>> and now we'll replace that low-flow shower head. that looks great. see if it works. >> okay. >> you turn it on how you normally do. [ water flowing ]

and it's warmed up. yeah! i think those things combined can save you a lot of money, a lot of energy. now, i want to talk to you a little bit about water temperature with little ones in the house. so let's go down to your water heater. okay, barney, the thing i wanted to talk to you about down here is, to evaluate the temperature of your water in your home. looks like you have it set relatively low. which is a good thing when you have little kids. some manufacturers will set it at 140 degrees which is fine but you can get scalded at 140 degrees. by turning it down to 120, that's not only going to prevent the safety issues from occurring. but it's going to save energy. for every little bit you dial it down you're going to save that much more in energy. now your particular water heater, it doesn't have letters. i've seen a letter system used before. also some actually have the

temperature printed on there. so check your manuals, find out what these things mean. and for those of you at home, if you don't know how high your water gets, temperature-wise, just run your sink until it hit, fill a glass and put a meat thermometer in there. save water save energy. i think all these things combined is going to make a big difference in your house. >> yes, hope so. >> for more household hints go to powerhousetv.com. here's a question from a viewer like you. >> we've been in the house for ten years or so. we've never done anything with the furnace, i never had the ducts clean. >> it's a good idea to have your furnace inspected each year

it will help reduce your heating by 5%. the inspector will make sure it's running safely and not leaking carbon monoxide into

thanks for asking.i'll tell you when that was, and how to move it out of the way, sunday night. --------------------- what could possibly bug a hawkeye fan about an 8-0 record? the baggage >> here's a question from a viewer like you. >> how thick should the insulation be in the attic of your home? >> making sure you have insulation is the best way to save energy. r-49 to r-16, 16 to 18 inches of fiberglass insulation or about 12 to 14 inches of blown in cellulose. use a ruler or tape measure to find out how much you currently

have and make sure you have enough and make sure your attic is properly vented. >> tina you spend a lot of time in here, right? >> there's usually somebody in here at all times. >> okay. i want to talk to you about something really simple. cell phone chargers. you have a lot of cell phones in your house. how often do you thinky and you charge your phones? >> mine is charging constantly. i take it off the docking station when i leave. the girls probably charge theirs once a day and barney the too, overnight. they leave them plugged into about the wall. >> anything that is plugged into the wall takes power. that's called plug load. your home's total plug load. any time you plug this in adds plug load. and whether something is attached to the end actually using the power or just plugged

it's drawing power, it's called stand by power. the important thing to do is unplug these things at all times. if you are not using this, get your kids in the habit of taking these out of the wall. 5 to 10% of your total energy bill is from phantom power. okay, crazy! that's that. now here in the computer room, you don't want to unplug things when you're not using them, right? crawl around under the desk and unplug the computer. it's something you want on all the time. so i have a gift for you today: you know what that is? >> it's a power strip. >> it is. it's a smart power strip. better than a power strip. it's a surge protector as well. if you flip the switch it's a surge protector. if you put it on energy savings, it kind of has a mind of its own. whatever you plug in here your computer for example monitors the rest of these pollution.

soplugs. anything that goes into sleep mode, anything associated with a computer here, what are some of the things you use? >> how about the printer, scanner? >> perfect. those would go in here and when this goes to sleep this senses the power reduction and these automatically shut off. >> oh nice. >> so you don't have to unplug things. if you turn off your computer manually, those things will also shut down. i see something in here that you would never want to go off. what is that? >> i guess the phone answering machine. >> those would always stay on. let's reduce these five to 10% and get things plugged in! all right, the first thing we want to do is make sure the energy saver is turned on here. tina you go ahead and power-down your computer and i'll take the telephone. we want that on all the time. we'll plug that here.

we'll take the printer, plug that in here, and the computer, plug in there. >> that was easy! >> isn't it? okay, i have another one for you and you can go plug this into the entertainment area. so what would you plug in here? >> would i guess the tv. >> right. so when you turn the television off, what things would you like to go off with it? >> probably the dvd player and what about the wii? >> perfect, gaming systems, that's great. then are there any things you wouldn't want to go off? >> dvr. >> perfect, great. you take this, you go save some money, girl! >> thank you! >> well, thanks for helping us out kids. >> we learned today that by making just a few little changes

>> we go into a room and what do we do with the light? >> turn it off. >> are we going to take long showers or short showers? >> short showers. >> your family's going to know because that timer is going to go off. >> thanks for letting us make your house a -- what everyone?

from nbc news

new york, this is "nbc nightly news" reporting tonight, kristen welker. we begin tonight with yet another tragedy in the skies. this time, a russian plane crashed in egypt claiming the lives of all 224 people on board. most of the passengers were russians. 25 were children. they had just departed the red sea resort of sharm el sheikh when the plane went down 23 minutes after takeoff. russian president, vladimir putin has declared tomorrow a day of mourning as they comb through the wreckage and look for answers. bill neely starts us off from cairo. >> reporter: in a barren desert, the mangled remains of a plane carrying 224 people, their clothes scattered, their cell phones ringing in the debris. no one survived to answer. many passengers were found still strapped to their seats. 25 were children.

this was a metro jet plane, an a-321. it took off at 5:21 from sharm el sheikh bound for st. petersburg, russia. it dropped suddenly at 31,000 feet and slowed dramatically before disappearing from radar and crashing. communication has been lost, he says, but russian officials have no idea why. the airline quickly insisted human error was not to blame. >> translator: our pie lol was pilot was very experienced she says. we don't know what caused the crash. >> reporter: at st. petersburg airport, terrible scenes as relatives learned everybody was dead. >> i got a call on the way to the airport. >> my son called us before he left with is had wife and ten-month-old daughter. ready to board, juri and his three--month-old

daughter photographed by her mom, all perished. egyptian officials hinted that they believe a technical failure caused the crash. the crew complaining of engine trouble several times in the past week. the pilot in the final minutes reportedly requesting an emergency landing. the plane crashed in the sinai desert where islamists have fought an insurgency for years. russian and egyptian ministers dismissed claims that the plane had been shot down saying militant lacked the missiles to do it. tonight, russia is in shock and in mourning. a national tragedy is still a mystery this country will not forget. a mystery that may soon be in disbelief. both the plane's black box recorders have been recovered and russian investigators have arrived here in cairo tonight. one shock wave from all of this. some airlines are

paths, two european carriers carriers citing security saying they won't fly over this area until the exact cause has been determined. thank you for the latest. we want to turn to captain john cox, who spent 30 years in safety and crash investigations and is an aviation analyst. thank you, captain cox. you have flown this exact model plane before. we know they have found the black boxes as bill neely just reported. based on your knowledge, what do you think investigators will learn from the black boxes? >> i spent 350 flying the a-320 family, including the a-321. it is a very reliable plane. it has an outstanding record. the investigators are going to look at everything. at this point, they are going to look at tech any cam technical issues and the potential for human error. the good news is, we have recovered the cockpit voice recorder

and the flight data recorder. those are going to be essential in understanding what happened and what caused this tragedy. >> we know they will be significant. we have also learned the plane slowed down dramatically before the crash. what does that tell you along with the images you have seen of the wreckage so far? >> well, the pilots reached cruising altitude and then advised air traffic control of a technical problem and they wanted to divert. there is some conflict about whether they wanted to go back to sharm el sheikh or cairo. they wanted to put the airplane back on the ground. they started a pretty rapid descent. it is within the normal flight envelope but it is rapid. if the radar data is correct, the airplane slowed dramatically. that's something the investigators are going to look at very, very closely. if the airplane got too slow, it could

this airplane has protection around it. but if that's possible and the images that we have seen from the wreckage site, they also show that the airplane appears to be all there. it is consistent with a low impact velocity. so i think this is one of the areas of focus. >> captain john cox, thank you so much for your insights this evening. we really appreciate it. we want to bring you an update on a story we brought you earlier this week. that military blimp that drifted more than 100 miles on wednesday from maryland to pennsylvania, today, a shin nook helicopter lifted the remains from the field to where it was loaded on a truck for removal. the army has begun taking insurance claims for the damage caused by that wayward blimp they are beginning to investigate food

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so talk to your doctor, and for details, visit jardiance.com. at least five are dead after a storm system in texas. several million are under flash flood warnings as the system moves east. charles hadlock has our report. >> reporter: heavy rains pounded the texas hill country sending rivers and streams roaring out of their banks. dozens of people were rescued from tree branches and washed-out roads. three people drowned near austin. it is just crazy. within five minutes, it was flooded. >> reporter: nearly 15 inches of rain fell in austin friday setting an all-time one-day record. as the water rose on citation avenue,

57-year-old inez garza and her husband tried to escape to safety. >> he was telling my grandma to hold on to something and make sure her head is above water and to just grab on to anything possible. she was telling him, i can't swim, i can't swim. >> reporter: her body was found today two miles from her home. two weeks ago, the area was in a drought. today rkts today, flood warnings. stranding at least 90 motorists. tornadoes struck two nearby towns injuring two people and homes. >> we heard lots of alerts coming through on our phones and we had to let them know we wanted to be on alert and my husband and i jumped out of bed and ran and grabbed the kids and hunkered down in the hallway. >> a lot haveof wind. almost sounded like a train. >> reporter: at this r.v. park, a possible tornado touched down.

they are helping this woman clear out her mud-filled home. in less than a minute, water from a rising creek came pouring through the doors and windows. she stood there in the living room holding on to her dog ashley until help finally came. all the while, watching her belongings float away. >> the halloween rains will make this month the wettest october on record for much of texs a. kristin? >> charles hadlock, thank you for that report. coming up, meet with the pain and swelling of my moderate to severe rheumatoid arthritis... ordinary objects often seemed... intimidating. doing something simple... meant enduring a lot of pain. if ra is changing your view of everyday things orencia may help. orencia works differently by targeting a source of ra early in the inflammation process. for many, orencia provides long-term relief of ra symptoms. it's helped new ra patients

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incompetent credible, american pharaoh winning the final race of his career, the breeder's cup classic. that makes him the first ever to win horse racing's grand slam, which also includes the kentucky derby, preakness and belmont stakes. he takes home a cool that's nearly a special halloween asteroid is earth tonight. the scientists say it seemingly looks like a skull. it is actually nicknamed the great pumpkin at 1300 feet in diameter, it is big enough to do major damage but thankfully it won't come any closer than 300,000 miles away. you can't see it with the naked eye.

take a look at this pint-sized pontiff who did anything but spook president obama. he stole the show riding around on his own little popemobile with, yes, a fiat logo to match and even wore the pope's traditional hat and red shoes. president obama says the toddler pope took the top prize. no disputing that. that is "nbc "nightly news."" don't forget to turn your clocks back. thanks for watching

and a great halloween.deadly plane crash.. over a hundred people are killed on a plane heading to egypt from russia. what investigators think caused the plane to go down. spooky fun... the halloween festivities at the science center today, that people here in the metro could enjoy. gop event. w ten republican candidates were here for the g-o-p's first "growth and opportunity party" event. at the iowa state fairgrounds... "iowans are discerning voters. they're informed voters. they're nice." iowans are also trying to make up their minds about the candidates running for president. when republican campaigns shyed away from the straw poll, the state party came up with a brand new

event.