Parent Time

• Carbon offsets allow you to match your own greenhouse gas contributions from driving or flying with financial contributions to wind farms or other eco-friendly projects. As the offset industry grows, look for more rigid standards to guarantee projects are effectively reducing emissions.

• Compact fluorescent lights (CFLs) use 75 0.000000e+000ss power than conventional incandescent bulbs and last eight times longer. Plus, the light of the new CFLs is less harsh than old office or school overhead fluorescents many recall with dread. While compact fluorescent bulbs are more expensive to buy, over the 9,000-hour life of each bulb, you’ll save about $35.

• Our governments and businesses have incentives to help green your home. The federal ecoENERGY Retrofit program offers cash for upgrades, but for a full list of incentives and rebates, go to Environment Canada’s searchable database at
incentivesandrebates.ca.

• In 1978, Canada introduced the EnerGuide program, with its distinctive black and white stickers, to tell consumers how much electricity their appliances use. EnergyStar, the international sister program to EnerGuide, goes one step better and identifies the most efficient models on the market. For more information and efficiency rankings, go to oee.nrcan.gc.ca.

• A small number of companies are now offering green energy for Canadian homes. Consumers continue to get power from their regular source after they sign up with retailers, such as Ontario’s Bullfrog Power, but for a small premium — about $1 a day in the case of Bullfrog — the eco-friendly utilities buy an equal amount of electricity from wind or low-impact hydroelectric generation.

Originally published in Today's Parent, July 2007