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More hotels opening in airports
The days of snoozing upright in an airport terminal chair during that long layover may soon be over. At some of the world’s busiest airports, travelers can book a hotel room to catch a nap or take a warm shower — all just minutes from the runway.
Car-sharing services changing how people get around
When you rent a car on vacation, would you borrow a stranger's car? The car rental industry is betting some people might. Link no longer exists.
How flying a kite could power your home
Kites and blimps may be the next big thing in wind energy and may even power your home one day – and we’re not talking decades from now. Think years.
A throng of entrepreneurs and inventors are now trying to transform what was once stuff of science fiction into real energy businesses. The goal is the same: build mega-watt systems that can wean the world off fossil fuels and grab a slice of the $63 billion global wind energy market. The U.S. Department of Energy expects that wind will provide 20 percent of the nation’s energy by 2030 – up from just 1.8 percent today.
Beware of the hard sell at vacation resorts
Get ready for the hard sell if you’re vacationing in Mexico. The nation’s biggest hotel chains are aggressively pushing travelers to join their “hotel membership clubs,” the latest iteration of the vacation timeshare. Link no longer available.
The 'green' way to dump electronic junk
Millions of Americans are equally perplexed when it comes to disposing of old technology. Between 1980 and 2005, 180 million electronic products accumulated in storage, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. And in 2005, Americans tossed an estimated 1.5 million tons of computers, TVs, scanners, printers, faxing machines and cell phones into the trash.
No Twinkies? Vending machines go organic
There's never been a better time to be a vending machine, as long as you're dispensing organic foods and snacks, that is.
For Gen X, it's time to grow up and get a broker
Generation X may have shed the slacker image over the past decade as its members moved beyond coffee shop jobs and into the suburbs, SUVs and corporate boardrooms. But when it comes to saving for retirement, the description still fits.
Frustrated by airline baggage fees? Lighten your load
Pack smart, have it all delivered or consider using loaner items
Eco-friendly tune-ups keep you driving green
Feeling a twinge of guilt as you chug down the highway in your SUV? Now you can now ease your mind with green car tune-ups — no Prius necessary.
For young travelers, playing knows no borders
Today, more parents want to meet people with kids when they travel, and they’re connecting with locals using sites like Tripping.com, Courchsurfing.org, BeWelcome.org and Servas.org.
How to score VIP treatment while on the road
Travelers can get great perks via new websites, programs — and by merely asking.
From the junkyard to the clothes rack
One man's discarded cellphone is another man's polo ... or pants or T-shirt. At least that's how one Boston startup sees it.
The LiveProud Group recycles trash taken from landfills and uses it in a line of athletic apparel. But unlike other clothing manufacturers who use recycled polyester, wool or plastic bottles, LiveProud grabs the electronic junk Americans toss out by the tons to produce its clothing line.
Mazel tov! Traditional Jewish ceremonies take to the road
Rather than spending $20,000 to $100,000 on bar and bat mitzvah parties, more families are taking their show on the road for a fraction of the cost, in pursuit of unique memories and less party planning.
Small ski areas go after big-time competitors
With bleak snowfall at Colorado's biggest ski resorts, the nation's smaller ski areas are moving in for the kill — and tourist dollars.
Drink this, you may feel pleasantly green
When sipping that beer or vodka tonic at the next holiday party, take heart: Your revelry may actually be good for the environment.
Or at least that’s the pitch coming from makers of organic tequila, gin, vodka, brandy, beer and wine that are finding their way onto store shelves and fine restaurant menus — all in the name of healthier socializing and being green.
Gear makers get green to meet demand
The backpacker motto of ‘leave no trace’ has moved beyond the mountain slope and into your clothes.
Outdoor companies, taking to heart their customers’ love for the environment, are increasingly churning out more green gear designed to use organic and recycled materials, less packaging and more energy-efficient manufacturing. Credit consumer — and corporate — concerns over global warming and the impact of production on the Earth and worker health.
Open House: Places where it's easy being green
These homes for sale will leave you in harmony with the earth, for a cost.
Bottled water sales dry up and industry asks ‘why?’
Heather Lewis was wracked with guilt when she realized she was addicted to the bottle.
Bottled water, that is. But one day in January, as she gazed at the piles of plastic in her recycling bin, she decided to quit. Lewis is part of a bigger backlash against bottled water happening across the nation, and after decades of growth, the $11 billion industry is stuttering.
Want a green house? Prepare for confusion
By 2010, half of new homes built are expected to be classified as “green” as more builders try to appeal to consumers worried about global warming, the environment and rising energy costs. Builders say green homes are more durable and tend to sell much faster than traditionally built houses.
But how do you tell if a “green” home is truly green?
Green home remodeling still a gray area
Green may be the talk these days, but when it comes to doing a green home remodel, few homeowners — and contractors — understand exactly what it all means or where to start.
Green toys are red hot this holiday season
As the climate heats up, so is demand for “green” toys.
Eco-friendly toys used to inhabit the "Island of Misfit Toys," but this year there will likely be more of them on Santa's sleigh than ever before.
Bedbug invasion is turning into big business
Bedbugs mean big money — whether you’re a victim or an exterminator. The result: an exploding bedbug business that is not likely to die down anytime soon.
Halloween takes on more eco-friendly color
A small but growing legion of parents across the country who are going green this Halloween — handing out alternative treats, carrying reusable trick-or-treat bags, making their own face paint and decorations and swapping used costumes.
Open House: Dream houses under foreclosure
Bank-owned doesn't mean buying a dump, or spending less than $1 million
Pickens Plan no longer features wind energy
Oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens' TV commercials blasted the airwaves in 2008 with his big idea to get America off foreign oil imports: natural gas and wind energy. Two years later, let’s just make that natural gas.
Marketing push targets bioengineered food
To GMO or not to GMO?
No, it’s not a social networking site or a new dance. It stands for “genetically modified organisms” and if you’re like most Americans, you probably don't know what it means or that many of the foods you eat contain GMOs.
Government funding spurs new green rush
Looking for a job? Hitting the books may be a good bet if you want employment in the green energy sector, one of the brighter spots in the resurrecting job market. Link no longer available.
That’s not the ticket — Oscars help DVD sales
Movie studios know that when it comes to the Oscars, the most mileage and the biggest dollars come from the living room not the box office. Consumers spent $23.5 billion last year on DVDs, including $7.5 billion in rentals, according to The Digital Entertainment Group, a Hollywood trade group.
Wind power battling economic headwinds
Just a couple months ago, wind energy had huge momentum. Then came the credit crunch. If the momentum for wind power was measured by the Beaufort scale, which measures wind speed, it has dropped from a strong gale to a gentle breeze. Link no longer available.
When a studio portrait just isn't good enough
Professional photographers, hoping to stand out in a crowded market and build loyal clients and more referrals, are pushing year-long contracts and day-in-the-life shoots that capture people inside the hospital’s labor and delivery room, on vacation, at soccer games and even at the office and the classroom. Some of those long-term packages also include studio shots, such as black-and-white photos that document a woman’s pregnancy or an infant’s growth. Link no longer available.
Pickens' natural gas idea picking up steam
What will power your car a decade from now? Billionaire T. Boone Pickens is betting big that it will be compressed natural gas. Link no longer available.
Going, going, gone — your house, at auction
Selling a home via auction still conjures up images of desperate situations — perhaps bankruptcy, foreclosure or a death in the family drawing investors seeking to pick up a bargain property. But auctions increasingly are being used to sell high-end and even midrange homes as an alternative to the traditional listing and sales process.
Last year, sales through residential real estate auctions hit $14.2 billion, up 23 percent from $11.5 billion in 2003, according to National Auctioneers Association in Overland Park, Kans. Link no longer available.
Trying to turn Mr. Clean into Mr. Green
A movement is afoot among consumers such as Ms. Freedman to change how people clean, what kinds of products they use and how transparent manufacturers should be about what is inside their products. Instead of worrying about germs and dirt, these consumers are concerned about the chemicals sprayed to rid their homes of germs and dirt. Link no longer available.
Wireless price war to benefit cell-phone addicts
Some 76 million people get sick from food-borne illnesses each year, and about 5,000 die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That said, the nation's 935,000 restaurants are expected to serve 70 billion meals this year, according to the National Restaurant Association, and outbreaks for most major food-borne illnesses have declined by an average of 40 percent between 1996 and 2005 — with a few exceptions. Link no longer available.