Despite everything you've heard, there really are some companies doing their best to take us away from using fossil fuels to produce energy. BP is one such company. Can you imagine how clean the air would be and how much money we could save by using clean, renewable energy sources such as the light from the Sun? I hate to use this tired, worn out expression, but it rings true: Think of the children. If we don't continue to strive for fossil fuel reductions, our children and the subsequent generations will suffer from our misuse of resources.

So, what is BP doing that the average Joe Citizen isn't? Well, BP partnered with the US Department of Energy and is sponsoring the Solar Decathlon, an event that occurs every other year. The event takes place from 11 to 19 October this year. Yes, it starts in a few hours.

20 university teams from around the globe will design, build and operate livable, energy-efficient and completely solar-powered houses. The event culminates in a week-long competition on the National Mall in Washington, DC.

BP is sponsoring this special event as part of their commitment to discovering cost effective, clean energy solutions for everyday living. They are one of the main corporate sponsors, and the only energy company sponsor, of the 2007 Solar Decathlon and have been involved since the first competition in 2002.

As part of their support for the competition, BP created a blog in which all of the teams, as well as an on-site reporter, will write posts throughout the competition. Visit the BP Solar Decathlon blog to keep up with them.

Here's a video which shows you how solar works:

Before I sold my previous house in 2006, I spent a lot of time and effort cleaning my garage floor to remove motor oil and other automotive fluids. I could have saved myself a lot of that time and effort, as well as the money I spent on cleaning supplies, if I had taken the time to apply a garage floor coating when I first bought the place.

Besides the epoxy, I'm not sure what color I would have chosen for the finish. The color of the cement naturally looks like a light gray, so I would assume some shade of gray would be okay. I've seen it done with a white finish in aircraft hangars, but it looks too dirty too quickly. Checking out the pictures at Car Guy Garage, I see they have a "slate" color and that's probably what I would have gone with.

Don't do like I did and wait until you're getting ready to sell to do something about your garage floor. Invest a little and save a lot of headaches by applying a coating to it.