Here’s how to thrive in the abundance of renewable energy, organic food and a more healthy and sustainable lifestyle. While not all frugality rules, this approach to living more sustainably does require some degree of curtailment, scaling down and living within our means.  It means using credit cards less and relying on community members or family more.  However, the result can be a rich life filled with health and well-being, friends and family, more time to do the things you love to do (imagine that!), a greater sense of purpose, and, my favorite, happiness.

Below are a few suggestions to get you started or continue your journey.  Please add some of your own in the comments.  Maybe some of the BIG banks or BIG government folks might take notice that a few ideas do not involve printing and spending trillions of dollars to “spur consumption.”

•  Powering the renewable energy revolution

Times couldn’t be better for installing your own renewable energy system or improving your energy efficiency of your home or business (or both!), depending on the state you live in.  The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 extended the Energy Policy Act of 2005. These new acts extend and expand the federal tax credits available for energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements made in 2009 and beyond.  There are numerous renewable energy cash-back incentives, tax credits and low interest loans that can help ease the transition from a fossil-fuel based economy to one that thrives on solar income.  Check out the Database for State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency (www.dsireusa.org) to see what’s available in your state.

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Much like Digg, Tip’d is a site that has the advantage of showing up at the right time. The stock market has recently been on a roller coaster ride and the world’s economy has been on the brink of depression for over a month. As you know most speculative behavior is driven by human emotion which tends to spread news like wildfire. In this scenario, Tip’d has found the perfect fit by offering an ideal platform for readers to share their favorite business stories.

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– Emerson, Lake and Palmer, “Karn Evil 9 - 1st Impression, Part 2″

Welcome back to the Carnival of the Green, the weekly showcase of all things good and green around the blogosphere!  And welcome back to sustainablog, carnival-goers: this is our third time hosting the CoG! We’ve got a wide variety of green bloggy goodness to share with you this week.

Before we begin, we’ve got many thanks to extend: to TriplePundit and (the now defunct, but never forgotten) CityHippy for starting this party, to Treehugger for keeping it going, and to last week’s host Confessions of a Closet Environmentalist for serving as stop #147. When you’re ready to scratch that CoG itch next week, head over to Thoughts on Global Warming.

OK, now that the formalities are out of the way, let’s get this party started!  And, in what’s now a tradition for sustainablog and CoG, here’s This post contains additional media. Click here to view the full post.…

Energy

• Paddy K has the lowdown on the politics and environmental impacts of Swedish nuclear energy.
• The Curious Cat Science and Engineering blog has a graphic representation of global installed wind power capacity (and it’s impressive!).

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Even in financially tough times, these Strategies of Abundance reflect interrelationships between personal finance and business, especially for small business owners. The key for ecopreneurs is how they use their business to make the world a better place. Profits from a green enterprise are the catalyst for ecopreneurs to achieve their Earth Mission, whether to restore ecological integrity or make photovoltaic systems affordable to all.

STRATEGY #1: Stop paying the banker.

The longer you hold a mortgage, the more you work for the bank and the more profitable you make them. For comparison, below is a chart from our book, ECOpreneuring, reflecting how interest can pile up on a $100,000 mortgage at 7 percent interest for terms of 15 and 30 years. While the monthly payment is less for the 30-year mortgage (the primary reason many of us choose it), we end up paying more than double for the use of the same pot of money.

By accelerating our mortgage payments on our 30-year fixed mortgage by paying down the principal when we could, we have the ability to earn less income to pay the bank than if we did otherwise over the long-term. Prepayment on principal is usually acceptable and completely legal. Every time you pay down the principal, the remaining interest and balance is recalculated, meaning that more of your regular monthly payments go to the principal and not interest payments.

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Market meltdowns, like the one we saw last week, and the one that may be forthcoming this week (as of this morning, the Asian markets took another nosedive), are no reason to panic.

In fact, unless you are on the cusp of retirement (or currently retired), market corrections are mostly positive news. Corporate profits are at multi-year highs. U.S. corporations have as more cash on hand than at any time in history. Because of the first two reasons, dividends and buybacks are also on the rise. The correction allows you to buy these assets and cash flows for that much less.

Whether you invest responsibly or not, most individuals need to keep these four principles in mind:

• Be diversified. Unless you have a few million and do not need to work, you should not be concentrated in any one company or asset class. Even if you are getting generous options grants from your employer, you should periodically diversify to protect your downside. Proper allocation is where a good financial adviser can really earn his or her pay, because arriving at such an allocation requires taking into account your life stage, your goals, your current assets, your income, and a lot of other factors.
• Be low cost. The average actively managed mutual fund charges an astounding 1.57 percent of assets each year. If you figure that stock returns historically average 8 - 12 percent, that is a lot of money for no risk. Still, that figure would be fine if they consistently outperformed the market benchmarks. Alas, they do not. While about 40 percent of actively managed funds beat their benchmark in any one year, less than 15 percent beat the benchmarks over 5 years. If you consider that index funds charge 60 to 90 percent less than 1.57 percent, you might as well be content with market returns.
• Maximize your company's 401k plan. Nowhere else can you get a tax deduction, tax deferral, and free money in the form of a company match. Think about it. A company match means that you get a 100 percent return automatically. No investment vehicle in the world can offer that kind of return without risk. Even if your company does not have a match, the tax deduction can enhance your dollars by 15 to 35 percent. Still pretty good.
• Be systematic. Whether you resolve to invest once a week, once a month, once a quarter, or whatever, be disciplined about saving a set amount. This is yet another reason to utilize your 401k plan, because money will be taken out of your paycheck every time you get paid, and you will not even miss it. Systematic savings plans also allow you to take advantage of lower prices when the market corrects.

If you follow the above principles, then most of you will do just fine. Concentrate on making money through your employment or entrepreneurial endeavors. The more one obsesses over making money in the market, the more likely they are to start market timing, and believe me, almost everyone who tries to beat the market with timing fails. Even the professionals.

You might be wondering which, if any, vehicle accomplishes this task. My favorite mutual fund is the Vanguard FTSE Social Index Fund (VFTSX). Based on the FTSE4Good Index Series, it focuses on environmental sustainability, human rights, and corporate governance. The management fee, at 25 basis points (versus the aforementioned 157 basis points for actively managed brethren), is the lowest among all SRI funds. Versus non-screened indexes such as Vanguard's S&P 500 Index Fund, this fund is a little more heavily weighted towards technology and healthcare companies, but not so much that it would wreck a sound asset allocation.