Renovations on a $5,000 budget

At first glance, doing meaningful home renovations for $5,000 is akin to those travel guides for "Europe on $10 a day": easier said than done. Yet, like the backpacker who squeezes every penny from their budget to travel the globe, affordable renovations are not out of reach if you spend your nickels and dimes wisely.

According to Bob Weir, vice-president of operations with Calgary's Reborn Renovations, making improvements with $5,000 certainly narrows your options, but it can be done.

Reducing power consumption is easier than you think

What if we told you that with a few simple changes, you could cut your household electricity consumption in half? It's possible, and Ron Kube is living proof.

Kube recently installed a solar-power system on his St. Albert home. But before going solar, he checked to see how much electricity his home was using. He was shocked to discover his family was using 70 per cent more than the Alberta average of 7,200 kilowatt hours per year – they were energy hogs.

Engineered gardening could help expand growing potential

You likely don't think about light quality or intensity when you're crunching a carrot or raising a radish, so why should you care about Jack Zhang's newly engineered lights?

Because Zhang's new LED lights could help you grow your own super-efficient vertical farm in a kitchen nook, empty bedroom or spare closet.

Zhang, an electric engineer by trade, spoke to me about his newly imagined LED lights when the Lumenari Biosciences co-founder and CEO attended the Canwest Horticulture show in September. At that time, Zhang said his company was, "all about designing energy-efficient lighting systems for the horticulture industry."