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Caulk forms a flexible seal for cracks, gaps, or joints less than 1-quarter-inch wide. You can use a caulking compound to seal air leaks in a variety of places throughout your home, including around windows and door frames.

Most experts agree that caulking and weatherstripping — two simple air sealing techniques — will pay for themselves in energy savings within one year. Applying these techniques will also alleviate drafts and help your home feel warmer when it's cold outside.

You may already know where some air leakage occurs in your home, such as an under-the-door draft, but you'll need to find the less obvious gaps to properly air seal your home.

Air sealing is one of the most significant energy efficiency improvements you can make to your home. Air sealing will not just reduce energy costs; it will also improve your home's comfort and durability.

Air leakage, or infiltration, occurs when outside air enters a house uncontrollably through cracks and openings. Properly air sealing such cracks and openings in your home can significantly reduce heating and cooling costs, improve building durability, and create a healthier indoor environment.

Vancouver models much of its urban planning on the principle of eco-density, a term developed largely by City Councillor Suzanne Anton. There was no better place for us to interview Suzanne than at the Coopers Pointe on the waterfront looking across toward the Olympic Village. While in Vancouver, we wanted not only to cover the Olympic architecture but to grasp the essence of a city which is reputed for its very low ecological footprint per capita. It is no coincidence, I believe, that William Rees and Mathis Wackernagel developed the concept of an ecological footprint at The University of British Columbia.

On Tuesday of this week, President Obama announced construction plans for the first new U.S. nuclear power plant (actually two new reactors at an existing plant) in almost three decades.  Touting the benefits that nuclear power offers to the environment (in particular, fewer carbon emissions as compared to similar-sized coal burning plants), the U.S. government will back $8.33 billion in loans for the reactor additions to the Alvin Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in Burke, Georgia.  The loans program is run by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and has previously sponsored infrastructure projects concerning wind turbines and cleaner coal burning power plants.