Lately, I've been hearing a lot about cool roof technologies, so I welcomed the chance to learn more at a recent seminar. Cool roofs, also referred to as white roofs, have special coatings that reflect sunlight and emit heat more efficiently than traditional roofs, keeping them cooler in the sun.

Cool roofing technologies can be implemented quickly and at a relatively low cost, making it the fastest growing sector of the building industry. U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu is among the many cool roof enthusiasts. The Secretary recently announced plans to install cool roofs at all DOE buildings when constructing new roofs or replacing old ones. [More]

Yesterday, Elizabeth wrote about some of the energy calculators currently offered on the EERE Web site. We know that many visitors would like to see other kinds of calculators, and we would like to create more in the future. So tell us: What kind of energy calculators would be most useful to you? Each Thursday, you have the chance to share your thoughts on a question about energy efficiency or renewable energy for consumers. Please comment with your answers, and also feel free to respond to other comments.

Do you have a few minutes? Feel like seeing how energy efficient your home is? Go grab a bunch of your old utility bills and sit down with EERE's Energy Calculators & Software for Homes. There's a lot to search through, but some of these calculators are pretty fun to play around with. This page has calculators for just about everything a homeowner would be interested in. There are tools here for home-wide energy efficiency, insulation, appliances, and water usage. There are also whole sections on renewable energy systems, space heating and cooling, and water heating. If you want to know how much you're spending on something and how much you should be spending, you can pull out a lot of useful information from these. There are also a few calculators for vehicles that let you see how much money you'd save with a more fuel-efficient vehicle. I particularly like the one that compares your car's performance with a hybrid vehicle. Which is fun, if not a bit tragic, because there is somet... [More]