energy
Posted 1 day 23 hours ago by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, Lifestyle, Green Living, Real Estate and Housing
At any port you can probably see hundreds to thousands of empty shipping containers just sitting around waiting to be loaded. In recent times these containers have not only transported goods across oceans but have also been transformed into energy efficient dwellings with some great design and ingenuity.
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Posted 1 week 17 hours ago by Philip Brewer
Budgeting, Cars and Transportation
I don't know if energy costs will keep rising. Nobody does. Even with recent growth in China, India, and elsewhere, the US still consumes 25% of the oil produced world-wide, so a severe recession in the US could easily cut total demand enough to bring the price down. Recession or not, I think the medium-term trend in energy costs is up. Just in case I'm right, you ought to have plan for that.
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Posted 10 weeks 9 hours ago by Paul Michael
Frugal Living, Lifestyle, Consumer Affairs
This weekend the clocks “spring forward.” I’m not a huge fan of DST . In fact, I’m not a fan of anything that steals one hour of precious sleep away from me. But I always took comfort in the fact that it was at least good for the environment, saving energy and money. However, a new study says “maybe not.”
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Posted 11 weeks 13 hours ago by Philip Brewer
Making Extra Cash, Entrepreneurship, Investment
Talk about investments and most people think stocks, bonds, and mutual funds, plus maybe real estate and commodities like precious metals. Let's call those "financial investments." You buy them with money and you hope that they will eventually return money in the form of interest, dividends, or a profit when you sell it. Financial investments are great, and everybody should have a plan for building a portfolio of them, but there are also non-financial investments, and non-financial investments can often yield a higher return.
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Posted 14 weeks 4 days ago by Xin Lu
Personal Finance, Frugal Living, General Tips
Are you paying through your nose to heat your home this winter? Is your heater broken? Read on for some practical tips to reduce your energy bill and stay warm at the same time.
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Posted 21 weeks 6 days ago by Linsey Knerl
Frugal Living, Green Living
CNN predicted a 22% increase in the cost of heating oil this year. Boston was named by Forbes.com as this year’s “Most Expensive Place to Heat a Home.” Everywhere you look, there’s just more bad news on how expensive it will be to heat your home, and frustrated homeowners are turning to alternative heating fuels to help ease the burden of their heating bills.
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Posted 23 weeks 1 day ago by Mark P. Cussen
Investment
Oil and gas investments at the wellhead could keep you in the black for years to come.
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Posted 31 weeks 13 hours ago by Amy B. Scher
Frugal Living
Grab a pair of socks, a hot coffee (or toddy) and read this. It might just save you from the "my-heating-bill-was-outrageous" blues.
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Posted 38 weeks 4 days ago by Philip Brewer
Frugal Living
They key problem with energy is that it's really hard to store--it's tough to buy energy now and use it later, and most energy storage techniques lose a large fraction of the energy they start with. The only really efficient way to store energy is to go ahead and use it to create something of lasting value: invest in things that embody stored energy.
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Living in 90 degree weather with over 70 percent humidity the past few days has not been easy here in rural Nebraska. Hearing others complain about it only makes it worse -- especially knowing that they probably have air-conditioning. My family and I have gone without it the past two summers, and I have learned a thing or two about foregoing a very expensive luxury that most people really can live without.
Continue reading "Living Without Air-Conditioning Can Save Big Bucks This Summer"
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It's great to see a big retailer giving back to the environment and the public. And now it's Home Depot's turn to be heroes.
In honor of Earth Day (which is April 22nd if you didn't already know) Home Depot plans to give away over ONE MILLION compact fluorescent lightbulbs to anyone who visits a U.S. store.
This generous gift will not only make the store look very good, but it will do all sorts of good for the environment. Here are a few of the facts I garnered from the Home Depot website:
Continue reading "FREE fluorescent lightbulbs - a very bright idea"
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I've always liked long summer evenings, so I look forward to springing forward with daylight saving time every year. But not everyone feels the same way, and I recently learned some things about DST that make me wonder if it's a wise policy or an industry scam.
Continue reading "Daylight "Saving" Time...What Does It Save, Anyway?"
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