Staying green in the winter presents some challenges, as the colder weather means more time is spent indoors. The thermostat goes up, the television may be on more often and the stove and oven are used consistently. So how does remain eco-friendly? We've spent the past week showing you some way.

☆ Layering your clothing even while indoors may mean you aren't as likely to turn up the heat to warm up.

☆ If you're trying to avoid the issue of your TV sucking tons of energy, consider an alternative, winter-friendly activity instead.

☆ Using a programmable thermostat will prevent your house from being heated - even when no one is it it.

☆ Why is wool one of the most commonly-used materials during these months? We give you some reasons.

☆ Fight the winter blues using natural methods.

☆ Make sure your four-legged friends as warm and toasty as you this season.

» Ecollo (Wintergreen)

Let's be honest, talking about how much energy an oven consumes so close to Christmas is almost pointless since it's almost inevitable that the amount of baking will increase. And even once the holidays are over, staying away from your oven during the winter months is a difficult, if not near impossible task since the cooler temperatures pretty much invite warm meals onto your table.

If giving up your oven entirely this time of year isn't an option (and with the rare exceptions, when is it?), take advantage of all the heat it produces. Once you've made your cookies, finished roasting your main dish or heated your dinner, leave the oven door open and let the escaping heat warm the room. You could even turn the thermostat down a degree or two if the layout of your house will allow the heat to spread to other rooms.

» Wikipedia

In honor of Energy Awareness Month (October!), Home Depot is reminding you of ways you can reduce your energy consumption at home and save yourself some money while you're in the process. The solutions range from inexpensive (switching to CFL bulbs in your home) to don't-I-wish-I-had-that-kind-of-expendable-income-right-now (buying Energy Star appliances).

If some of these options are a bit too pricey, consider taking them in baby steps. After all, no one is saying you have to do everything at once. Next time your dishwasher dies and has no hope of revival, consider replacing it with an Energy Star one. Hanging on to some of your things if they still properly function isn't so eco-unfriendly - after all, if your dishwasher works fine and you buy a new one, you'll stall have to find a place for the old one and often times that "place" ends up being a landfill.

Anyway, back to the topic-at-hand, here are some of Home Depot's Top 10 Ways to Save Money and Energy:

Install a programmable thermostat - Controlling the temperature of your home means you don't have to unnecessarily blast the heat when no one is home. Program it so it coincides with your arrival home instead.

Update your windows - You don't necessarily have to buy new ones (if you don't have the money to begin with, you may have to sell a vital organ to afford it), but simply ensuring they are properly insulated will help your place stay warmer.

Install dimmer switches and motion detectors - Why leave your lights glaring or even on in the first place is no one is even in the room?

Install a ceiling fan - Not everyone can afford to install air-conditioning in their homes, however a ceiling fan will at least help circulate air and keep things a bit cooler.

Check up on your furnace and water heater - Performing regular maintenance on these means they should be running as efficiently as possible.

To check out the remaining five, visit Home Depot's Eco Options Home Page.

» Home Depot

* Even the cool kids are hitting their local farmers' market. Up-and-coming Disney star Selena Gomez was recently spotted checking out the Ventura Boulevard market in Los Angeles. The star of "Wizards of Waverly Place" picked up some flowers during her trip.

* The first-ever hydrogen fuel cell car tour wrapped up this past weekend. As an evidence the more fueling stations for these vehicles is needed, there were periods when the cars had to be transported via flatbed trucks.

* New Wal-Mart stores opening next year in Canada will run on 30 per cent less energy and are expected to save $25 million over the next five years. The stores will be called Wal-Mart HE (the "HE" stands for "high-efficiency").

* It was inevitable: An Arctic seal, tired of the endless cold, packed its bags and headed for warmer waters. He may be the only one of his kind actually in favor of the global warming phenomenon.

* Reduce power consumption in your home or office with D-Link Canada's new green Wi-Fi routers, the D-Link Xtreme N Gigabit Router and the D-Link Xtreme N Gaming Router.

» Just Jared

In an effort to measure energy consumption used by LCD and plasma televisions, broadcasters and television manufacturers created what has been labelled the World’s Most Boring TV Show.

The distinguished honour was bestowed after the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) edited several programs together to form one convoluted masterpiece. Various genres in programming, such as sporting events and soap operas, were used because the power required by a television differs based on images. Unfortunately the end result was likely to go unrecognized by the Emmy nomination committee.

"The images are supposed to be a representation of what we watch, but when you stick it together it doesn't make much sense," IEC spokesman Dennis Brougham told Reuters.

They say boring, I say effective time management. Imagine if I could spend 20 minutes a day and watch the final few minutes of the local hockey game, catch up with the residents of Salem on Days of our Lives, enjoy some witty banter from the Gilmore Girls, establish if I am, in fact, smarter than a fifth grader and see the highlights of the evening news. I think the IEC have unwittingly stumbled upon a genius solution to unnecessary hours spent in front of the idiot box.

This story was contributed by TamIAm.  Send us your story.

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