The old-fashioned light bulb's phaseout: a primer

These are confusing days to be shopping for a light bulb.

Modular homes can be a cheaper, greener alternative to traditional custom builds

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — When Jack and Gina Sheehan wanted to demolish and replace their 1952-built waterfront home in Yorktown, Va., they didn't choose the custom-built route.

Holiday lights are exempt from bulb efficiency law

Love to deck the halls with old-fashioned incandescent lights? Don't worry: Holiday lights are exempt from the new energy-saving standards for light bulbs that will take effect next year.

Excerpts from recent Indiana editorials

A shot across the online retailing bow

Solar power is beginning to go mainstream

The high costs that for years made it impractical as a mainstream source of energy are plummeting. Solar power installations doubled in the United States last year and are expected to double again this year.

Sealing air leaks saves on utility bills

Nobody wants to spend good money to heat the outdoors. But that's what you could be doing if your house has excessive air leaks.

Solar systems: Energy from sun can pay for panels in about 10 years

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. — Ben Cuker lives what he teaches as a professor of marine and environmental science at Hampton University in Hampton, Va.

GUEST EDITORIALS: Indiana passes hypocritical gun law

The majority of Indiana's lawmakers care a lot more about gun lobbyists — and themselves — than they do about the concerns of mayors, librarians and many Hoosiers.

We all live with low-level radiation; how harmful is it?

Don't worry too much about the hint of radiation reaching U.S. shores from the damaged nuclear reactors in Japan, experts say.

GUEST EDITORIALS: Rekindling the smoking ban

St. Joseph County Council member Mike Kruk is right to push for an expansion of the countywide smoking ban.

Energy education program kicks off tour

NIPSCO has launched the fourth year of THINK! ENERGY Indiana, an energy-efficiency education program for students northern Indiana schools.

New boiler fires up ArcelorMittal

EAST CHICAGO | Legislators and officials from ArcelorMittal and the federal government met Thursday to celebrate a grant that helped fund a project to increase energy efficiency and sustain jobs at the Indiana Harbor integrated steel mill.

Ill. rebate program shorter than planned

CHICAGO | It took only 2½ hours for Illinois' latest Energy Star appliance rebate program to run out of cash.

Yes you can build a low-cost green' house

The greenest house in Lewis County, Ky., is a pleasant shade of blue — and a model for future low-income housing.

The Eco-Home that Julia Russell built

LOS ANGELES | Julia Russell has had the great fortune to live out her passion: treading ever more lightly on the planet, making her home a laboratory and herself an example.

Senator Durbin says Illinois needs to latch onto coal projects

TAYLORVILLE, Ill. | U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin says two power-plant projects that would rely on clean-coal technology are opportunities Illinois can't afford to let get away.

Updated car stickers to include environmental info

WASHINGTON | Will your new car get an A in fuel efficiency? A government proposal may add letter grades to showroom window stickers on new cars and trucks to reflect a vehicle's overall fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions.

Abrupt pause in home-upgrade program leaves projects incomplete

LOS ANGELES | A popular program that allows homeowners to tap low-interest government financing to install energy-efficient solar panels, windows and insulation has stalled, leaving tens of thousands of green improvement projects across the country in limbo.