I’m a big believer in the notion that knowledge is power. The more I know, especially when it comes to the choices I make as a consumer, the better those choices will be – not only for me and my family, but also for the world around me. Which is why I’m excited to tell you that starting soon you’ll be seeing a whole slew of groovy new labels on some of the products you know and love. Even better, these labels are going to give you access to new information on how those products are made as well as new tools to make better use of them in your daily life.

The first of these handy-dandy new labels is the WindMade label. The NY Time Green Blog reports that a number of companies and organizations (including such distinctly odd bedfellows as the World Wildlife Fund and Lego) have joined forces to create the label. It’s a first-of-its-kind effort to make it easier for consumers to identify products that are produced using electricity from wind power. Standards are still under development, so there’s not a lot of detail on how companies will certify their use of wind power. But with wind energy development increasing (and public acceptance starting to gain ground), it seems hopeful that WindMade will catch on, maybe even spurring some SolarMade or GeothermalMade offshoots.

Tip of the hat to Treehugger for heralding the release date for the Department of Agriculture’s new Biobased Products Label. The label will highlight companies that use agricultural-based (instead of petroleum-based) materials in for their products or product packaging. Using an agricultural-based material like corn typically means that products can decompose and don’t need recycling (I’m talking to you, plastic water bottles). The labels should start appearing on products this spring.

One of the biggest complaints some of the new light bulbs on the market these days is that the lights make your living room look like a hospital room. Having grown up with incandescent bulbs that give off a comforting, yellow glow, it’s hard for many of us to get used to lighting that can lean more towards the cool end of the spectrum. In the last few years, LED manufacturers have come a long way in getting their lights to look more like that soft yellow glow we’re all used to; but it’s still been hard for consumers to know which bulbs should go in the bedroom, and which should be saved for the operating room. The FTC’s new Lighting Facts Label hopes to change that. Available on lighting products or product literature, the label will (among other things) make the whole issue of Correlated Color Temperature (basically, how yellow or blue your lighting looks) much clearer.

Amy Foster Parish is on staff with the Washington State University Extension Energy Program. In her spare time, she enjoys reading the nutrition labels on cereal boxes.