Great topic everyone! I have been interested in greener living every since I started reading "An Inconvenient Truth" several months ago. Needless to say, I only got to page three before I was so freaked out that I replaced all the lightbulbs in our house with CFL's.
Just a few comments.
Daisy - for CFL's I highly recommend the website
www.efi.org. I bought a 3-way CFL three for our living room and find that it is so bright that we leave it on the lowest setting (the equivalent of 13 watts of energy). I noticed just now that they also have daylight bulbs which may help in your situation. For the other rooms of the house we got some from Home Depot that were 4 bulbs for $10. Lastly, they have nightlights that are really swell for those times you get up in the middle of the night and don't want to turn on a bunch of lights and waste the energy. We got one with a photocell that is pretty soothing to look at as it slowly changes colours.
Jayme - for TV's I recently got a Sharp Aquos LCD that is approved (or certified, however you say it) by Energy Star. I did a ton of research and supposedly it uses a lot less energy when in standby mode so this might be something for people to consider. Plus, it uses a ton less energy than a Plasma screen and doesn't generate nearly that much heat.
Enigmacat - I love that you started this thread and also the idea for a fire escape garden. I don't know if the rules have changed but when I looked into doing this several years ago (when I had a fire escape) I was told by the City that you can't have plants on fire escapes as it blocks them in case of an emergency. If you find out that this has changed or anything about how to have flower boxes (the regulations, etc) I'd love to know as I'd like to put in a couple in our kitchen.
It's so refreshing to see such like minded people in this community. Reaffirms for the gazillionth time why I have enjoyed living in Astoria for the past 10 years!