The EPA posted helpful tips for making households more energy efficient and eco-friendly.

Among the useful nuggets are fixing water leaks, using water-efficient toilets, and properly irrigating plants. If these practices were adopted, each household could "save 30,000 gallons per year – enough to supply a year of drinking water for 150 of their neighbors". Even though water is cheap, you could still save more than $110 per year.

For saving energy, two of the best recommendations are to use geothermal heat pumps (30 percent more efficient) and programmable thermostats. You can also save by opening the windows on cooler evenings instead of always running the air conditioning.

Also, buying Energy Star appliances that pay for themselves (usually within two years) is highly recommended.

Of course the downside to buying new green products is how to dispose of the old products such as toilets or heaters with the least environmental impact.

Why haven't I seen any ads from Lowe's or Home Depot to help highlight these pragmatic products and actions? There should be a public/partnership between these companies and the EPA to build awareness through TV, radio, and in-store promotions.

The image of success is evolving, and it’s about time. We used to associate good living with the ability to consume more than the next guy, like Arnold puffing cigars behind the wheel of his 8MPG Hummer. No longer. Nowadays, success is as much about how much you save as it is about how much you spend.

Some cynics – and there are always cynics – say we shouldn’t be seduced into finding hope in the examples set by rail-thin actresses trading limos for hybrids and spending their vacations tromping through virgin rainforests on MTVs Trippin. They say those images have more to do with “ego” than with “eco.”

I say … so what?

I mean, if we wait until everyone embraces renewable energy technologies, low-impact travel and more enlightened business practices because doing so is the right thing to do … well, we’ll be waiting a long, long time. People, in general, don’t work that way.

People, by and large, want what’s easiest, what’s coolest, what gives the most bang for the buck. Especially if movie stars are doing it, or they see it advertised during “American Idol” and it comes with 0% financing and a money-back guarantee. Especially in America, where it seems depressingly impossible to find anyone who remotely understands the concept of short-term sacrifice for long-term gain.

Compare the amount of money spent on fad diets and late-night infomercial exercise equipment with the number of truly healthy Americans and you get an idea what I’m talking about: Sure, we all WANT to work out more and to eat better, but chances are we’re still trying to shed that same pesky ten pounds we’ve been working on since high school. Or twenty. Probably more like twenty.

It’s just a hell of a lot easier to swing through the drive-thu at McDonald’s than it is to cook up a Zone meal, isn’t it? And cheaper, too.

So that’s it in a nutshell: when faced with a choice, Americans – and most people – go with “cheap” and “easy” over “good” or “right.”

Oh – and “fun” and “cool,” too. It’s gotta be something you can brag about to your neighbors.

So if we’re ever going to really untangle our energy mess and our conspicuous consumption and our habit of trampling all over the Earth like a pack of dogs through the global neighborhood‘s flower gardens, we need to find ways to make doing the RIGHT THING easy and cheap and fun and cool.

And you know what? It could happen. Sooner than you think. Just as the digital revolution changed the ways we work, live and interact, so too will the next wave. It’ll result in a flood of new products and services and require new ways of evaluating what’s worthwhile and what’s a waste of time.

That shift in priorities spells opportunity, too. Smart people who can get past the political polarization of the arguments and who figure out how to appeal to a new, growing group of people all along the political spectrum who want their latest-and-greatest to also be cleanest-and-greenest -- no matter how selfish or altruistic their reasons -- will reap HUGE rewards. When a new wave of consumers starts to see that they can actually save money by buying hybrid cars or installing solar panels or replacing their light bulbs with energy-efficient versions, that growing throng of wallet-wielding potential customers will create this revolution’s Bill Gates.

People – and businesses – are seeking ways to do well and good at the same time. And that balance, that sweet spot where life is rich and soul-satisfying and we can start to feel better about ourselves because we’re reversing direction and finding ways to embrace technology for the greater good, that will become the new definition of success.

And that’s what we’re all about.

Because in the end, finding and embracing every opportunity to improve our lives while simultaneously reducing our impact is what really Matters.

Here's a wacky way to reshuffle the world power deck - one that could generate revenue for third-world countries, save animals and rainforests, emasculate terror-happy oil-rich nations (like Texas) ... hell, maybe even get dogs and cats to live together.

Stick with me for a sec: What if the lowliest of the low material on the planet -- the stuff people scrape off their shoes in disgust -- suddenly, strangely, became a bright ray of hope for the future of both planet Earth and the human race? I mean, what would happen if the next get-rich-quick mania sweeping the world turns out to be over something formerly considered so vile, so repulsive that countries or companies with too much of it lying around were considered icky and decidedly déclassé?

I'm talking, of course, about poo. All kinds of it. Elephant. Kangaroo. Bull. Who knows? Maybe even yours.

Shit, it seems, is on the verge of becoming big business.

Enterprising individuals in Sri Lanka and Thailand have developed ways to convert mounds of elephant dung into paper products. Following their lead, some guys Down Under have followed up by doing the same with kangaroo poo. Meanwhile, folks in Japan and the US have started ... um ... cracking the code on a process that could convert cow pies into fuel.

It's flat-out freaky to consider the ramifications. Over time, oil rich nations could be overtaken by ones that are, well, full of crap. The new shit sheiks would substitute animals for oil wells and have a vested interest in preserving their new cash cows (or elephants, or kangaroos) and, by extension, their natural habitats. Paper products milled from feces, after all, create jobs caring for animals and their environments, rather than killing them and cutting them down.

Ranchers and farmers the world 'round would find their excess fertilizer suddenly transformed from a liability into an in-demand asset as an industry evolves in carrying off offal to processing plants where it could be transformed into paper products or fuel. Think of it. Speculators would rush to figure out how to become merde magnates. The guy in the Graduate wouldn't be telling Dustin Hoffman to get into plastics, but into poo. "Poo is the future," he'd say and - here's the funny part - nobody'd laugh.

Because it may not be bullshit. He may very well be right.

Because, like most of what's happening in the alternative energy space, it's all about economics. As crude oil and gasoline prices continue to skyrocket, as timber for paper becomes scarcer and more expensive, these solutions become more and more realistic. And as they do ... man, could they stir things up.

Count me among the growing masses looking forward to the day when, well, shit happens.

The one thing that can do the most damage to the mainstreaming of sustainable living into our collective consciousness is ecoterrorism. Ecoterrorist groups such as ELF (Earth Liberation Front) reinforce the misguided perception that people who are concerned about their environmental footprint are all extremist greenies who care more about animals and trees that people and progress.

While they are not THE most dangerous groups in the country (despite what some in government say), they galvanize opinion and should be required to do hard time in prison. By setting fire to a condo, ski resort or SUV, these idiots are doing physical harm to the very environment they supposedly love as well as the philosophy that supposedly guides there actions.

Considering that the environmental ramifications of your actions matter doesn't require radical changes to your lifestyle, and these villainous radicals should have known better.

Companies or individuals looking to buy "green PCs" can go online to find the most environmentally friendly computers. The "EPEAT" database is funded by the EPA and managed by the Green Electronics Councilof Portland, OR.

The rating system includes 23 required characteristics and 28 optional criteria including:

· reduction and elimination of environmentally sensitive materials, · materials selection and packaging, · design for the end of usefulness and extending the life of a computer, · energy conservation, · disposal management, and · corporate performance

Computers are rated as bronze, silver or gold rated, and the database, which was made public today, includes computers from HP and Dell. Obtaining this certification should increase the resale value of the computers as well as make it easier for companies to recycle and/or dispose of the computers when they become obsolete.

The EPA also has an "eCycling" program to encourage recycling of computers."

Since states are becoming more stringent in their rules about computer disposal, it makes sense to stay ahead of the curve now rather than take a hit in a few years when it is time to buy new PCs. Computers are becoming easier to take about and salvage so that parts can be reused, but look for continuing work in that area.

Hopefully this EPEAT branding will catch on (even if a more consumer-friendly name is needed).

Two of the world's largest energy companies are teaming up to create hydrogen from fossil fuels. BP and GE are building power plants in Scotland and California that will convert coal and natural gas into hydrogen and could jointly build as many as 15 power plants within the next 10 years.

The companies claim they will reduce the amount of pollution by sequestering 90 percent of the carbon dioxide produced underground.

The technologies needed to cleanly and safely convert fossil fuels into hydrogen require collaborative efforts with fuel and electricity companies to maximize efficiency. Hydrogen and heat are often byproducts of the refining process, so integrated power plants make the most sense. This will also require streamlined distribution networks, with trucks and pipelines sending out fuel in various forms.

The U.S.P.S. is handing out contracts with energy efficiency companies who assume the risk that their work will actually reduce energy use. The Post Office's Shared Energy Savings (SES) program handed out ten energy conservation contracts worth $1.3 billion, but the contractors absorb the cost of installing the equipment.

The contracts are expected to save the Post Office an average of $11 million per year. The 10 participating companies are: BGA, Inc., Tampa, Fla; Chevron Corporation, San Francisco; ConEdison Solutions, White Plains, N.Y.; Energy Services Group, Wayzata, Minn.; Honeywell, Inc., Saugus, Mass.; and Noresco, L.L.C., Westborough, Mass.

Companies that offer to work on an incentive basis are showing confidence in their ability to deliver results and are likely to have success in attracting customers who are skeptical of the financial benefits.

Logistics company CaseStack is encouraging trucker health by giving a rebate to drivers who fill up with biodiesel. The company will reimburse truckers for 10 cents for each gallon of biodiesel up to a maximum of $50.

Truck drivers who must idle their vehicles to keep the engine running during overnight stops or while making deliveries are exposed to harmful exhaust fumes and therefore increased illness and medical bills.

CaseStack partner who promote biodiesel will be designated Green Partner and will be listed in the companies marketing materials.