as traditional black roofs and for those in a warm climate, a white roof can reduce air conditioning costs up to about 20 percent.

When Chu talks white roofs, he cites research from Art Rosenfeld, the commissioner of the California Energy Commission. Rosenfeld calculated that pervasive white roofs and white streets throughout the United States would create a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions — the equivalent to getting rid of all cars for 11 years. You can learn more about Rosenfeld and his passion for energy efficiency by watching the second video below.

The New York Times also covered cool roofs in White Roofs Catch On as Energy Cost Cutters.

"We come home on days when it’s over 100 degrees outside, and the house is at 80 degrees,” white roof owner Jon Waldrep of Sacremento, Calif., told The New York Times.  

According to research by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, nearly every state could see significant reductions in carbon dioxide emissions if 80 percent of commerical buildings were converted to have white roofs, even if white roofs meant increased heating demands in winter. You can see how much each state would save in Imagining a Cool-Roof Nation.

So what do you think? Should commercial buildings switch to white roofs? What about for your home? If it meant significant savings in your air conditioning bills, would you choose a white (or lightly colored) roof the next time you need new shingles? Or would that be too much of a color clash? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

On Monday the Environmental Protection Agency recognized 20 Green Power partners for generating the most green electricity on site.

The amount of renewable electricity generated by these partners could power 61,000 American homes annually.

The top five partners from the list of 20 are Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, City of San Diego, San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant and CalPortland. The entire list is available on the EPA website.

“These companies are leading a nationwide move to the clean energy economy, one that can create million of jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and protect against global climate change,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.  “Our Green Power Partnership leaders are setting the standard for our clean energy future.”

The green power generated by the partners came from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and hydropower. The partners then use the on-site energy directly rather than sending it to the central power plant.

The EPA said that the 20 partners are generating and consuming more than 736 million kilowatt hours annually.

After a short break for the Fourth of July, Congress is back at work.

Shortly before the week-long break, the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which included a cap-and-trade system and was the first U.S. bill to regulate greenhouse gases.

Today the Senate started working on its own version by holding a hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, heard testimony from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, among others.

On Wednesday, July 8, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on international trade issues and connections to global warming – the House bill increased trade regulations with countries that produce high numbers of global warming gases – and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will look at the effectiveness of the European Union’s cap-and-trade system.

Politico reported that any cap-and-trade legislation in the Senate bill is unlikely and that a floor vote will not happen before the long summer recess next month.