Sierra Club Green Home

If you have a programmable thermostat, you can automate your heating and cooling systems to save energy when you’re not at home or asleep. In winter, for example, your house can be a nippy 60ºF while you are at work, and then–while you are still boarding the bus for your commute back home–it can automatically move up to a toasty 68º or 70ºF.

Any company that installs solar electric systems (also known as photovoltaic, or PV, systems) can help you figure out if PV makes sense for your household. But as with any home improvement project, buyer beware. While reputable companies won’t try to talk you into a deal that doesn’t make sense, unscrupulous companies may overpromise on performance, overestimate how big a system you need, or underestimate potential problems at your site.

Let’s say you have a basic wood-burning fireplace. Charming as it may be, this old-fashioned device pollutes the air and sends a large amount of its heat roaring out the chimney. But there’s no need to get rid of your old fireplace.

Close your eyes and conjure up an image of what you think the most eco-friendly home in the country would look like. Do you imagine a foliage-covered bio-dome surrounded by photovoltaic solar arrays? Or an off-the-grid cob and straw hut nestled in the woods? Or do you think of a 1915 craftsman-style bungalow in the heart of Oakland, CA? One of these options seems like it couldn’t possibly be true, right? What does an old house have to do with being environmentally friendly? But when it’s the home of the founder of the US Green Building Council (USGBC), you probably wouldn’t expect anything less than the greenest home in America.

If you religiously recycle your old newspapers and junk mail, you’re not alone. In 2007, 56 percent of the paper used in the U.S. was recovered—an average of 360 pounds of paper per person. But have you been recycling your dead light bulbs, flat tires, and leftover paint? You may not be able to put such items on the curb, but many companies and communities are providing ways to recycle them. In fact the EPA says that about 75% of what Americans throw away these days could be recycled.

Let there be light. It’s a necessity in our homes–and Americans typically spend 5% to 10% of their total energy budget on lighting, at a cost of $75 to $200 a year. Today, though, there are better ways to illuminate our lives.

Streets paved with recycled concrete. Eco-friendly siding on suburban homes. Sounds like a perfect eco-friendly neighborhood. What’s missing? The perfect eco-roof.

Ever watch kids pluck green beans off the vine and gobble them up like candy? The pleasures of wholesome food go beyond good taste and good health. Eating well–fresh, uncontaminated, responsibly produced food–is as good for the Earth and other species as it is for our bodies.

Today’s high-efficiency clothes washers use half the gas or electricity of a standard washer. They also extract more water during the spinning cycle, which reduces drying time and energy. They offer oceanic water savings, too. Standard full-sized washing machines use 40 gallons of water per load, compared with only 18 to 25 gallons for machines that have earned the government’s Energy Star label.

As you wait patiently for your groceries to approach the cashier’s scanner, you are expecting the bagger to ask, “Paper or Plastic?” Perhaps, without thinking twice, you blurt out your preference for the copious bags that will soon pile at the bottom of your pantry or in the trashcan. A few shoppers may actually consider plastic because of easy storage and small, light size, for eco-friendliness you’d think paper is the slam dunk best choice. The right answer and the facts surrounding the claim may surprise you.