In case you haven't noticed, hotels are going green, doing their part to be ecologically friendly. You might call it the Al Gore effect, although the movement began before An Inconvenient Truth won an Academy Award and its star won a Nobel Prize this year.

The green efforts go further than asking guests to use towels and bed linens more than once (as they do at home), to conserve water and avoid flushing more detergent-laden water into sewers. It's also more than replacing incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs in guest rooms.

Other green initiatives are more subtle - things a guest might never notice: recycling, low-flow faucets and showerheads, water-saving toilets, and the use of products that don't harm the environment or contribute to global warming.

2007 Mitsubishi Outlander LS 4WD Review

Does Mitsubishi have an identity crisis? When its name is mentioned, some people think of SUVs, like the Montero, while others think of the Lancer Evolution high-performance rally replica.

If so, the company is working hard to blend the best of both sides of its reputation. With its second-generation 2007 Outlander, Mitsubishi has merged an SUV with a rally car. A wild claim? You'd be forgiven for thinking so, as performance and handling are not usually associated with a crossover SUV. But the new Outlander, which shares little besides the name with the original, previews the chassis platform that will underly the next-generation Lancer Evo, and its four-wheel drive system is meant more for traction and cornering on pavement than traditional four-wheeling. In the crowded and competitive mid-size, middle-class crossover field, the 2007 Mitsubishi Outlander stands out by virtue of its sporty abilities.

Manufacturing company moving into old GM plant (video)

The old General Motors plant in the Town of Salina is about to have some new life breathed into it. BITZER Scroll, an independent air conditioning and refrigeration company, will be moving into the plant. The move is expected to create around 300 engineering and manufacturing jobs. BITZER Scroll will use a 1.4 million dollar grant from the Empire State Development Corporation to invest in the plant. The company says it will invest 30 million dollars over the next five years. In a press release Governor Spitzer says that BITZER Scroll could have located anywhere in the world, but "the company chose Syracuse and Central New York because we demonstrated the value of our workforce and our knowledge-based resources. " He goes on to say that BITZER Scroll will be the cornerstone of upstate economic revitalization.

Give your attic a breath of air

Winter weather can find every weak link in a house to create drafts and raise utility bills. So how dumb is it to purposely let cold air into an attic or crawl space? Not dumb at all -- in fact, it's essential, and a component of each of the four building code systems in the country.

Ventilation makes obvious sense in summer when temperatures soar in attics, and sunstruck shingles become so gooey you can't walk on them. Thorough ventilation is the answer. It keeps temperatures in check, reduces air conditioning cost, and also extends the life of asphalt shingles.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but venting attics is just as important in winter. Seal up roof vents the way you seal up windows, and moisture created in the house will be trapped and condense in the attic.

Roy handling things well

You think Kevin McHale, who already had taken Mark Blount and Ricky Davis off the Celtics' hands, and later gave them legitimate title hopes by shipping them Kevin Garnett, wouldn't have done the same had the Celtics taken Randy Foye at No. 7?

"Everything starts with Brandon," LaFrentz said of Roy, who deserves a spot on the Western Conference All-Star team for leading the Blazers to their surprising start. "So much of our offense goes through him, and is created by him, and he's a very responsible player.