Did you know that for most Americans, their home accounts for twice as much pollution as their cars? In fact, the average American home uses $1900 worth of energy per year–mostly due to heating and cooling.

Summer is fast approaching, and with it, higher energy bills when you finally break down and turn on the air conditioning. I know we'd all love to be able to afford solar panels for our homes or the new backyard wind turbines, and go off the grid. However, the first step to energy independence is energy efficiency and conservation. Need tips to save money by saving energy when you can't beat the heat? Look no further than Energy Star.

Last year, Energy Star launched Cool Your World with Energy Star @ Home, which allowed visitors to tour an animated home that featured tips on how to be more energy efficient. DIY projects such as installing a programmable thermostat (I easily did this at my house, and I swear I'm by no means handy), regular heating and cooling system maintenance, and proper sealing of one's home can save the average family at least 20% on energy costs. This year, Energy Star @ Home is going a step further by adding testimonials of real families and their quests to cut energy bills through energy efficiency.

What steps did a family like yours take to save energy? Check out the launch May 21st, just in time for summer's arrival. Have you already completely energy efficiency projects in your home? Hit up the site and submit your family's story.

Kenny Luna is the Pied Piper of light bulbs. CFL bulbs, specifically, and he's working his tail off to see to it that every kid in America gets one in their home. Luna is a middle school science teacher from North Babylon, New York, who was so moved by Hurricane Katrina, its devastating aftermath, and connection to global warming, that he decided he had to do something, anything, to fight climate change. "I was so passionate after watching Katrina, and I was just tired of watching people do nothing. Someone had to do something," Luna said in a phone interview from his home.

That something was CFL light bulbs. He began with his school PTO, with the idea of giving students CFL bulbs, which use 66% less energy than regular incandescents. His students became involved. They wrote to Oprah. They talked to retailers. They held a press conference. The community became involved. Mr. Luna's Bright Idea was born. "We realize that we need to do something about global warming. Unfortunately, a lot of people think, for some reason, that it's not going to affect our kids," Luna said, "I think they think it's going to affect kids five thousand years from now, and unfortunately, that's not the case."

Home Depot eventually donated one CFL to every kid in his district, North Babylon, and Luna and his crew had a community Lighting Ceremony, complete with live band, magician, and refreshments, to hand out the bulbs. "That night alone, we probably gave out over 2,000 light bulbs," Luna said. "That's a lot of light bulbs."

Mr. Luna's Bright Idea is expanding. Districts across the country have contacted Luna about bringing the Bright Idea to their schools. Although details are not finalized, Luna has been in talks with a number of high-volume retailers, working on a a way to make this happen as early as next fall. He's starting a non-profit, Mr. Luna's Bright Idea LTD, that will work with kids and the environment, which already has an impressive group of people expressing interest in its board of directors, namely Treehugger.com founder Graham Hill, Princeton scientist Michael Oppenheimer, teacher and president-elect of the California Science Teachers Association Susan Pritchard, Brown University scientist Steven Hamburg, and Janet Myerson, a school board member with extensive experience with the New York State PTA. The non-profit will give grants to schools and teachers to implement their own light bulb programs and scholarships to students going into environmentally-focused fields. And although Luna knows that giving away 53 millions bulbs may be unrealistic, that's not stopping him from coming as close as he can. All this, from one teacher working one light bulb at a time.