20 Environmentally Friendly Home Improvements for an Energy Smart Home

Looking to create an energy smart home this year? Here are 20 environmentally friendly home improvement projects you can do.

1. Install Solar Panels – They provide heat with no moving parts to replace and use no fuel.

2. Replace all incandescent light bulbs with compact flourescent bulbs – They use 70-75% less energy and last up to 10 times longer.

3. Roof Improvements – Research has proven that the color of your roof and the material used can lower the attic temperature.  Light color tile roofs outperform shingles for lowering the temperature.

4. Use motion detectors outside instead of outdoor lighting -They save energy and keep the area well lit.

5. Save water – Make sure there are no leaks in any faucets.  Use cold water to wash clothes.  Do laundry less frequently.

6.Use low flow shower heads- They cut down on water usage and save energy.

7. Create a composte pile in your backyard – Add food waste to dirt and turn over weekly.

8. Istall aluminum-clad storm doors- They are energy efficient and insulate entry ways.

9. Invest in a high efficiency HVAC system that is Energy Star certified – It will reduce Green House Gasses and reduce your utility bill.  Also look for the highest SEEER you can get.

10. Clean & replace air conditioner filters regularly.

11. Buy an automated thermostat – It saves 3% of your heating cost for every degree you lower the thermostat in the winter and up to 6% for every degree you raise it in the summer.

12. Install glass doors on your fire place – They will reduce the amount of heeat that escapes through the chiminey.

13. Use power strips for computers – They prevent power from being wasted.

14. Install exhaust and ceiling fans -  They will reduce dependency on air conditioning in the summer and push heat down from the ceiling in the winter.

15. Do an energy audit on your house and get things up to Green Par.

16. Insulate your doors and windows – This is the key when it comes to conserving your homes energy.

17. Always think of the 3 R’s Refuse, Reuse & Recycle when you are buying or disgarding anything.

18. Stop leaks – You need to tighten, insulate, replace and caulk to make your house watertight.

19. Insulate your water heater – Water heaters are on all the time, so by adding insulation can save enrgy and can reduce the cost of heating the water by 15%.

20. Consider tinting your windows to reduce the glare of the sun – It can reduce heat loss in winter and heat gain in summer.  It also reduces 99% of damaging ultraviolet rays.

Effortless Ways to Create an Energy Smart Home

Want to help the environment, but don’t want to expend a lot of your own energy? According to an article in Reader’s Digest (April 08), anyone can create an energy smart home by making just a few changes.

Create an Energy Smart Home by:

• Sealing and weatherproofing your home. If you’re not sure how to do this, then hire someone who is. There are many DIY handyman in every burg and town who are looking for small jobs such as sealing pipes, windows and insulating air ducts.
• Lower the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees; wash clothes in warm or cold water; and replace water heaters that are more than 15 years old with more energy efficient ones. Just by doing these simple things everyone can save more than a hundred pounds of CO2 every year.
• Drink tap water instead of buying bottled water or reuse gallon or 5 gallon containers to replenish your drinking water.
• Replace outdated appliances with energy efficient ones; look for the Energy Star symbol. Some states even provide tax breaks for buying and using such appliances. You’ll save more electricity and use less CO2 every year.

An energy smart home is easy to create; look for retailers and manufacturers who sell energy smart appliances on Fair Green Trade.

Achieve Greener Living for Eco Friendly Houses with 5 Green Remodeling Ideas

If you’re like a lot of people, you’re either thinking about or have decided to do some home remodeling. A home remodeling project is the perfect solution when the housing market is down. It will not only improve your quality of life, but it will increase your house’s value.

Want some ways to make your house even more desirable to buyers? Do some green remodeling projects. Creating eco friendly houses is just what many will be looking for when the market recovers.

Here are 5 projects to make an Eco Friendly House

1. Reclaimed Wood Flooring — Thinking about tearing up your carpets and going with an exposed wood floor? Wood is great for eco friendly houses, but consider reclaimed wood flooring. That is, flooring that comes from other buildings and houses. There are several companies that specialize in connecting homeowners to reclaimed wood flooring.

2. EnergyStar appliances and electronics — When you’re looking at appliances like new dishwashers and refrigerators and fixtures such as shower heads and faucets look for the EnergyStar certification. Energy efficient appliances can save water and money, along with energy. Perfect for all eco friendly houses.

3. Local Flora — Want some plants but don’t have a green thumb? Try supplementing your house with local flora. Local plants will require less care and are more likely to flourish. And they’ll save on water since they are used to your area’s climate.

4. Non-toxic paint finishes — When painting walls or wood, ensure that the paint won’t poison you or the environment. Some paints and finishes can still emit what are known as volatile organic compounds (VOC) even years after they’re applied. For eco friendly houses, find one of the several paints now sold as low-VOC

5. Buy Local — Buying local isn’t just for food. Think about finding local stone, local wood and other materials for your green remodeling project. Since they won’t be transported over long distances, they’ll leave a smaller carbon footprint. You’ll also be investing in your local economy, along with creating eco friendly houses.

Offering More Sustainable Buildings with Green Architecture

The idea of green architecture may be getting a lot of press lately, but it’s really not a new idea. Green architecture has been around about as long as, well, architecture. That’s because some of the core tenants of the green architecture movement, using local and energy-efficient materials, conserving space and taking into consideration things like local climate have always been important to architects. 

The number of sustainable buildings keeps growing every year. And so has the green building industry. As a $5 billion industry in 2005, green architecture revenues this year are expected to pass $12 billion.

And if Edward Mazria has his way, the green architecture will only continue to expand. Mazria has initiated the 2030 Challenge, a project that seeks to eliminate the fossil-fuel-based energy use in all U.S. buildings by 2030. That sounds like a pretty tall order, even for the booming green architecture industry. But Mazria says that the goal can be reached by building smaller houses that use less energy. 

Of the entire greenhouse gases consumed by the house building process, 25% are produced by furnaces and water heaters. The rest is produced by local utility companies which generate utilities such as electricity.

According to Mazria, we could reduce 50 percent of greenhouse emissions by implementing green architecture that focuses on reducing heating requirements for houses. The easiest way to do this is to reduce the house size. Then, greenhouse emissions can be reduced by modifying old houses and buildings to be more energy-efficient. Also, and perhaps the most simple green architecture technique, Mazria suggests that houses orient their main living quarters southward, so sunlight can be tapped during the day.

The last step for better green architecture, and the one that will probably require the most work, is to switch from old heating, cooling and hot water equipment to energy equipment fueled by renewable resources.

Mazria sees this green architecture challenge as potentially successful because it takes a mixed approach to building greener homes. There’s no single solution. It won’t be easy for green architecture to reduce greenhouse emissions, but most agree that multi-pronged approaches like Mazria’s are the best shot.