It often surprises people to learn that with today's water-conserving dishwashers and typical practices for hand-washing, properly filled automated dishwashers use less water and energy. If you wash dishes by hand and leave the water running when washing or rinsing, hand-washing almost certainly uses more water. Even if you try to be miserly and use plastic tubs for wash water and rinse water, you may well be using more than the most efficient of today's dishwashers, a few of which use less than four gallons for a full wash and rinse cycle.

Who could be more qualified than one of the principal authors of LEED for Homes to provide insight on the best ways to make the program work?

In a typical home, the refrigerator accounts for about 8% of the total annual energy expense, according to 2005 data from the U.S. Department of Energy. While this energy consumption for food storage is significant, it's far less than it was a few decades ago. In the mid-1970s, an average new refrigerator used about 1,800 kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, making it the single most expensive energy load in many homes.