You can help save the planet while also saving cash, according to the Alliance to Save Energy.

The average U.S. household spends about $3,425 to power a car and $2,175 on home energy costs--in other words, about $5,600 on energy costs per year. That number is likely even greater with rising fuel and utility costs.

In honor of Earth Day, the Alliance to Save Energy is offering up some pointers on how to trim those yearly expenses with some easy ways to go “green.” Here are a few of its tips.

In your car:

• Use cruise control. Cruise control on the highway can help you maintain a constant speed, which can help save gas.
• Use the overdrive gear. By using the overdrive gear, your car’s engine speed goes down, which not only saves gas but also reduces engine wear and tear.
• Slow down. Driving anything above 60 miles per hour is decreases your gas mileage rapidly. The Alliance equates it to every 5 mph over 60 mph that you drive is basically like paying 24 cents per gallon for gas.

In your home:

• Swap out the light bulbs. Replace old incandescent bulbs with energy efficient options such as compact fluorescent lights, which can shave up to $50 off your electricity costs over the lifetime of each bulb, even factoring in the higher purchase price of the bulb.
• Plant a tree. Properly positioned trees outside your home actually have been found to reduce a home’s energy use, even up to 50 percent during the summer months and 15 percent in the winter.
• Get a tax break. Uncle Sam is offering 2011 tax breaks of up to $500 for energy efficiency home improvements, such as with Energy Star windows, insulation, or energy efficient heating and cooling equipment. Learn more.

Source: “Already-Soaring Gas Prices Make Energy Efficiency an Apt Way to Honor Earth Day While Saving Money, Says Alliance,” Alliance to Save Energy (April 19, 2011)

The Vanderburgh County Solid Waste Management District will hold its 2011 Electronics Recycling Days on Saturday, May 14, and Saturday, September 24, from 8:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon at the Civic Center parking lot.

Fire fighters and police deal with the aftermath of meth lab explosions.
But who's left to clean up the mess afterward?
In many cases-- it's the landlord who's stuck with the bill.

The Property Owners And Manager's Association of Evansville started up last year, and already it has nearly 70 members representing more than 3,000 rental units.
Police say 9 out of 10 meth lab busts happen at rental properties.

"They need to be aware of what's going on at their rental property and that will protect them and the neighborhood the rest of our community and us," said drug task force Sgt. Scott Hurt.
Police say they filed more than 400 meth related charges in 2010-- an all time record that they are on pace to shatter in 2011.

View video here: http://tristatehomepage.com/fulltext?nxd_id=264647

Relocation managers across the U.S. are expressing optimism that the worst of the recession is now in the rearview mirror, according to a survey.

Responding to Atlas Van Lines' 44th annual Corporate Relocation Survey, 72 percent of the relocation managers polled say they believe their respective companies will fare better in 2011. The optimism rate among large firms surveyed jumps to 80 percent. 

Data from the survey indicated that:

• Fifty-four percent of executives surveyed believe the U.S. economy will improve in 2011-the highest rate of such optimism recorded since 2006.

• Thirty percent of companies plan to relocate workers this year, the highest percentage in six years.

• Eighty-seven percent of companies will spend as much or more on relocation in 2011 as in 2010, the most since 2007.

The Midwest is now the top destination of transfers (37 percent) followed by the Northeast (31 percent), the South (28 percent) and West (20 percent). Thirty-two percent of companies say they increased the number of international relocations in 2010, with 28 percent predicting another increase in 2011. 

According to Griffin, the Atlas survey has revealed trends in how corporations are moving existing employees or newly-hired staff. He said, it shows where the economy has been and where it’s headed and the view looks better than it did one year ago. The effect of economic/market pressures on entry level/new hire and middle management relocations appear to be lessening.

In 2008 and 2009, roughly 40 percent of companies say these pressures decreased relocations in these job sectors. In 2010 that percentage dropped to just above 25 percent.

Seventy-eight percent say the economy or real estate markets are the most important factors affecting relocations. While employers may be more optimistic about the economy, many of their workers remain cautious and somewhat apprehensive.  Fifty-nine percent of firms say they had employees decline relocations in 2010; the third highest level in several years.  Among large companies, the rate jumps to 87 percent. Three of every four companies surveyed say the number of employees declining relocation in 2010 stayed about the same as 2009, reflecting little change in workers' attitudes toward moving. 

Sixty-nine percent of employees who wouldn’t move cited housing and mortgage concerns, 55 percent cited family issues and ties, and 41 percent cited their spouse’s or partner’s employment.

Twenty-seven percent of companies surveyed say that declining a relocation request usually hinders an employee's career. 

2011 Survey fast facts

• Eighty-four percent of firms have a formal relocation policy.

• More than half of all relocations were new hires (53 percent).

• Employees age 36-40 remained the most frequently relocated salaried employee in 2010 (37 percent); most are male - only 19 percent of relocations involved female employees.

• Forty-five percent of relocations involved employees with children; 61 percent of those relocated were homeowners.

• Thirty-two percent of responding firms give employees just one week or less to accept a relocation offer (up 7 percent from 2010 survey).

• More than three-fourths of companies reimburse/pay to pack all items; 28 percent to move pets; 14 percent will even reimburse for moving boats.

• Among international relocations, the most frequent destination was Europe (41 percent).              

Source: Atlas Van Lines http://www.talentmgt.com/industry_news/2011/April/5359/index.php

New home construction is picking up just in time for the spring buying season, according to the latest new-home report released on Tuesday from the Commerce Department. Builders broke ground on more new homes in March than in the last six months.

Another bright spot: Building permits, an indicator of future construction, increased 11.2 percent for the month.

After a dismal winter performance, new-home building bounced back 7.2 percent in March from February to a seasonally adjusted 549,000 units. Yet, the sector is still far below the 1.2 million units a year that economists consider a healthy building pace.

The new-home sector has faced hard times in recent years, competing against a flood of foreclosures and short sales on the market that have pushed housing prices down. In February, construction fell to its lowest level in nearly two years, and requests for building permits to start new projects had dropped to a five-decade low in February.

Builder sentiment also remains low, according to Monday’s release of the National Association of Home Builders’ monthly index of industry sentiment for April.

Builders' views on the market had risen slightly in March to 17 in the index but in April fell back to 16, a level that it had remained at for four straight months prior to March. Any reading below 50 indicates negative sentiment about the market, a level the index hasn’t been above since April 2006.

Source: “U.S. Housing Starts, Permits Rebounded in March,” Associated Press (April 19, 2011) and “Builder Outlook for Home Buying Falls Slightly as Foreclosures, Short Sales Weigh Heavy,” Associated Press (April 18, 2011)

The Indiana Association of REALTORS® (IAR) today released its monthly “Indiana Real Estate Markets Report” as a continuation of its “Indiana is Home” project.  Statewide, when comparing March 2011 to March 2010: