Over the weekend, it got a lot easier to be green ...or at least, research green energy. Stacy Palmer, editor of The Chronicle of Philanthropy, joins us to talk about George Soros' $1 billion pledge to fund clean energy technologies, which he hopes can reduce global climate change.

It's widely believed that if you knew how much energy you used every day, you'd be more motivated to cut back. But what if you also knew how much your neighbors used? Would you be even more careful not to hog resources? The city of Sacramento is experimenting with an energy awareness system in the hopes that it will push residents to conserve energy. It's a start-up project by a company called Positive Energy. The Takeaway is joined by the mind behind that company, and a professor of social psychology at Arizona State University, Robert Cialdini.

Among the more creative ways the White House plans to pay for its spending is a carbon emissions cap that the President says will produce $150 billion. The money would finance renewable energy projects and pay for middle-class tax credits. President Obama's budget blueprint is a nearly $4 trillion plan that includes major spending and major deficits as the government tries to combat the severe recession. Joining us this morning to discuss this plan to cap and spend is New York Times Reporter John Broder who has been covering this story.

For more, read Drilling Down on the Budget: Setting ‘Green’ Goals in today's New York Times.

We’ve been on a Power Trip all week to talk about the future of energy. Today we’re digging down into some of the water-cooler wisdom surrounding energy use. Are cloth diapers really more energy efficient than disposables? Does shutting off the lights really waste more energy than just leaving them on? We’re here to debunk myths—or maybe to confirm them. To help us do that is Matt McDermott, an alternative energy writer for TreeHugger.com and Planet Green.com.

Okay, okay, we heard you. You, our listeners, smartly pointed out that with all the energy efficient appliances in the world (and thousands of pounds of algae) future energy consumption will continue increasing because population is increasing. The Power Trip was shaking it's head — how could we forget to talk about this? Today, we'd like you to meet David Biello, an associate editor at Scientific American online who joins The Takeaway to talk to about population, energy, and why when one goes up, it's still possible for the other to come down. (Come on, you're as surprised as we are.)

While we are on our Power Trip exploring new energy sources, we asked our listeners what they do to conserve energy. We've gotten a lot of responses. Add yours below!

Just how power hungry is internet giant Google? The Takeaway's Power Trip heads to the Google campuses in Mountain View, California to find out. John Hockenberry sits down with Bill Weihl, the company's green energy czar (that's his title, no joke). On the interview agenda: the company's top picks for which alt-energy sources will rule the future clean energy economy, including solar with a twist. Plus, Weihl talks about the need for government energy subsidies, and why the company still ain't talking about the power consumed by a Google search

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If you knew where all the energy zooming into your house was being used and wasted, would you change the way you consume power? One company is banking on it. Our Power Trip heads to Redwood City, California to talk to Joe Polastre, CTO and co-founder of Sentilla. The company has invented an unassuming rectangular box that tracks —dollar by dollar, watt by watt—how much energy the appliances in your home are using. Clothes dryers and air conditioners beware: your energy guzzling ways are secrets no more.

Energy experts have a theory: It won't be a fancy new technology straight out of a science fiction novel that will help us reduce our energy consumption. Rather it will be something simple, sleek, a mere re-design if you will. The concept that will slow down how much energy we eat? Energy efficiency. Some energy efficient products are already out there—CFL lightbulbs and Energy Star refrigerators. Others are in the pipeline. As part of The Takeaway's Power Trip energy series, John Hockenberry heads to Novato, California, where some wacky guys are using the human lung to create better air conditioners.

President Barack Obama has pledged to reduce our carbon emissions by 80 percent come 2050, and that means saying goodbye to carbon-spewing coal and oil plants. But we can't wave a magic, rhetoric wand to change from black energy to green. So how do we move forward in establishing a new, clean power economy? To launch our Power Trip energy series, The Takeaway is joined by Garry Golden, a futurist and energy blogger who lays out the yellow brick road toward green energy.

Listen to more from Garry Golden in The Takeaway's Power Trip series:
More on the future of energy from Garry Golden and Introducing the new energy economy.