1) Forum member ed posts about Solaria's attempt to cut the cost of solar cells "By cutting silicon solar cells into strips and using molded plastic to funnel light to them, Solaria is able to cut the cost of its solar panels." While mikebeavis wonders "As with so many things in the solar world, until you can actually buy the suckers as a homeowner, it's just so much fluff and PR. Good for them, hope they do well, but for the moment it probably doesn't affect 'We the Homeowners.'"

2) As a VW and Audi owner, I've been looking forward to a German answer to the Prius. User sniffmeister is looking at the VW Jetta Wagon TDI which claims to get 40 miles in the city and 60 on the highway. stins mentions there is a 69 MPG VW Golf hybrid on the way. Member eroell has the Passat Wagon diesel TDI and loves it, "On long trips I typically average over 40 mpg. The price of diesel is outrageous right now though. I just paid $3.99/gallon on my last fill-up. But, I would highly recommend a VW TDI to anyone ... great cars." By the way, the average price of diesel in February was $3.38 and climbing, which leads me to the next topic...

3) With the cost of diesel fuel going through the roof and our entire food chain in the US reliant on diesel (trains, farms, tractor trailers), the cost of everything in the grocery store is going up. Just this past weekend I overheard a restaurant owner talking about how their cost for flour doubled in one month (of course this includes the weak dollar and the increase in corn production as well). Which leads me to ask...is anyone out there planning a garden this year to combat the rising cost of food? Are you already planning for next winter? What are your strategies? Join the discussion.