The latest issue of Consumer Reports offers these New Year's resolutions for your home:

• Change your furnace filter.
• Check smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms. (Read more about fire extinguishers.)
• Perform a radon test.
• Install a programmable thermostat.
• Clean your humidifier.
• Reduce indoor-air pollution.
• Maintain your chimney.

The issue also ends 2009 with a topic that's going to be hot throughout at least the first part of 2010: the $300 million State Energy Efficient Appliance Rebate Program.

In his From Our President column, Jim Guest, president and CEO of Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports and ConsumerReports.org, cites some problems with the federal government's Energy Star program, whose standards are generally the basis on which products qualify for cash for clunkers for appliances.

Chief among the concerns is that manufacturers certify the energy use of their appliances, a practice Guest compares to putting the fox in charge of the henhouse. As we've noted in articles like "Energy Star Has Lost Some Luster" and in testimony before a U.S. Senate committee, some of the federal government's energy-use tests for appliances haven't keep up with technological changes and are not always representative of real-world usage. As such, they don’t provide the apples-to-apples comparative performance they were intended to give consumers.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Check out our Energy Saving & Green Living guide for advice on ways to lower your monthly utility bills, and share your tips in our energy saving at home forum.