Live Cheaper, Better and Greener

NOTE: The information below was for our 2010 Spring Home & Garden Show The Woodlands.   Please check back for updated information for our 2010 Fall Home & Garden Show The Woodlands.

Creating a world more in harmony with the environment is a major concern in today’s world with trendy phrases like “carbon footprint,” “eco-friendly” and “going green” enticing people to try their green thumb on more than household plants. Hear fantastic speakers on two stages and visit over 200 exhibitors with new ideas, new products and services.

Entergy Solar Panel Rebate
For residents interested in saving a dollar and the world, Entergy’s new solar panel rebate program offers homeowners an avenue to install the sun-powered generators and, with a combination of the rebate program and a federal tax credit, save up to 75 percent on the system.

Build Green
One way to combat these energy problems is to build a greener house. LaVerne Williams, a Green Building Council Member and architect with Houston-based Environment Associates, designs homes for a future already affected by climate change. Williams emphasizes the need to construct efficient houses with energy-saving measures built in.

Crafting an energy-efficient home is not the cheap route, but it will ultimately save residents money and help them live with the environment instead of just in it.  “It’s a matter of changing habits, changing lifestyles,” Williams said.

Plug those Money-draining Holes
Saving energy is a concept Dan Marshall understands. An energy-efficient expert and president of Innovative Skylights and Attics, Marshall helps residents insulate their attics and plug money-draining holes.

The three major areas are insulation, ventilation and the radiant barrier, the sun’s energy. An attic tent stops the air flow between the house and attic, Marshall said, improving the home’s air quality and reducing dust. The simple solution also creates a noticeable dent in the monthly electric bill.

Marshall said silent solar-powered fans are a ventilation fix with a 30 percent tax credit that provide an efficient way to cool the attic without spending large sums of money and prove cheaper in the long term. He said when he installed solar-powered fans and radiant barrier foil in a home recently, the residents saw a 50 percent drop in their electric bill.
Dan’s presentations are informative and fun.


Habitat Gardening
Change is an idea Jason McKenzie is selling to suburbanites trimming and mowing their evergreen lawns. Instead of paying thousands of dollars annually for a manicured landscape, the owner of The Pineywoods Nursery and Landscaping in Shenandoah encourages homeowners to invest in fruit-bearing plants.

“Instead of looking at a garden as an ornamental landscape, put in fruit trees as hedge or blueberries as base shrub around the house and strawberries as ground cover,” McKenzie said. “With potted plants on pool decks, I try to talk people into putting in limes and lemons.”

Just this year, McKenzie said he has planted about 20 herb gardens. Enterprising homeowners can grow a batch of strawberries instead of buying a bucket at the store or train blackberries on a trellis for their pies and morning cereal. McKenzie’s presentation will concentrate on how residents can have a beautiful AND bountiful landscape.

Free Native Texas Trees at Texas Forest Service Booth Be one of the first 500 each day to visit the Texas Forest Service booth and you'll get a free bare root, native Texas hardwood seedling. The seedlings are species that do well in an urban environment like oaks, river birch and bald cypress. Celebrate Arbor Day early by planting a native Texas hardwood seedling compliments of Texas Forest Service.

Michael Garfield, best known as the High-Tech Texan, is in the business of helping
people with his weekly call-in radio show on the 9-5-0 AM. He'll be broadcasting live at the Show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday in the hotel’s lobby with a seminar from 2:30-3:30 p.m., Garfield will speak on how to prevent Identity Theft, as well as present cool new gadgets and goodies to the audience and answer attendees questions about cell phones, laptops, computers and home safety systems. He’ll also be focusing on back-to-school items for college and high school students.

Randy Lemmon, host of 740 AM NewsRadio’s GardenLine, will bring his slant on Green at his show presentation.




Ask-the-Expert Booth
Stop by for some one-on-one advice from Houston Chronicle gardening guru Kathy Huber.  Check back for show times.

Saturday Schedule

Sunday Schedule