In celebration of Pollution Prevention Week and amid an atmosphere of intelligent concern for the environmental health and safety of products we use in every day life, the EPA has launched a simple online guide for the eco-labeling  programs it supports; the Greener Products Portal.

Consumers, small businesses, retailers, manufacturers, and institutional purchasers can use the Portal to search for products that are included in EPA-approved product labeling systems. Using a set of 3 drop down boxes to narrow their inquiries folks can find information on a wide range of products; from appliances to building materials, from automotive products to cleaning products. This tool can be useful for a wide range of people; from parents to industrial purchasers, and the many demographics in between.

For those most concerned with… [view entry]

One of the most exciting intern projects completed this summer is a new component of our website: an online Interactive Home.

Clicking on different household components will bring you to information about DIY energy saving projects and renewable energy guides. In the house you’ll find know-how to install just about every energy saving measure available from upgrading to solar lighting outdoors to sealing drafts. Check every section of your home -  including doorways, refrigerators, lamps, boiler rooms, laundry machines, and more!

For example, if you would like to learn about geothermal heat pumps, click on the image of red and blue lines buried underneath the home. Clicking will open up a new tab, with concise and helpful information including a general definition, two different types of systems (horizontal-closed loop and… [view entry]

Click on the title of this entry to see the video!

Thanks to our Graphics intern Chelsea Lane, CEA is now available in cartoon form! With this short clip, our message is clearer than ever; energy efficiency is easy to get started on, and you’ll start saving money quickly. (Don’t you want a vacation somewhere tropical ?!) Get started right now.

Cross-posted from the Sustainable Business Leader Program blog.

On May 23rd the Sustainable Business Leader Program, Cambridge Local First, and the Cambridge Energy Alliance hosted a new kind of business sustainability workshop:  a business-to-business conversation featuring the Cambridge Brewing Company, a handful of business-centered sustainability services, and a score of small business representatives curious about their own green options.

By having many of the players in the room at the same time, small Cambridge businesses were able to comfortably learn how they could make their businesses more environmentally friendly while saving valuable natural resources and money.

The workshop featured a presentation by Phil “Brewdaddy” Bannatyne, owner of Cambridge Brewing Company, who highlighted the steps that his business took to “go green,” including much… [view entry]

A guest blog by one of CEA’s Spring interns, Allison Simon:

Think back to your first encounter with today’s sustainability movement—what were you introduced to? For many people, including myself, I believe the answer would be the same: Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs). These light bulbs represented everything that the sustainability leaders wanted the movement to stand for: ease, cost savings, and little difference to the previous energy guzzling options. The most important aspect about these light bulbs was that they worked—residents started to go out and buy energy efficient light bulbs and began to see a difference in their utility bills. Even though that change may have happened in your home and office years ago, light bulbs are far from passé.

With the addition of Light Emitting Diodes, or LEDs, into… [view entry]

Residents of Cambridge, MA were introduced to a new opportunity on February 8th, 2011. Energy efficiency is on the minds of renters, condominium owners, and homeowners alike as the environmental, financial, and physical benefits become more prominently appreciated. Usually when energy efficiency information is available, it is more general and further discussion with specific professionals is suggested, since the process of making home energy efficiency improvements is tailored to unique home and ownership characteristics and often entails several detailed levels of complexity. On February 8th, those professionals were brought together in one place for an evening of sequential enlightenment for curious attendees, with an added bonus of networking amongst their industry peers and less-assumed partners, Green real estate agents.

When the Cambridge Energy Alliance and Coldwell Banker Agents Amy Tighe and Robin… [view entry]

Over 400 volunteers listen to Lori Landers' introduction.

This year’s Martin Luther King Day saw an event put on by Many Helping Hands at the Central Square YWCA, which brought together over 400 Cambridge volunteers to create blankets and scarves for the homeless, emergency room activity kits for children, valentines for home-bound seniors, and bookmarks for literacy program participants.

The day opened with an introduction by the organizers, and then a single vocalist on stage singing a chill-inducing “River Jordan” before leading the crowd in “This Little Light of Mine,” all a cappella to send them off to work with the right spirit firmly in mind.

The Cambridge Energy Alliance was fortunate enough to have been present for this event, among many other local Cambridge volunteer-seeking… [view entry]

Feel like banging your head against the wall each time you try to discuss climate change with someone you know? Below is a highly valuable blog entry that was spawned from climate change concensus-building expert Larry Susskind‘s participation in a CEA/HEET-sponsored event. Here, Mr. Susskind thoroughly discusses how best to communicate with those who are critical of climate change’s legitimacy. Ultimately you must work around confrontation by facts, to get to the heart of concerns for each conversation partner. If you have been experiencing difficulty communicating with skeptics in your life, this is a blog for you.

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From Larry Susskind’s blog, The Consensus Building Approach:

On Wednesday, November 10th, I had an opportunity to speak to a packed room of students and community residents at Harvard College seeking… [view entry]

What would you do if your doorbell rang on Halloween and instead of saying “trick or treat!” your visitors handed you a new, curly-cue light bulb (or two)? This year’s Halloween saw an event that was a brand new take on the usual compact fluorescent light bulb canvasses that the CEA hosts.  We are thrilled to see that this creative event went off without a hitch, and that it has set a great precedent for following years!

Please see below for the post featured on the Green Medford blog:

A group of us from Green Medford and Fletcher Green (a Tufts graduate student group) trolled the streets around the Columbus School last night–Halloween evening–handing out bags of treats to delighted and laughing residents at 84 addresses. People… [view entry]

The Cambridge Energy Alliance has participated in many CFL exchange canvasses. On a chosen day, we and volunteers head out into neighborhoods and knock on doors, offering to give an equal number of CFLs for the number of regular light bulbs a household will hand us. As a special treat with Halloween approaching, Green Medford has announced an event that is a new take on this idea.

From the Green Medford blog:

Hi all! I want to share with you a very fun idea and ask for your help in making it a big success!

We’re calling our event “Reverse Trick or Treat,” thought up by JR Siegel, a student at the Fletcher School and a Medford resident. The idea is for a bunch of residents to… [view entry]