Scripps Howard News Service

A continuing compendium of tips and tricks from HGTV:

Going green:

• A two-stroke, gasoline-powered lawnmower releases as many hydrocarbons into the atmosphere in 30 minutes as a car does in 90 minutes. Switch to an electric mower, which costs $8 to $10 a year to operate.

• An LCD flat panel TV uses as little as a third of the electricity of conventional tube-based models, saving you on your power bill the equivalent of leaving a 50-watt bulb on all year.

• Buying organic produce grown within 100 miles of your home will help reduce the amount of diesel fuel needed to ship food.

• If you feel woozy after painting the bedroom with latex-based enamel, choose a product low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) instead. New designer colors and improved quality make these safer paints equivalent to standard ones and they benefit your health as well as the planets.

• Manufacturers of low-flow toilets use advanced computer modeling to deliver more flush power with less water, trimming around $90 from your annual water costs.

• Like to linger in a hot shower? Stand under the pulse-jet guilt free with a solar hot water system. A solar water heater cuts around 12 percent off the average households monthly electric bill.

• Replacing old light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones can trim 5 percent from your monthly electricity bill. But this doesnt mean you have to live beneath the ugly glow of low-end fluorescent bulbs. Go for the premium fluorescents that cast a pure white or buttery golden light across your interior.

• Local recycling practices vary, but there are some universal no-nos. Dont put plastic shopping bags, light bulbs, broken glass or food scraps in your bin.

• Skip the pesticides and use natures method of bug-eradication: other animals. Install birdhouses to shelter feathered friends who dine on pesky beetles and grubs.