Go into a supermarket or office this time of year and you either freeze or swelter. There never seems to be a happy medium!

In a Cornell University study, office workers tended to be more productive at warmer temperatures than cooler. But when you're too warm, it's sure hard to function too. I hunted around on USA.gov, curious about whether the government had recommendations on specific workplace temperatures. But the US Department of Labor's Office of Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has no specific temperature guidelines. Office temperatures are left up to individuals.

Well boy, do we individuals have individual takes on what's comfortable. In some offices, a person at one desk is breaking out the box fan while their coworker in the next cubicle is sporting a parka. In my office here at Gov Gab headquarters, somebody always seems to be a little too hot or a little too cold. But we play nicely and it's been years since anybody's been tempted to run both the air conditioner and a space heater simultaneously. We've learned to rely on strategic placement of an oscillating fan near our window air conditioner and we dress in layers.

At home, when you're the one paying the energy bill, knowing you can save three to eight percent a month for every degree warmer you set your thermostat is a real incentive for cooling creatively. Consider planting shade trees, painting your house a lighter color inside and out, using an attic fan and trading out those traditional, heat-creating light bulbs for energy saving and cooler-to-the-touch fluorescents. And if you can afford it, consider replacing any central or room air conditioner over 10 years old with a newer, energy-efficient model.

At work or home, covering large windows—especially those facing the south or west—with shades, awnings or reflective film can cut down tremendously on the temperature. And I know it sounds obvious, but even if you have a/c, electric fans can make a big difference. When I'm going to be in a room for awhile at home, I turn the air conditioner about as warm as I can stand it and put an oscillating fan in front of the a/c vent in that room to give the cooled air an extra boost. Oh, and I love my programmable thermostat. No more forgetting to adjust the temperature before I leave for work or returning to a house that's too hot or too cool. Seven days a week, it's set for my schedule.

What's it like where you live and work—how do you keep peace and save on the energy bill?

I know to expect them. But I still gasp in awe as I round the bend, the trees clear and I catch sight of the wind towers when I drive through Thomas, West Virginia. In groups and rows, the towers seem like synchronized swans, perpetually flapping, but never able to take off from their perch on Backbone Mountain.

The 44 wind turbines on Mountaineer Wind Energy Center's wind farm sure don't look like the grain grinding windmills that Don Quixote went after. But these tall, white poles with three-blade rotors are the kind of wind machines that are at the center of a new energy plan for America that oil billionaire and philanthropist T. Boone Pickens proposed this week. He says the key to getting out of the country's oil woes is to focus on renewable energy forms like wind power.

In a typical day, wind power facilities nationwide produce enough electricity to power the equivalent of more than 4.5 million homes. That's about 1% of the US electrical supply. But in a recent report, the US Department of Energy promoted the concept of as much as 20% of America's energy coming from wind power by the year 2030.

Wind power's not without its environmental concerns. Bats by the thousands are being killed by wind towers and many people don't want wind farms near their homes because their construction causes land disturbance and the towers change the view. As an alternative to wind farms located on land, America's first offshore wind farm has just been approved to be built off the coast of Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Could a wind farm be coming to your town? Take a look at this map and see and then tell me what you think: is America's energy future really blowing in the wind?

To continue on Joanne's "everyday is Earth Day" theme...

Anyone currently residing on planet Earth knows the cost of gas is soaring sky-high. Because prices at the pump are following the same trajectory as a spaceshuttle, it's important to find other ways to cut costs and reduce energy consumption.

Last week the U.S. Department of Energy launched a new website. The interactive page gives you a virtual tour of a typical home. Just click your mouse on different areas of the house and you're given tips and ideas about saving energy and costs.

One of the more interesting tips I found by clicking on the car in the driveway. It told me to "Get the junk out of the trunk and properly inflate your tires! An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your fuel efficiency by up to 2%."

Off the top of my head, if someone were to break open my trunk right now, they'd find: a pair of roller blades, a wool winter coat, my old non-functional laptop, my sister's semi-functional laptop from college, a garbage bag of old clothes I've been meaning to donate, and a heavy-duty ice scraper. And that's just the stuff of which I am AWARE. It's time for a vehicular spring cleaning.

Check out other suggestions for getting the most energy efficient appliances, and using mother nature herself as a natural means of heating and lighting. Little changes can add up to BIG savings, for both our wallets and environment.

What tricks do you have for saving money and energy? Any good tips?

I wouldn’t call myself a snow bunny.  In fact, I dread this time of year.  The bitterly cold walks to and from the metro, the howling wind, dressing in layers…I could just skip the next couple of months.  The only thing I really look forward to is the fashion.  Who doesn’t love a good pair of boots?

But as much as I would like to live in a tropical climate year-round, I must come to terms with Old Man Winter coming back into my life.  His unwelcome appearance means it’s time to get my home ready for the winter.  Thankfully, the ultimate home improvement guru Bob Vila has put together this handy home maintenance checklist.  There are plenty of great tips whether you live in a house, town home, or apartment.  Did you know a full fridge uses less energy than empty one?  Time to stock up!

With an average American spending $1,900 annually on energy bills and half of the energy going to heating and cooling your home, we can all take steps to reduce our energy use this winter, while still remaining comfortable.  Some things I try to do are change all my air filters before heating season begins, set back my thermostat when I’m away, use compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs), power down my computer and other electronics, and open my shades during the day.

To help you get started, I’ve put together some of my favorite resources that give you easy ways to lower your energy bill and make a big difference in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

• Save Energy This Winter With Help From ENERGY STAR
• Energy Savers:  Tips for Saving Energy & Money at Home
• Federal Citizen Information Center’s Consumer Focus:  Heating Your Home-do-it-yourself tips, federal assistance programs, and safety concerns
• Sierra Club’s The Green Life:  On a Winter’s Day
• Consumer Reports: Save Hundreds on Energy Costs
• Treehugger.com:  How to Green Your Heating

Please share any tips that you have about how to winterize your home or lower your energy bill. 

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, if every household in the United States replaced just ONE regular incandescent light bulb with an Energy Star approved compact fluorescent bulb (CFL) we’d save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs, and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.  Now that’s all well and good, but come on, let’s be realistic here. How does that really apply to you and me?

I used the Energy Department’s lighting cost calculator* to see how much money my family might save if we replaced all our light bulbs with CFL’s. I tried to do a rough count in my head and I think we have around 25 light bulbs in our townhouse. So, after the cost of new light bulbs (estimated at $3.50 each) we’d save about $134 in the first year.

Now, I have to be honest that I was a little disappointed by that small dollar amount. Especially since we live in a housing co-op and split our utility bills with the other 159 homes in the neighborhood. Our family won’t directly see any of the benefit so what’s the use, right? There has to be a way we could save some money from this, though, so next I calculated the cost difference if all 160 homes in our community replaced their estimated 25 incandescent bulbs with new CFL’s, too. If everyone changes their bulbs we’re bound to see a difference, right? Right! After the first year, our co-op would save more than $35,000 just in electric bills!!! Now that seems like a bargain! Even if the co-op coughed up the money and purchased all 4,000 CFL’s for the homes to make sure everyone switched them out we’d still save around $21,000 the first year. Even better, over the estimated 6,000 hour lifetime of the 4,000 CFL’s we’d save $158,000! And that’s just in our little corner of Falls Church, VA. Imagine the impact we’d have if all 100 million households in the U.S. chipped in and did their part. The results would be astounding – maybe even $600 million dollars!

*The calculator is a Microsoft Excel document so if you don’t have Excel you won’t be able to open the link.