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As featured on Canada AM, download your free copy of the "Home Seller's Guide: Energy Efficient Upgrades that Pay".

It is filled with tips from energy, renovation and real estate gurus you can find on casaGURU.com plus lots of money saving rebates for Winter Home Maintenance and Energy Efficient Upgrades.

Click to Download (PDF)

I caught this interesting segment on my local news last night regarding Vampire Energy. It discusses how when you think you've turned off an appliance it may still be sucking energy (bad for both the environment and your energy bill):

http://www.globaltoronto.com/video/index.html?releasePID=56QLSEDG3GB9HFTIf8SlZ9sKMNVjt7tA

After doing a little internet research I discovered that October is Energy Awareness Month and, appropriately, a number of articles on the energy sucking topic:

Vampire Labs

Vampire Power

Core77-Vampire Energy Chart

And here are some other pices on energy efficiency:

Renewable Energy Solutions for Your Home

Curb Your Energy, Not Your Enthusiasm

A Guide to Provincial Energy Efficiency Grants and Rebates

This guide will not only be helpful to homeowners, but can also be a good source for realtors to make money-saving and green suggestions and tips to their clients.

Kermit the Frog may have found “it ain’t easy being green,” but homeowners across Canada can sing a different tune with the help of Emer’s Guides to Energy Efficiency Grants and Rebates Programs.

Emer, casaGURU's green living guru, has put together a convenient and comprehensive guide to Energy Efficiency Grant and Rebate Programs for Canadian cities. It’s a must-have checklist to help any homeowner to not only renovate “green”, but to also get paid to do so! With all of these free dollars to tap into, we have no excuse not to think “green” when selecting products and materials for our next home renovation project.

Simply click on your city from the list below and you’ll be led to the appropriate guide (if you don’t see your city listed, try the nearest one and many of the grants and rebates should also apply). Once at the guide you’ll see it’s broken into convenient sections to help make your search as easy and swift as possible. By clicking on the headline you’ll be taken to the official page where you can find more information and ways to apply.

Edmonton
Fredericton
Kelowna
Kitchener/Waterloo
Medicine Hat
Moncton
Ottawa
Regina
Saint John
Saskatoon
Toronto
Vancouver
Victoria
Winnipeg

Here at casaGURU we're big fans of green in both senses of the word: we’re strong supporters of making homes more energy efficient AND of helping our community of homeowners save money. There are many ways you can do both at the same time!

If you find something Emer’s missed, please feel free to send her the info at emer@casaguru.com so she can update the guides and help others save more.

While you’re in the environmentally friendly mindset, why not enter for your chance to win Canada’s WISEST Bathroom, which includes an American Standard dual-flush toilet, and water saving faucet and showerhead.

I found this article on how you can optimize the bathroom in a house to make it less cluttered and more like a spa....

If you’ve ever been to a spa, you’ll understand the role an orderly environment plays in creating the ultimate relaxing retreat. Creating order in your bathroom will help you replicate that spa experience and give you a soothing place where you can take care of your body and get away from it all. An organized bathroom will ensure you start your day off right because you will be without the added stress of digging through mounds of make-up in a drawer or searching inside a dark cupboard for a bar of soap.

Here are some tips on how to create a sense of harmony in your bathroom:

• A neat bathroom looks more spacious than a cluttered one. Keep only essential items visible and put everything else away.
• Keep aromatherapy candles and a lighter nearby so ambience can be added at a moment’s notice.
• Paint the bathroom in pale, soft colours like pastels, neutrals, and whites for a harmonious feel. Cool colours give the feeling of serenity that is found in spas.

Using these tips to organize your bathroom will give you the comfort, relaxation, luxury, and warmth you seek so you can start your day off right and have a place to escape to after a stressful day.

..... to get more tips read the rest of the article here.

If you're thinking of renovating your bathroom, enter for your chance to win "Canada's WISEST Bathroom". The Grand Prize Pack includes three water effiecient features: a dual flush toilet, and water conserving faucet and showerhead. Or if you need a local Professional Organizer to give you some personalized advice on how to declutter your lavatory, find them on casaGURU.

Dissecting The Dual-Flush Toilet

Water conservation is trickling to the tips of tongues when talking about environmental issues these days.

Did you “kn-l’eau” that Canada is the second largest consumer of water per capita in the world, runner up only to the US? On average, Canucks apparently use more than 300 litres of water per person, per day... that’s almost quadruple the amount of the average Swede! If you’re curious about your water consumption, try the American Standard Water Calculator or this one from the CSGNetwork.

Of that amount of water usage, your home toilet accounts for approximately 30 per cent of indoor water use. One way to combat that is dual flush toilets. If you’ve traveled to Europe, chances are you’ve seen these and even possibly been confused about how to flush the first time. Basically a dual-flush toilet allows you to either choose a full flush or a half flush, depending on how much needs to go down the drain.

Now these conserving (though initially confusing) commodes are becoming more prominant in Canada. Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) did research regarding dual flush toilets and discovered that with them significant water savings were achieved. It was found that flush volumes in households were reduced 68 per cent and the dual flush toilets saved an average of 26 per cent more water than single-flush 6-litre toilets that replaced non-efficient toilets.

So now that you know the facts it’s up to you to see how you can help quench Canada’s water consumption problem. casaGURU is making a contribution with American Standard by hosting a contest to win “Canada’s WISEST Bathroom.” One lucky homeowners will win the Grand Prize Package, which includes an American Standard FloWise™ Dual Flush Toilet, FloWise™Showerhead, and an American Standard Faucet. Ten other lucky winners will receive American Standard FloWise™ Showerheads. Also be sure to check out Emer’s Guide to Energy Saving Programs that outlines grants and rebates that can help homeowners make their homes more green.

Do your part in order to make worrying about water just water under the bridge!