We’ve all “heard” about green rebates, but what about turning those mutterings into cold, hard cash?

Evidently, there’s more than $4 billion in eco-rebates out there, just sitting on some contractor or retailer’s shelf – in your zip code, under your nose, literally at your fingertips. According to a 2011 survey from Harris Interactive, only 13% of homeowners make home improvements that allow them to take advantage of these billions. More than 60% of Americans are completely in the dark that they even exist. Ironic, considering that all utility payers (renters, too) pay into these rebate programs via those Delphian surcharges.

Thankfully our intrepid reporting has led us to a free, easy, user-friendly service with a cute interface called Save Big Bread. It’s the Kayak of the home improvement industry with a two-pronged green approach:

1. Customers can save lots of green from their searchable database.

2. Contractors and manufacturers are authorized to provide energy-efficient, rebate-heavy products and services that are beneficial for our planet’s well-being.

Homeowners in the market for prohibitively expensive home improvement items (furnaces, windows, air-conditioning units, solar panels) can get a quote from SaveBigBread linking to state, utility and manufacture programs offering green rebates.

At this point you might be rolling your eyes to the tune of rebates, shmeebates. But we’re not talking $5 off a $78 Very Sexy ® push-up from Victoria’s Secret. These rebates can equate to significant savings worth thousands of dollars.

As a rule, rebates are not as sexy as the Very Sexy ® bra. That’s the fault of bad copywriting.

“These rebates are a mirage,” explains Tony Maull, founder and President of Save Big Bread. “The way they’ve been marketed these programs are not consumer friendly.”

Save Big Bread is about transparency and access to attainable, digestible information.

“What we’ve done is taken on the burden of going into the program sites and structuring that information. We rationalize it and let the consumer choose…the savings, and the people who can do the work authorized by the program.”

They will even help you with the paperwork, ensuring that the rebate materializes not as concept but as actual, spendable cash. Victoria’s Secret is not going to give you that kind of boost.

Image: Installation of the Toncelli Eurocucina at the 2012 International Kitchen Furniture Exhibition in Milan

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Surf’s up: the Rogue Wave is part of designer Evelyn Hutter’s Water Pressure series.

The Rogue Wave is part of Water Pressure, an eco-friendly lighting series designed and created by Evelyn Hutter of Dwellings LTD in Brooklyn, NY. Illuminated with energy efficient LEDs, all of the chandeliers in the series are meant to convey a feeling of “suspended animation.”

Hutter took her inspiration from the tumultuous and mercurial element of water, interpreting it in all its forms: man-made, natural and in the case of the Rogue, oceanic. In addition to using LED lights, which last ten times longer than incandescent bulbs, she also uses a less toxic method called powder coating – a dry, non-leaching and resource-recoverable process to metal plate the fixture bodies and canopies. All of Hutter’s chandeliers are hand-constructed without the use of glues or adhesives.

“We believe in bowing to our environment,” Hutter explains on her site, “in which water is the most precious resource, both in production of our chandeliers and consumer use beyond.”

$2,800

Look for Lustables daily at EcoSalon. 100% gorgeous green finds, and never sponsored. Submit your favorite to tips@ecosalon.com

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The light is on and someone’s home. This was once a sure signal for would-be criminals who might be deterred from a brightly lit space in the days of mindless energy use. Crime experts have warned us that a dimly lit residence sends the message the owner is on vacation. While most crimes occur in daylight during the summer months when people aren’t home, those desperate to break in at night can find harbor in a dark front lawn with dense bushes – a frequent hiding space for intruders hoping to remain inconspicuous until getting in and out with stolen valuables.

But in these days of doing our part to curb phantom energy waste by switching off and unplugging, we are left wondering if going dark is dangerous. A growing number of cities have been cutting back on street light usage to save on the electric bills and energy use.

Lights out San Francisco, an eco advocacy group campaigning for energy awareness, has targeted downtown buildings – urging owners to switch off non essential lights and appliances every night to make the city the first dark skyline in the country. It was estimated that as much as 15 percent of energy consumed on an average Saturday night can be spared by turning out lights for just one hour. You can imagine the savings from a blackout every night.

While the goal can spell a greener planet, the notion doesn’t sit well with all homeowners, including women living alone who have relied on street lights, as well as their own lamps and ceiling lights to provide an added sense of security. Even if it is simply the flickering lights of the holiday tree, the warm glow seen through the window can make us feel we aren’t really alone. So what’s the happy medium?

According to self-proclaimed crime doctor – Chris E. Mcgoey – there are steps we can take to light up more efficiently and guard our homes with other measures that don’t require draining resources. In terms of the lighting, which he deems necessary for both the interior and exterior of a home, he highly recommends buying inexpensive light timers and using them daily – establishing a routine neighbors can observe and detect when something is off. He tells us the exteriors should provide 100-feet of visibility to your pathway and door.

“Typically, you want to use light-timers near the front and back windows with the curtains closed,” he says. “The patter of lights turning on and off should simulate actual occupancy. It’s also comforting not to have to enter a dark residence when you return home. The same light timers can be used to turn on radios or television sets to further enhance the illusion of occupancy. ”

He also advised lighting the exterior and perimeter of your home, using timers to show the appearance of occupancy at all times, including common area lighting on apartment buildings using timers or photo-cells to shut off at dawn. He adds that security lights with infra-red motion sensors are cheap and serve as a good alternative to an exterior porch light or side door light.

Beyond the lighting, here are other security precautions you can take allowing you to be a good green citizen who feels protected:

1. Improve doors and locks, including securing the garage door (a favorite point of entry); According to Consumer Reports, nearly two-thirds of burglaries involve forced entry, so why make it easy? Install solid metal doors at all entrances with heavy duty knobs with deadbolt locks with a dead lock mechanism to prevent slipping with a shim or credit card. Use a heavy-duty, four screw strike plate and a wide-angle peephole.

2. Sliding Glass Doors require Secondary Blocking Device: These doors are vulnerable but can be secured with a wooden dowel or stick inserted into the track to block movement. During the winter, nailing these doors shut can also be effective.

3. Close Windows and Install Anti-Lift devices: Open windows seen from the street are also inviting to burglars looking for a way in. Use secondary blocking devices on these as well, ones that comply with fire codes (i.e. screws halfway into the upper track).

4. A good alarm system property installed and maintained: These systems deter crime, according to a study from Rutgers University. Make sure response calls are up to date.

5. Be a good neighbor and stay vigilant for others: The National Crime Prevention Council urges us to get to know our neighbors, even in these days of disconnect with humans while we stay connected to our computers. Bring back those block parties, work together on improvements, form a caring community in your cul-de-sac. Call your neighbors if you see something suspicious or hear of any thefts in the neighborhood. Offer to collect someone’s mail if they are away or to help in other reciprocal ways. In other words, the old fashioned methods of making our homes safe still work the best as we work together to spare dwindling resources.

Images: Darkpatador; Treevillage; Jdigger; Axelharmann; jepoirrier

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There are (or were) few things as wonderfully tech-free as the little red schoolhouse. A single room, a few wooden desks, a corresponding number of quaint textbooks (paper) and, well, okay, a chalkboard. I guess that counts for technology. But, still, write on it 100 times: “Keep it simple. Keep it simple. Keep it simple”¦” And then add: “With nothing toxic. With nothing toxic. With nothing toxic”¦”

Unfortunately, the classroom has not been immune from the hazards of “progress,” both in terms of its impact on our environment as well as on the health of the people (namely, kids) who benefit from it. But from asbestos to lead paint, where our children learn has rightly been on the forefront of our society’s efforts to clean itself up. And this summer, the Bolsa Knolls Middle School in Salinas, California, turned such efforts into a proactive initiative by installing new, environmentally friendly schoolrooms for its sixth and seventh graders.

The modular classrooms are dubbed Gen7, by their West Coast manufacturer, American Modular Systems (AMS). The prefab “green learning spaces” were constructed off-site and delivered to Bolsa Knolls over the summer, just in time for the start of the school year.

To create the classrooms, AMS started with green and efficient electrical and mechanical systems and integrated them into its established “building envelope.” The finished product contains mostly recycled and recyclable materials, and low and zero VOC (volatile organic compound) interiors. Insulation in the walls and roof make for a quiet learning space and minimize heat and cooling loss. (Oh, and how’s this for school cool: One of the recycled materials used in the structures’ insulation is denim fabric scraps.) Meanwhile smart lighting is provided by “natural daylight harvesting.”

Test results: the whole shebang exceeds California’s Title 24 Energy Code by more than 30 percent.

The off-site construction method, says AMS, means reduced energy demands, without chemicals or toxins or waste requiring landfills required at the project location, which is good for the local community. And “because our Gen7 schoolrooms are modular, they can be installed and ready for students in as few as 90 days,” said Tony Sarich, AMS’ vice president of operation. Read: over the summer. (Summer. As in “where did that go?”)

Here’s some more info for our loyal “Spec-Heads”: Smart Thermal Displacement Ventilation (TDV) system reduces electricity use and costs by 35 percent; grid-neutral design structure; programmable lighting that’s natural daylight harvesting; Low-E, solar band 60 dual-glazed operable windows and programmable Energy Star-rated tubular skylights that lower electricity usage. Oh, and the roof is designed to allow the installation of photo-voltaic power panels. Okay, folks, now settle down.

Behind the scenes, AMS is also promoting itself as an excellent green corporate citizen “dedicated to earth-friendly manufacturing practices.” Its facilities “employ a range of green practices, including daylight harvesting at its 280,000-square-foot enclosed manufacturing space, efficient office lighting and heating/cooling, effective water-saving devices and have installed a rooftop solar-capturing system to offset energy usage.” Want more? Its site even mentions that plant employees carpool to work and jobsites in “modern, CA emission-compliant vehicles.”

The results of all this could be dramatic: According to AMS, kids attending green schools are posting “20 percent higher test scores, fewer absences due to respiratory illness, lower faculty healthcare costs and higher teacher retention.” Also big on the agenda is money savings, which can mean strapped school systems end up with more green. According to The Californian, Trevor Miller, the district’s facilities consultant, each 1,000-square-foot classroom costs the district about $180,000 or half the cost of a conventional classroom. Write that a hundred times: “Half the cost. Half the cost. Half…”

Also see: Crisp Green

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