Until this year, Peco Energy Co. customers who wanted to buy renewable power had to drop some extra green.

But the advent of retail electricity competition Jan. 1 introduced a new dynamic into the mix. Residential customers can now buy renewable power, mostly from wind generators, at practically the same price they would pay by sticking with Peco. They might even pay less.

“It’s no longer a sacrifice to buy renewable power,” said Courtney Lane, a senior energy-policy analyst with Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future. “It makes economic sense, as well.”

Competitively priced green power may be a temporary phenomenon – because of the recession, green electricity is in oversupply and is not fetching much of a premium.

Environmental advocates who tout the clean-energy benefits of wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power are encouraging customers to send the markets a signal by buying green.

“Vote with your dollars and make a difference,” said Jay Carlis, vice president of Community Energy Inc., a 10-year-old Radnor renewable-power developer and marketer.

To read the full story: Philly.com

Want to figure out how to get more-efficient energy usage from your household light bulbs? Care to track your driving skills and see how to be more fuel efficient?

There’s an app not just for that, but for all things green.

The Apple App Store and the Android Market list many apps to conserve energy and find ways to go green. Many are either free or $1 or $2. They’re not as hugely successful as games or entertainment trivia, but then neither is the green movement. The array of green software applications is growing — and helping raise awareness about things all of us can do to be more environmentally friendly and responsible.

A good place to start: The Green Genie app will show you 100 different ways to go green, from bringing your own bag to the grocery store to ways to get paid for reducing your emissions.

“This is an app that pays for itself,” says Green Genie creator Brad Cracchiola, who made the app in his spare time. By day, he’s a sustainability engineer in Los Angeles at BMW Group DesignworksUSA. “Apply just one strategy, and you’ve paid for the app 10 times.”

Cracchiola has tried to add game elements to the app, to make learning fun. “Consuming information can be an overwhelming topic,” he says. “Making it fun makes it easier to digest.”

Smartphones are great tools for learning, in part because of their mobility. “It doesn’t matter where you’re at, as long as you have a cell connection, you always have access to the information,” says Provo, Utah-based Nate Younger. He is the co-creator of the Green Fuel app, which helps find alternative fuel sources for those driving non-traditional cars. “The iPhone knows your position.”

To read the full story: USA Today

Heat your home by throwing a dinner party?

This concept may sound bizarre, but it’s feasible in cutting-edge green homes that are so well-insulated, they don’t need a furnace or boiler. They’ll stay warm simply with body heat. A hairdryer might also suffice.

“It’s like living in a glass thermos,” says John Eckfeldt, a physician who built one of these “passive” homes in frigid Isabella, Minn. He says the inside temperature is so even that if he sees snow falling, he’s surprised to realize it must be cold outside.

The windows never feel cold, nor do the concrete floors, even though they don’t have in-floor heating, says Joe Turner of his “passive” home in Salt Lake City. “The house is also super quiet.”

The passive house movement, popularized in Europe, where thousands of such homes have been built, is starting to catch on in the United States as consumers look to lower their utility bills. These homes don’t require pricey solar panels or wind turbines but focus on old-fashioned building science to reduce energy use by up to 90%.

They’re different from the “passive solar” homes of the 1970s, which used a lot of south-facing windows for heating, because they emphasize other features: thick walls and roofs (often at least a foot) and triple-paned windows, as well as efficient appliances and lighting. The secret is tightness, achieved via superior insulation and air sealing. A mechanical system brings in fresh air, heating or cooling it as needed.

Few U.S. homes, only a dozen so far, have obtained certification from the Passive House Institute US, a private Illinois-based group that bases its rules on the German Passivhaus standard.

Yet, dozens of homes nationwide are now being designed to meet its strict energy efficiency requirements.

To read the full story: USAToday

Though his administration has been increasingly consumed by events in Egypt, President Obama briefly sought to return the focus to his domestic agenda Thursday, outlining a new energy conservation initiative during a visit to Penn State University.

The quick trip to central Pennsylvania, delayed one day because of the major winter storm affecting much of the eastern United States, was Obama’s second since his State of the Union address last week. He again visited a state his campaign carried in 2008 but swung toward the Republicans in 2010.

After a tour of the university labs that focus on finding energy-efficient solutions, Obama outlined his new Better Buildings initiative, which the White House says is part of his plan to “Win the Future.”

The goal of the initiative is to help the private sector take steps to weatherize their facilities to make them more energy efficient. The White House has set a goal of making commercial building space in the country 20% more energy efficient by 2020. They say doing so will reduce business operating costs by $40 billion a year and create jobs related to the energy upgrades.

The president will call on Congress to revise an existing tax deduction for commercial building upgrades to one that is “more generous,” the White House says. The initiative also calls for a “Race to Green,” modeled after the “Race to the Top” education initiative, that will offer grants to state and local governments that “streamline” regulations to attract private investment.

“Making our buildings more energy efficient is one of the fastest, easiest and cheapest ways to save money, combat pollution and create jobs right here in the United States of America, and that’s what we’re going to do,” he said.

To read the full story: LA Times

Every Wednesday on NBC10’s “Survive and Thrive” we bring you a half-hour filled with money saving tips, expert financial advice, a list of open jobs in our area, plus much more to help you and your family survive and thrive during these tough financial times. In case you missed today’s show, you can find helpful links and information below.

BEWARE OF CENSUS WORKER IMPOSTERS

As you know, the census is taking place this year. The Better Business Bureau is warning consumers that there may be con artists posing as census workers trying to get your personal information. Census workers knocking on your doors will have a badge, handheld device, and a census bureau canvas bag. Ask to see their ID before giving ANY information. Their job is to verify addresses, so you should not be giving out your social security number or any other personal information.

KIDDIE KANDIDS FILES FOR CHAPTER 7 BANKRUPTCY

Kiddie Kandids, a nationwide photography chain based in Utah, has filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy. Customers hoping to pick up their pictures at the studio in the Neshaminy Mall found that it was closed, and the mall confirmed that the nationwide company closed its doors on Sunday night. If Kiddie Kandids still owes you pictures, Neshaminy Mall recommends that you call 877-353-5770, but the best way to communicate with the company is via email at DMERRILL@KIDDIEKANDIDS.COM. If you still have problems, contact the PA Attorney General’s Office and file a complaint.

WAYS TO GO GREEN AND SAVE GREEN

What do you use to set the dinner table? If you’re using paper napkins, switch to reusable napkins to save some serious cash. Did you know that a family of four can save $130 a year, just by switching to reusable napkins? The average person uses about 2,200 standard two-ply napkins every year- that’s the equivalent of over 6 per day. By using just one less napkin a day, more than a billion pounds of waste could be saved from the landfills annually.

Grabbing a bottle of water might be convenient, but drinking filtered tap water is a much better choice for both the environment and your wallet. It takes more than 1,000 years for a bottle to decompose, and replacing bottled water with tap water could save $600 per person a year!

WEBSITE WE LOVE

Groupon.com- each day, the site offers something fun to do at an unbelievable price. If the minimum number of people sign up for the deal before midnight, everyone gets the offer. If not enough people sign up, no one gets the deal and your credit card won’t be charged.

Colleges are rapidly adding new majors and minors in green studies, and students are filling them fast.

Nationwide, more than 100 majors, minors or certificates were created this year in energy and sustainability-focused programs at colleges big and small, says the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education. That’s up from just three programs added in 2005.

Two factors are driving the surge: Students want the courses, and employers want the trained students, says Paul Rowland, the association’s executive director.

“There’s a great perception that there’s a sweet spot with energy to do good and do well, and it appears to be the place of job growth,” says Rob Melnick, executive dean of the Global Institute of Sustainability at Arizona State University.

The institute started an undergraduate program in sustainability studies — with a focus on solar — a year and a half ago. It now has about 600 students who’ve declared sustainability a major. “The growth rate is unprecedented,” even though the program has the toughest admission standards of any school at the university, Melnick says.

Other schools are also seeing big demand, including:

•Illinois State University in Normal, Ill. The school of 21,000 students has 65 majors in renewable energy, a program started in 2008 with help from a $1 million Department of Energy grant. The program has “more students wanting in than we can handle,” says Richard Boser, chair of the Department of Technology. Nearby employers, including those in wind energy, hope to hire future graduates, Boser says.

•Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In September it launched a minor in energy studies. A student survey said 43% of freshmen and sophomores were very or extremely interested in it. “That’s a very large number,” says Vladimir Bulovic, associate professor of communication and technology. MIT’s student energy club has 1,700 members, vs. several hundred a few years ago, Bulovic says.

•University of California-Berkeley. The school has seen student interest in its introductory energy class explode. Ten years ago, it attracted 40 or so students. Now, the class runs 270, says Daniel Kammen, director of the school’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory.

The Obama administration has estimated that jobs in energy and environmental-related occupations will grow 52% from 2000 through 2016, vs. 14% for other occupations.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/environment/2009-12-27-green-colleges_N.htm

Target announced today that  they plan to  offer a 5-cent discount for every reusable bag customers use to pack their purchases.

The programs come at a time retailers are feeling heat from advocacy groups, lawmakers and customers to take actions on environmental issues.

CVS has also taken on the green initiative by planning to give participating customers $1 cash bonuses on their CVS cards every four times they buy something but don’t request plastic bags.

A pilot test in 100 Target stores earlier this year resulted in a hefty 58% reduction in plastic bags used, says Shawn Gensch, vice president of marketing. “The best-case scenario is that we’ll have 100% success and every consumer will use a reusable bag.”

“Plastic bags are the most ubiquitous form of waste on the planet,” Herskowitz says. “They are among the most deadly forms of marine debris, lethal to threatened species of marine mammals throughout the world.”

The Target program, which will roll out on Nov. 1 at all 1,700 Target stores nationwide, could save billions of plastic bags. The chain posts upwards of 1.5 billion transactions annually — most ending up in more than one bag.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/environment/2009-10-18-target-plastic-bags-green-environment_N.htm

The federal government is offering financial incentives for eco-friendly home improvements.  The Wall Street Journal discusses a few options to collect your green tax credits:

Upgrade your insulation, windows, doors, roofing, heating and air-conditioning system or water heater, and you could qualify for a federal tax credit for 30% of the purchase price of the product — up to a $1,500 maximum credit.

To qualify for the credit, you must place those purchases in service between Jan. 1, 2009 and Dec. 31, 2010.

“The $1,500 cap applies to the aggregate amount of credits claimed in both years combined,” says Robin Christian, senior tax analyst at the tax and accounting business of Thomson Reuters. “Also, only improvements made to your principal residence qualify — vacation homes are not considered.”

Details on which products qualify can be found on the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program Web site. Some stores also post information. For instance, at Home Depot’s Web site, there’s a link to a list of specific products that qualify. Click on “Tax Credit Eligibility.”

Another, larger credit program, also administered by the Department of Energy, lets homeowners deduct up to 30% of the cost of fuel cells, solar cells or solar water heaters, wind energy and geothermal energy generators. These credits have no cap and are in place until 2016.

WSJ suggests starting with insulation and windows to make your home more energy efficient.

“If you need insulation, that is the most cost-effective upgrade you can make — even without a tax credit,” says Karen Schneider, Web-site manager for Energy Star. “If you have a 50-year-old home and never looked at the insulation, now is the time to do that.”

Many insulation projects, such as upgrading or adding insulation in an attic, are easy for do-it-yourselfers, says Michael Chenard, director of environmental affairs for home-improvement store Lowe’s. “Insulation is one of the easiest things to do that is covered by the tax-credit promotion,” he says.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125520769923778297.html?mod=rss_whats_news_us

Beginning today at the Philadelphia International Airport, a convenient and environmentally friendly boarding pass will be available for those flying on Continental Airlines, giving travelers the option of avoiding much dreaded lines at the airport’s kisoks and ticket counters.

Travelers who go to Continental’s website within 24 hours of their flight, can have the new electronic boarding pass emailed right to their cell phones or PDA’s. So, instead of waving a paper boarding pass, travelers place their cell phone or PDA displaying the electronic ticket, on a scanner, while the TSA officer checks a government-issued photo ID like usual. Then, at the gate, before passengers board, the electronic pass is scanned again at a “gate reader.”

Philadelphia marks the 25th airport to roll out Continental’s electronic boarding pass option and the TSA expects the idea to expand nationwide.

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20090916