A Greener Home
Explore the links on your left for ways to reduce your carbon footprint.
Green Tips
Just say no to Green Gloss!
It’s about stewardship of the big blue marble. So please, don’t fight global warming by shopping for frivolous stuff. If you’re going to use your precious natural resources to shop (time, money, and gas), look for an ENERGY STAR model to replace an inefficient appliance or light bulb. Tell merchants who try to attract your business with a veneer of green they’re missing the point.
Optimize Your Water Heater
Put an insulative jacket around your hot water heater, and insulate the pipes around it. Insulative jackets cost between $10 and $20, and you can get pipe insulation for less than $1 for six feet. Also consider turning the temperature on the water heater down to 120 degrees. It saves money and prevents scalding.
Use CFLs
Replace your incandescent light bulbs (the cheap ones you probably got at the grocery store) with ENERGY STAR® qualified compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). By replacing even your five most frequently used light bulbs, you'll save $100 per year. If every family in the U.S.A. did this, we’d reduce greenhouse gas emissions by one trillion pounds! (For those counting: there are 12 zeros in a trillion.)
Save 10% on your heating and cooling costs just by setting your thermostat back when you're not home and while you're sleeping. Program your thermostat to 78 degrees F or higher in the summer and 62 degrees F or lower in the winter. If you tell it to return to your preferred temperature before you return home, you won't ever know the temperature changed, until you look at the reduction in your energy bills. Select ENERGY STAR qualified programmable thermostats.
Install low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators to save resources without sacrificing water pressure. An efficient showerhead will save a family of four up to $285 per year. They can cost less than $15, and installing them couldn't be easier: they just screw on.
HVAC maintenance is key to healthy and efficient heating and cooling. Get a professional tune-up every two years. It will cost around $100, but will save 5% to 10% on your heating and cooling bills. Also, clean or replace your filter every month. Dirty filters block normal airflow and significantly reduce the efficiency of the system, which wastes your money.