Green

For the past two years, I've been chasing down a crazy goal: to reduce my family's trash enough that I could call the company which collects our garbage and tell it that, instead of picking up our one 32-gallon can every week, we'd need the service only once a month. Even though we've always been obsessive about recycling, it had taken our family of five a long time to reach this place.

First, we'd started composting all of our kitchen waste, feeding the tastiest scraps to our backyard chickens. Then, I'd begun a serious and totalitarian campaign to stop buying things with excess packaging, toting my recycled glass jars to the co-op to fill with dried cherries and black beans and brown rice flour from the bulk bins; baking cookies and breads instead of buying them; saying 'no' to single-serving foods. It didn't hurt that we were on a "financial fast" that had us buying very little we didn't need.

As the federal government's Cash for Appliance Clunkers program begins, consumers may find themselves in a stew of confusion over when rebates are available, how much they'll get and from where.

The rebate clock is already ticking in Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont and Wisconsin, and come February, residents of Alaska, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, New York and Rhode Island will be eligible for rebate deals. The rest of the states and territories will open their rebate programs in March and April, and some are even running second offer phases later in the year. See the chart below for a link to your state's program.

Wherever you live, the key to getting your biggest possible share of the rebate pot is understanding exactly what your state, local utility, retailer and new-appliance manufacturer are offering for your green-minded trouble ─ an equation you practically have to be a PhD to figure out.

We're having a real winter this year. As opposed to a few winters past, we've already seen several snows and have had the heater cranked up for months. I happen to live in an old house (and by old, I mean about 130 years), so heating it can be a challenge. Our old unit isn't cutting it anymore, and we're going to have to replace it. Fortunately, we might get a tax break for doing so.

Under current law, taxpayers may be eligible for a federal income tax credit for the purchase of a new energy-efficient water heater, air conditioner or furnace. But it doesn't stop there. The credit also applies to such improvements as windows and doors, roofs and insulation. You can find a detailed list of qualifying purchases on the Energy Star Web site.

Tired of the urban grind? Sick -- literally -- of the produce from your local supermarket?

You are not alone. A growing number of urban dwellers and suburbanites seeking a rural life where they have more control over the food they eat and can get their fingernails dirty are taking up farming as an avocation.

The trend, dubbed "hobby farming" in some circles -- and "lifestyle farming" in others --is loosely defined as one in which the participants' incomes are not derived solely from farming. Many who slip on their first pair of overalls have no experience whatsoever with the avocation, but their business skills give them a leg up. They also are enthusiastic about trading in their lattes for Lima beans, so don't mind the learning curve.

Miss last night's Shark Tank? Then you missed witnessing some everyday people make money fast by daring to take their dreams in front of a panel of multi-millionaires.

Decked out in banana yellow bike shirts, close friends Erin Whalen and Tim Stansbury appealed for $40,000 for 40% of their Grease Monkey Wipes. It sounded like a product you thought existed before: a disposable cleaning sheet that can tackle grease and other stains that baby wipes can't handle. During a very effective and simple demonstration, the aroma of the key ingredient, orange citrus oil, filled the Shark Tank, but that couldn't keep the whiff of greed away for long.

Here's our follow-up interview with the branding whizzes, who snagged $40,000 for what was essentially a new kind of Wet-Nap:

New York City's homeless may be wearing a motley collection of castoff clothing: the rejects from the closets of more financially-blessed residents, perhaps, or the logo merchandise from now-merged banks or defunct companies, maybe even some cast-offs from local discount retailers that lingered too long on the clearance racks. Yet, you won't see any such freebies from H& M or Walmart. Instead of donating unsold clothes to the needy, the two retailers have evidently been quietly stuffing unloved frocks in the trash.

According to The New York Times, unsold clothes from the two retailers were found destroyed in garbage bags outside the H&M store on 34th Street east of Sixth Avenue, and in the nearby 35th Street Walmart. At Walmart, unworn clothes had been punched with holes by some sort of machine. At H&M, they'd been slashed by a box cutter, rendering a bunch of fiber-filled coats unwearable.

Cash for Caulkers, the Obama administration's push to subsidize home energy efficiencies via tax credits, faltered before 2009 came to a close -- but is expected to return this month.

So let's take a breath and ask some basic questions, such as whether such credits will work and what models around the country suggest alternative approaches?

In conversations with various ground-level groups, WalletPop came away with a variety of intriguing perspectives about the federal Homestar proposal, from frustrated homeowners and entrepreneurial municipalities, from measured energy consultants and curious insulation installers. Here is a sampling:

According to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, 100 majors, minors and certificate programs were created at American colleges and universities in 2009, with focuses on topics like renewable energy and green technology.

According to the USA Today, "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. That's partly why budget-strapped schools are adding energy and sustainability programs even while cutting other majors ... "

Looking for a job in the great outdoors? Love animals? Like money? Then you might take a look at a growing new business in the U.S. -- renting out animals to clear troublesome brush.

The goat herd of Rent-A-Ruminant LLC is over 100 strong and voracious, cleaning up parks, construction sites, school grounds and private business greenery in the Seattle area.

"Wouldn't it be weird," thought Nashville, Tenn. singer Britt Savage, "if I could ask everybody to give me their old Christmas wrapping paper?"

Remember, she goes on, when you were a kid and you had to save the wrapping paper, opening everything super-carefully. "You'd upset the whole family if you just ripped your gift up," she says.

The next step is logical only for someone with a mind like Savage's: make a dress from the resulting amalgam of saved paper, packing tape, velcro and staples ("a bunch of staples!"), and wear it onstage for a holiday season gig.

When I spoke to her a few hours before that gig on Tuesday night, Savage was buzzing with excitement, having just picked up a little more packing tape to secure the dress, a string of lights for her mic stand, and "granny pants. The skirt was already really short, so I went to this dancewear store, and they told me they're called cheerleading pants!" she tells me.

According to Kermit, It's not easy being green, but the frog is going to have to change his tune. Being green is getting easier every day. What was once labeled 'hippie' has become hip and whether we've embraced the eco-centric lifestyle or are taking baby steps, most of us have realized it's not just cool, but important to care about our environment. As the demand for earth-friendly choices trickles into every aspect of the marketplace, "green" toys are getting increasingly easier to find and cheaper to buy -- just in time for the holidays.

The power of the purse has always been an effective way for consumers to communicate which business practices they support and which they do not. Money talks. The 2009 Cone Consumer Environmental Survey found that in spite of the economy, 34% of American consumers said they are more likely to buy environmentally responsible products than they did one year ago. Some 70% of Americans indicated that they are paying attention to what companies are doing with regard to the environment today, even if they aren't buying right now.

"The fact that consumers continue to be interested in the environment and mindful of corporate efforts, even in the midst of a grueling recession, is evidence that this is more than just a passing trend," said Jonathan Yohannan, senior vice president of corporate responsibility for Boston-based Cone. "Environmental responsibility is not just an expectation in times of prosperity."

Jobs in the clean technology industry are growing twice as fast as the national average. So that's where the jobs are. Walletpop spoke with Ron Pernick, co-founder of West Coast-based Clean Edge and the author of The Clean Tech Revolution, to find out what these jobs are, how to land one, and, most importantly, how much they pay.

Here are some highlights from Clean Edge's recent report, Clean Tech Job Trends 2009, which I highly recommend you read if you want to know if this industry is for you. There are lots of resources for clean tech job trainings, education and job search engines, after the jump.

According to the report, jobs vary from accountant -- there's one we've heard before -- to wind turbine technician. From the report, here's a sample of jobs and their salaries:

• Hardware Design Engineer, Smart Grid $87,700 Mid-Level; requires Engineering Bachelor's
• Welder, Cutter, Solderer, or Brazer, Wind Power; salary: $50,300 Mid-Level; requires: High School/Associate's Degree
• Wind Turbine Technician, Wind Power; salary: $52,600 Entry-Level; requires: Bachelor's Degree
• Construction Superintendent, Wind Power; salary: $74,000 Senior-Level; requires: Bachelor's Degree
• Field Service Engineer, Wind Power; salary: $62,400 Mid-Level; requires: Engineering Bachelor's Degree

But can these jobs be outsourced?

This year, you got paid for tossing out the clunker car. Next year, you'll be rewarded for getting rid of the energy-inefficient washer or fridge. Many states will be sponsoring a "Cash for Appliances" program, similar to "Cash for Clunkers" in that you'll be paid for doing a big spring cleaning of your old appliances and buying those labeled with the Energy Star seal.

This is part of the federal government's economic stimulus plan -- it set aside $300 million in rebates for buying energy-efficient products, and state governments had to send detailed plans to Washington by earlier this month to explain how they would give that money away. So unlike Cash for Clunkers, each state is in charge of its own Cash for Appliances program.

California, for example, will focus on rebates for just three standard appliances. It will give $100 for the purchase of an Energy Star-approved clothes washer, $75 for a refrigerator and $50 for a room air-conditioner. Those rebates are in addition to any additional rebates offered by the state utility company supplying your electricity and the appliance manufacturer you buy from. The program is supposed to start in early spring.