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Well, it has been a great ride, but, after much deliberation and thought, I am closing up shop as a Realtor and returning to my first love, Web design and development. For more information on my Web design and development initiatives, check out my soon-to-come web site at www.iaffectWeb.com. I will be setting up a blog there too, and plan on doing some posts on how businesses can use technology to lower their costs and reduce their carbon footprint.

I will also still be supporting the fight against climate change in various ways. If you live in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia and are interested in helping in the fight against global warming, check out my Facebook group, the "Hampton Roads Green Coalition." If I don't see you there, hopefully, I will see you out at one of the green drinks events in the area, out on a mountain bike or hiking trail or at one of the many kayaking locations around the area!

8 Ways to Green Your Home and Save Money

Kiplinger.com published a great article on how to have the government help pay to green your home via energy credits. The article details eight great ways to improve your home to save energy and how much of a credit you can expect to get from the government for each project.

Government assistance for energy saving projects come in the form of both local and state credits. Unfortunately, Virginia does not offer any credits for solar. However, there has been some talk about changing that recently. Virginia ranked 32nd in a 2008 state energy efficiency survey done by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE), so it would be nice to improve our standing!

For more information on Virginia's energy rankings, especially when it comes to solar, check out solarpowerrocks.com.

March Pending Home Sales Rise

Mach pending home sales were announced this morning and they rose a solid 3.2% from February, which showed a gain of 2.1% itself. Year-over-year, the index is up 1.6%. However, despite the good news, inventory levels are still high nationally, with around a 10 month supply of homes still on the market.

The housing market definitely seems to be stabilizing nicely. I believe the most telling sign of the health of the housing market will come later this year, as we exit the peak season. If sales this fall and winter continue to show improvement, prices remain stable and inventory numbers begin to come down, I think we will be making our way out of the woods. However, there are still a lot of people who are unemployed and we could see those layoffs cycle through the housing sector in the form of foreclosures later this year.

Nevertheless, as I have stated previously, I still believe that 2009 is one of the best times to buy a home we have seen in a decade. Rates are historically low, there is an $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit and sellers are willing to negotiate. Contact me today to start your home search!

Earth Day Resources

Happy Earth Day everyone! Here are some resources to help you both celebrate Earth Day here in Hampton Roads and in your daily life no matter where you are.

Local Hampton Roads Earth Day Celebrations

• Mount Trashmore Earth Day Festival (My family and I plan to attend the Mount Trashmore festival. If you are going, drop me a line and maybe we can meet up!)
• VA United Green Symposium

I love WikiHow. Any time I ever need to know how to do something, I just jump on there and find it. I also have it set on my Google home page, so every day I get to see ways to do new things. Here are some great resources from WikiHow on how to fight global warming, reduce your carbon footprint and conserve resources.

• How to Save Water
• Steps to Help Reduce Global Warming
• Save the Environment
• Reduce Your Greenhouse Gas Emissions
  

Beam Me Down Scotty?

I am not a "Trekker" by any means, but I certainly had a Star Trek moment the other day when I read an article on Next100. According to the article, Southern California utility company PG&E is seeking approval from state regulators to enter into a partnership with Solaren Corp. to generate 200 megawatts of power using solar panels in space. That's right, power from space.

Here is how it works. The solar panels in space capture the sun's rays and convert the energy into radio waves, which are beamed down to a receiving station on Earth. The radio waves are then converted back into electricity and fed into the power grid.

Very cool stuff! For more details on how it all works, check out the article on Next100.com.

Trade In - Not Just for Cars Anymore

I was in Radio Shack the other day buying a hard-to-find adapter. When I brought the adapter up to the register to check out, I noticed a sign announcing Radio Shack's new "Trade-In Program." I asked the sales associate about it and she explained that the program works just like it sounds... you trade in your old electronics and get a credit towards new electronics from Radio Shack.

Later that day, I hopped onto RadioShack.com to look up how much Radio Shack would give me for my old Playstation 2 gaming system. Unfortunately, the trade-in value was only $13. A fourth generation iPod will only fetch you $33. Even your not-so-out-of-date Xbox 360 will only get you about $75. However, when you consider the alternatives (trashing, recycling, trying to sell), getting $13 in store credit for your old PS II does not sound too bad!

If you have tried the Trade-In Program or know of any other similar programs, I would love to hear from you. If you haven't tried it and you have some old electronics gathering dust, give it a whirl and let me know how it turns out!

Recycle Your Computer Memory

Recently, I found my laptop running really slowly whenever I had several large applications open at the same time. I figured it may be a memory problem, so I started looking to see if I could upgrade the memory. A few quick Google searches showed me that I could and that it would only cost me around $15 to get a 1GB stick of RAM. I was sold and ordered one.

The memory arrived last week. I popped open my laptop and installed it and it worked beautifully. However, I now had a 512MB memory stick that I no longer needed and I had no idea what to do with it. I thought about maybe trying to sell it to a local computer store, but most of those guys have been run out of business by the large chains. I considering selling it on craigslist, but memory is fairly specialized and is usually only worth a couple of bucks. I didn't want to trash it, as I knew memory sticks contained metals and nasty chemicals that can pollute the environment ("e-waste").

I was just thinking about Freecycling it when I noticed a little flyer in the box that the memory came in. The flyer detailed a "recycle memory effort." You simply fill out a little form and send back your old memory stick in the clamshell packaging that your new memory arrived in. Once the memory is received and determined to work, they mail you a check ranging anywhere from $2 to $5 depending on the size of the memory. They even include a postage-paid address label so that you don't have to pay for shipping.

So, wait a second... I don't have to trash my old memory, I can recycle the packaging my new memory came in and I get paid for doing it, which reduces the cost of my new memory?! What a great program!

Unfortunately, I cannot find anything about this program online. However, I can tell you that I bought my memory from ComputerMemoryOutlet.com and the return address on the pre-paid label is for Edge Tech.