Have you been called by a telemarketer recently, offering your household electricity at a supposedly lower price? Though the person on the other line may seem pretty sketchy (and sometimes is), there’s something behind those calls – many of us can get a better deal on what we pay for electricity, and can choose among power providers like among brands of potato chips at the grocery store…Here’s the lowdown on what’s behind those calls, and on your electricity options ...

We’re all used to seeing slogans about renewable energy, from product labels (“made in a facility powered by renewable energy!”) to electricity suppliers touting their green credentials (“we sell renewable power!”) – most of these have pictures of neat and tidy wind turbines or sleek photovoltaic arrays on a pretty green background. Clean, green, high-tech, modern: that’s what we tend to think of when we hear “renewable”…so it may come as a surprise that some of the renewable power out there comes from ...

Like many of you, I took some trips this summer – including ones that involved camping and other muddy outdoor activities. As usual, such excursions increased my appreciation of appliances: rinsing cookware in a cold, rocky stream and losing food to mold after just a few days reminded me how great my dishwasher and fridge really are! But as the sweaty shirts and muddy shorts accumulated, the appliance I enjoyed returning to most was the washing machine.