Simple Ways to Create a More Eco-Friendly Home

Keeping our Earth's environment healthy is important for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren, but most of us aren't politicians with the ability to have a major impact on our country's environmental policies. So what we can do to help? There are many simple things that we can do to make our homes more eco-friendly, and, as an added benefit, they save us money too. Here are 5 easy ways to create a more eco-friendly home.

1.Change the light bulbs in your home to compact fluorescent (CFL) ones. Energy Star states that "If every American home replaced just one light bulb . . . we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs,and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars".[i]Today you can pick CFLs in a variety of colors and styles to provide just the right type of light for your eco-friendly home. Also, while CFLs cost more money initially than incandescent bulbs, they will actually save you money over the life of the bulb because of their lower electricity usage.

2. Seal off drafty doors and windows. Air leaks around the house increase your heating and cooling costs and waste energy. Using caulk, weather stripping, or spray foam to fix air leaks is an easy do-it-yourself task to create a more eco-friendly home. If you create an even more eco-friendly home see if there are any areas where you can add more insulation to your house.

3. Recycle. Recycle. Recycle. Recycling is one of the easiest ways to create a more eco-friendly home. The National Recycling Coalition says that "in 2000, recycling of solid waste prevented the release of 32.9 million metric tons of carbon equivalent into the air"[ii] and that the energy we save by recycling one glass bottle can run a regular light bulb for four hours[iii]. Many communities today provide recycling pick-up with your regular garbage pick-up and even provide convenient recycling bins.

4. Unplug unused chargers. Cell phones, laptops, and mp3 players all have chargers that continue to draw energy even after the device is charged (or even if the device isn't attached at all). If everyone unplugged those chargers after the devices were charged it would save billions of dollars in energy every year.

5. Install a programmable thermostat. These eco-friendly thermostats allow you to set one temperature for daytime and a different one for night time. You can have different settings for weekends and if you go with a higher-priced model you can set each day of the week to a different schedule. There are even ones specially designed to work with a heat pump. Turning down the thermostat at night or while the house is unoccupied is a great way to save money and create a more eco-friendly home.

And that's how simple it is to create a more eco-friendly home. Follow these five little steps to help the environment and your bank account.

[i]http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls 4/18/2008

[ii]http://www.nrc-recycle.org/top10reasonstorecycle.aspx 4/18/2008

[iii]http://www.recycling-revolution.com/recycling-benefits.html 4/18/2008