These days it is becoming increasingly common for businesses to use more environmentally friendly materials and alternative sources of energy, so it seems only natural that this would extend to the music industry as well.

When banning the use of something becomes intractable, it is often best just to narrow the field in which that certain something can be used. This “starving of the beast” strategy is being utilized by the Environmental Protection Agency against a poisonous pesticide that has been used on our crops for decades.

Proponents for more sustainable sources of fuel gained some valuable news recently, as researchers at the California Institute of Technology and the University of Washington concluded the world’s supply of coal has been vastly overestimated. With traditional fossil fuels running out before our eyes, the need for alternative, renewable fuels becomes more important every day.

A lot of cars are going electric these days, hoping to combine the ease of gasoline and its embedded infrastructure with the increased sustainability of an electric component that can be charged. However, Volkswagen has chosen to mix out the electric from that equation and try natural gas. This is the process by which the EcoFuel VW Touran came to be.

If your refrigerator is older than 1993, you can save up to $200/year by upgrading to a newer energystar model. That means it will pay for itself in 3-5 years!

Most of the energy (about 90%) used by a clothes washer is used to heat the water. An energystar energy efficient clothes washer uses about half of the water of a conventional washer, which means you only need half as much energy to heat the water. Half as much energy means more money in your pocket!

There is an old myth that it is better to wash dishes by hand rather than that big piece of machinery we call a dishwasher. However, more and more information is showing that even the most skilled hands cannot out-wash the new energystar dishwashers. Some dishwashers even use “Soil Sensor” technology that measures how dirty the dishes are then optimizes the amount of water being used.

Many of us have costly gym memberships that can be a major expense each month. I generally wouldn’t advocate cancelling a gym membership, since having one in and of itself is a personal feat, but in an economic downturn, possibly having to cancel your gym membership is a reality. In addition to a financial drain, there are environmental downsides as well.