Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. While it s easy to feel helpless against global warming, there are actually 8 simple things you can do at home to be part of the solution. Energy-saving fluorescent lighting has come a long way. There s a fluorescent bulb to fit almost any fixture inside and outside your home, and they re a good bet for lights that are used a lot because they last 10 times longer. If we all switched out 5 standard light bulbs for fluorescents, it would be like taking a million cars off the road for a year. Put on a sweater, set your thermostat just two degrees lower in winter and cut your carbon emissions by 9 percent. A programmable thermostat is a great energy saver, automatically lowering your heat when you re at work or asleep. Wrap your electric water heater in an insulation blanket and set it at 120 degrees. If it s time to replace your water heater, install a tankless unit for an endless supply of hot water at 40 percent savings over conventional tanks. Wash dishes and clothes only when the machines are full. When you buy an appliance, make sure it s Energy Star certified. And run it all with green power: Ask your utility company about buying your electricity from renewable sources, or visit the U.S. Department of Energy s green power web site. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008

Bob enters the Brownstone apartment to find more evidence of 1940s updates in this turn-of-the-century row house. Curved ceiling shapes, a built-in bar, and chopped-up space show layers that were added during the conversion of the original building. Bob meets up with his son, Chris Vila, and reviews the preparations for demolition, which include permits, shutoffs for all the gas, water, and electricity, and removal of moldings and fixtures from walls. Bob asks if any detailing from the original Brownstone remain. Chris says there is nothing -- no moldings, mantles, or ceiling details. Chris does show Bob the hardwood floors buried beneath layers of vinyl and linoleum flooring. The goal will be to peel back the layers of this 2,000-square-foot apartment until just the original shell and structure remain.

Here's another great tip from BobVila.com. We all know that switching to fluorescent lighting saves energy and money. But if it s such a good deal, why aren t we all doing it? One reason is the bad rap that fluorescent lighting has gotten from those old-style fixtures we all remember from schools and commercial buildings of decades past. T-12 type standard fixtures are infamous for humming, buzzing, flickering and giving an unflattering cast to everything they illuminate. Those older fixtures can be upgraded with an electronic ballast. They can also be replaced with the new t-8 type fluorescent fixtures that eliminate humming and flickering. T-8 type fixtures last just as long or longer because they weigh less and run cooler, and they save 40 percent on electricity. Installing them on timers or occupancy sensors saves even more energy, and that s very good for business. At home, a lighting upgrade is much simpler. Now you can find a compact fluorescent bulb to fit almost any fixture in your home. While they may take a few seconds to warm up, they produce more accurate color and less glare than standard bulbs, which reduces eye strain and headaches. A new generation compact fluorescent bulb will cost more than a regular incandescent bulb anywhere from $5 to $25. But each one can save you $100 in electricity and last up to 13 times longer. As if that weren t motivation enough, some utilities offer free light bulbs or rebates for homeowners who are willing to make the switch. Best of all, upgrading your lighting saves greenhouse gas emissions. Replacing just one 75-watt light bulb with an 18-watt compact fluorescent can keep one ton of carbon dioxide emissions and 20 pounds of sulfur oxide out of the atmosphere. Find out more at BobVila.com: The ultimate home improvement web site! BobVila.com 2008

The ceiling fan is being installed in the Punta Gorda home. Its workbox must be firmly mounted to hold the ceiling fan in place. This house is Energy Star qualified, which means that, in addition to the insulation, windows, and building materials, the appliances are also Energy Star rated. Fluorescent bulbs are used in the fixtures to reduce energy use throughout the year. The burnished brass-look fixtures are from Sea Gull Lighting and are all Energy Star certified.

John Livermore joins Bob to explain the Energy Star Homes program started in the 1970s by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The red blower door is in place to do the blower door test required for certification as an Energy Star Home. Certified homes must be at least 30 percent more efficient than the model energy efficiency code. Once certified, homeowners and builders are eligible for rebates and services from a consortium of utilities and energy service providers. Livermore reviews key areas of energy-efficient building with Bob, including air sealing. He repeats the builders' motto, "build tight and ventilate right," when discussing the importance of a tightly sealed home with proper air exchange. Livermore shows Bob a light expansion foam that can be used with a foam gun to seal against air leaks around doors and windows and the Panasonic Whisper Light fans that bring air changes to the home at a controlled ventilation rate. Another energy saver is the programmable thermostat that allows homeowners to schedule heat for waking hours of occupancy. Compact fluorescent lights are also used throughout the home because they use 70 percent less energy, have a lower heat output and last longer than traditional incandescent bulbs.

Bob meets Brad Owen the electrician who is installing exterior wall sconces in series. What is unique about the lights is they are fluorescent fixtures with a ballast, and fluorescent lights are very energy efficient. The electrician is connecting the fixture wiring with the house's field wiring. He connects hot to hot, neutral to neutral and ground to ground. This Lightolier fixture also has a very neat feature. It has a safety cable that holds the glass cover while replacing bulbs or servicing the fixture.

Here s another great tip from BobVila.com. If your kitchen s begging for a facelift but your budget begs to differ, try focusing on some key details instead of a major overhaul. If the cabinets are still in good shape, you can change the look of your kitchen just by changing the color of the walls and re-surfacing or re-painting the cabinets. Cabinet re-facing, which involves replacing the veneers, is more expensive but still saves 50 percent over a complete remodel. As long as your cabinets aren t laminate or melamine, you can re-paint them yourself. De-grease them with a citrus oil-based household cleaner, remove the doors and hardware, and apply a primer-sealer first though you might still have to sand them down before painting. New drawer and door pulls will make a huge difference as well. In rethinking your colors, go for a 60-30-10 color scheme, which means 60 percent of a main color, 30 percent of a complementary color and 10 percent for an accent color like a backsplash or a trim detail. Recommended kitchen colors often include shades of tan, peach, yellow and all the many off-whites. Keep the big-ticket items like cabinets on the neutral side and accent with easily interchangeable elements like wall paint, window treatments and small appliances. That way, changing the look of your kitchen in another few years won t have to be a major investment. Florescent under-cabinet lighting strips are an easy and inexpensive way to brighten up. And since you use it so often, spending a couple hundred dollars to upgrade the kitchen sink or even just the faucet can also go a long way for short money. Find out more at BobVila.com: the ultimate home improvement web site! 2008 BobVila.com

Markus Early from Earlylight Consulting explains to Bob the lighting design in the apartment. Starting with the kitchen overhead light, which has new T-5 ultra low profile florescent tube lighting that aims up to create a reflected light for food preparation. In the living and dining areas Early washes the room in track lighting from LSI, Lighting Services Incorporated. Early has selected AR 70 Sylvania bulbs, which eliminate glare.

House four of the Elmwood project. New lighting arrangements, granite countertop and finish the reclaimed pine floor.

Bob meets with Dave Parker to tour the MacMillan-Bloedel parallam engineered wood beam factory. Outside is a car and beam supported by cardboard boxes demonstrating the strength of parallam beams. David explains they use both good and waste Douglas Fir veneer to create their beams. The veneer pieces initially have a high moisture content, so they are first passed through a dryer that blows three hundred degree air on the sheets of veneer. After they are dry, they are put into a shredder, which cuts the veneer sheets into large strips. A gap in the conveyer belt allows the small strips to fall through. These scrap pieces of veneer are used to fuel the dryer. Next resin is applied to glue the strips together. A belt moves around and from side to side so the strips drop into a trough parallel and overlapping, key factors in the strength of a parallam beam. The trough is thirty inches deep and, after it is filled, it is compacted to a depth of eleven inches. Next, the beam is cured in a microwave to ensure a secure bond. It is passed through a cooling station and then a saw cuts it to the desired length. After cutting, the beam is inspected for imperfections, and once approved, is then wrapped and shipped.