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. When you step in the door, the temperature is right where you want it. If you’re home all day, the benefits are not as great. But the program still helps trim your usage while you’re asleep. All in all, it’s a sweet deal–dramatic energy savings with no sacrifice in comfort. Plus, while programmable thermostats range in cost from $40-$200, most people will save $180 per year or more using one. That means you’ll get your investment back very quickly!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Top Tips

At home

• Understand your system. If you have an old, do-nothing thermostat, you can easily replace it with a nifty programmable model. Just make sure the thermostat you purchase is compatible with your type of heating system. (Many do not work with heat pumps or electric resistance heating.)
• Understand your house. If your house is large, with multiple heating or cooling zones, you’ll need a thermostat for each zone to maximize energy savings and comfort.
• Don’t override the programming. Resist the urge to override the pre-programmed settings, unless, of course, you decide to go for a warmer temperature in summer and a cooler one in winter.

• Go low, and high. In winter, set the temperature down to 55º while you’re away or asleep, warming it back up to 68º half an hour before you wake up or get home. In summer, set it at 85º or 90º while you’re away, coming down to a comfortable 78º a half hour before you return home.
• Take advantage of the “hold” button. You can set the “hold ” button at a constant energy-saving temperature when you are away for long periods of time on weekends or vacations.
• If you have steam or radiant floor heating, experiment a bit. These systems respond more slowly, so you may want to program for a temperature drop several hours before you leave the house or go to bed.
• Install in the right place. If the thermostat is near heating or cooling registers, appliances, lighting, doorways, skylights, windows, or areas that receive direct sunlight or drafts, it should be moved, because it won’t be responding to the true temperature of the room. It’s best to install thermostats on inside walls because, if they are on outside walls (which are often colder or warmer than the room itself), the thermostat will misread the overall temperature.
• Don’t let the batteries go dead. Change the batteries when your unit indicates the time has come.

When shopping, look for

• An Energy Star. Thermostats that qualify for the government’s Energy Star label will save you the most energy and money. The amount will depend on how much you lower your consumption while you’re away or asleep.
• Thermostats that fit your lifestyle.
  • 7-day models are best if your daily schedule tends to change–if, for example, you work irregular hours or the time the children are at home varies. These let you set different programs for different days, usually with four possible temperature periods per day.
  • 5+2-day models use the same schedule every weekday, and another for weekends.
  • 5-1-1 models are best if you have one schedule Monday through Friday, and different schedules on Saturdays and Sundays.

Other Considerations

Don’t expect the thermostat to do everything. You should also take all possible steps to tighten up the house by following the recommendations in the air sealing, insulation, air conditioning, and heating equipment sections of this website.

Common Mistakes

Using a programmable thermostat with the wrong system. Many programmable thermostats should NOT be used in houses with heat pumps or electric resistance heating. These require special thermostats for optimum efficiency.

Getting Started

Many old thermostats used a switch that contains mercury, a toxic metal. Don’t break the mercury container or toss the old switch in the garbage. Contact your local hazardous waste office for instructions on proper disposal.

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. Take the time to learn about the basics of PV, so that when you talk to the pros you can ask good questions, make sense of the answers, and know if you are getting the straight scoop.

It’s also wise to add up the cost of a solar electric installation in your area. In 2007, the average cost in the United States in 2007 was $7.62 per watt, after available state and federal incentives. That comes to roughly $15,000 to $30,000 for a typical 2 to 4 kilowatt system. But with a newly expanded federal tax credit and an increasing number of cities, states and utilities offering residents cash or loans to install photovoltaic (PV) systems, there’s never been a better time to go solar.

Even in areas with high electricity prices, it can take 10 years or more for a typical system to pay for itself. That’s still an excellent return on your investment-10% is much more than your bank pays you–but in most cases you must be willing to make the large up-front investment. As energy costs rise and the cost of renewables comes down, however, solar power will become even more cost competitive. And in remote areas where it would be exorbitantly expensive to hook up to the electricity grid, a photovoltaic (PV) system may be the most economical choice.

Before You Put a Power Plant on Your Roof

Even though rebates and incentives are bringing down the cost of solar electricity, it’s still a lot cheaper to save a watt of electricity than to produce one. Before ponying up for a PV system:

• Look for free ways to use the sun’s energy. A PV system is a big-ticket purchase, so before taking the plunge look for free ways to capture the sun’s energy, like passive solar design, daylighting, or a good old-fashioned clothesline. Read our “Free and Low-Cost Solar Energy” article to learn more.
• Invest in conservation. For starters, that means installing more insulation, swapping out energy-guzzling appliances for super-efficient models, sealing air leaks, and replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescents. It also may mean changing habits: turning off lights and gadgets when you’re not using them, lowering the heat, skipping the air conditioning except on the hottest days, or piling on an extra comforter instead of switching on an electric blanket. If you do all of that first, you won’t have to invest as much in PV to bring your energy bill under control.

Is Your Site Right?

Assess your site. PV modules need south-facing exposure that’s not shaded by trees, buildings, or other structures. They can be installed on sloped or flat roofs, as long as there’s unshaded south-facing exposure. In general, the smallest systems require at least 120 square feet of unobstructed space; larger systems may require 1,000 square feet or more. But it doesn’t have to be on the roof. PV modules can be mounted on the ground, on walls, on window overhangs, and even on trellises where they can do double duty by shading your patio table.

Check out your roof. If you’re thinking of installing the PV system on your roof (which is where most people put them), assess the roof’s age and condition. If your roof needs repairs or if you’re planning to reroof within the next few years, do it before installing the PV panels. For more about roof and PV system maintenance issues, read our “Buying and Maintaining a Solar Electric System” article.

Plan ahead. If you’re building a new house or planning an addition or major remodel, think solar. That means orienting a new house or an addition so there’s plenty of unshaded, south-facing roof space for PV. If you can’t squeeze a PV system into your construction budget, at least plan for where it can be installed in the future and run conduit (without the actual wiring) from that area to the utility meter. This will make it less expensive and less disruptive to install PV later.

What Size PV System Do You Need?

Size it right. Typical residential PV sizes are between 2 and 4 kilowatts. (One kW equals 1,000 watts-the amount of power needed to keep ten 100-watt light bulbs burning.) How large a system you need depends on how much electricity your household uses, what portion of that demand you want to offset with the PV system, how much unshaded south-facing space you have available, and how sunny it is in your part of the country.

Solar companies can usually estimate system size over the phone, after asking about your current electricity use and looking at your property on a satellite map to check out shading issues.

If your property looks feasible for solar, they’ll come to your house and do a detailed analysis. (Learn more about this process in our article “Buying and Maintaining a Solar Electric System.”)

Reach for the sky. Even if a PV system only offsets a portion of your electricity use, you’re doing something good for the Earth and bringing your energy costs under control. If you can’t afford a system big enough to supply all your energy, consider installing a smaller system now and expanding it later. But if you’re ready to set really high goals, shoot for a zero-energy home. That means generating as much energy as you use over the course of a year. To do that, you’ll first need to get your energy use as low as possible. (Hang out on this site and you’ll become an expert in doing that.) And then produce the rest with renewable energy systems.

Don’t supersize. While a zero-energy home is a terrific goal, it usually doesn’t make economic sense to buy a system that generates more electricity than you’ll use over the course of a year. That’s because many utility companies won’t give you any money back if you put excess electricity into the grid over and above what your household uses over a 12-month period.

Can You Afford It?

• Federal tax credit. Homeowners who install a solar electric system can take a tax credit on their federal income tax return of up to 30% of the installed system cost.
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  This credit applies to systems placed in service from January 1, 2006, through December 31, 2016 (for systems placed in service before 2009, the credit was capped at $2,000). So if your PV system costs $20,000 after state or local rebates, you can subtract $6,000 from the federal taxes you owe. If you can’t use the full credit in the year of the installation, you can carry it over to future years.

• State, local, and utility incentives. Depending on where you live, tax credits, rebates, and other incentives can help bring costs down. These incentives are typically offered by the state government or by the local electric utility; check the DSIRE database for incentive details by state. New York State, for example, offers homeowners a personal tax credit of 25% of the system cost, up to a maximum of $5,000. Even cities are starting to offer innovative programs to help their citizens defray the upfront cost of PV. San Francisco gives households a rebate of $3,000 to $5,000. The city of Berkeley, California, provides loans to homeowners who install PV systems; the homeowners pay no money upfront and pay off the loan over 20 years as part of their property tax bill.
• Loans. Taking out a loan for a renewable energy installation often makes good sense. If you’re building a new house, you can fold the cost into your construction loan. If you’re putting the PV system on an existing house, you might finance it with a home equity loan. Some banks now offer loans specifically for purchasing a PV system. Depending on the situation, your monthly loan payments for a solar system may be on par with or even lower than your old monthly electric bill. After the loan is paid off, the electricity generated by the system is free.
• Leases. Recently a few companies have been offering leasing arrangements. In these deals, the solar company installs a PV system on your home and retains ownership of it. You make monthly lease payments that should be lower (or at least no higher) than what you’re currently paying for electricity. When the lease ends, you may have the option to buy the system or have it removed. Since this is a relatively untested arrangement, make sure you understand all the fine print before making a commitment.

What If PV Doesn’t Make Sense for You?

PV has a lot going for it, but it’s not the solution for everyone. If your property gets too much shade, if you don’t own your home, or if a PV system is out of your price range, you can buy green power instead of generating it.

To do that, first check with your local electric company. They may offer a green power option from sources like solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas (such as methane), or low-impact hydro. When you buy green power you’re paying a small premium to support the utility’s renewable energy generation, but you’re not actually getting “green electrons” delivered to your home. Electrons are indistinguishable; those generated by renewable energy sources go into the grid and mix with electrons from all the utility’s other sources. Yet, if you are interesting in directly supplying clean energy to your residential or commercial area consider investing in fuel cell technology. To learn more visit ClearEdge Power.

If your utility company doesn’t offer green power, don’t despair. You can purchase “green tags” (they’re also called renewable energy certificates, RECs, or green energy certificates). It’s similar to buying green power from your local utility, except that when you buy a green tag, you may be supporting green power generation in other parts of the country, not necessarily in your region. When you buy a green tag, you’re rewarding power suppliers that offer green power, but you’re not necessarily funding the development of new renewable energy sources. To find out more about green power and green tags, check out the U.S. EPA’s green power website.

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. You can insert an energy-efficient gas-burning fireplace. Many models produce the same comforting yellow-orange flames that you enjoy in a wood fireplace and even contain “logs” made of fireproof material so realistic you would have to look closely to tell the difference. And you don’t have to bother with wood and ashes.

Gas fireplaces are usually meant to heat an individual room rather than an entire house. But some models can put out 40,000 Btu–as much as some furnaces. If you have a small house, this could be enough heat for all the rooms.

Another option for those who relish the ambiance of a fireplace but don’t want the additional pollution that wood-burning flames often emit is an electric fireplace.   Reasons electric fireplaces make good environmental sense are: there is no air exchange, no emissions, and no consumption of wood or burning of fossil fuels.  There are eco-fireplaces in the marketplace that can operate with or without heat, are extremely energy efficient, and require minimal maintenance and operational fees.  Both gas and electric fireplaces are viable choices when greening your home.

Top Tips

When shopping, look for

• Energy efficiency. Like the other types of heating systems we discuss, gas fireplaces are rated by the amount of heat they can produce in British thermal units, or Btu, and by their efficiency. The higher the efficiency, the less the unit will cost to operate. Once the heater is up to the desired temperature, some gas models convert almost 90% of the gas they burn into usable heat. In comparing fireplaces and stoves, you should also consider their Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE), which is a measure of the average efficiency.
• The right size. The heating capacity of your gas fireplace should calculated carefully, taking into account the climate in your area, room size, ceiling height, quality of insulation, windows, and so forth. A typical residence needs roughly 35 Btu per square foot per hour. So if the room you plan to heat is 20 x 20 feet, or 400 square feet, you would need roughly 400 x 35 or about 14,000 Btu of heat. With a heater that’s, say, 80% efficient, you’d need an input of 17,500 Btu. It would be foolish to spend more for a higher capacity heater.
• A thermostat. Relying on how you feel to decide when to turn a heating device on and off can waste energy. Therefore, it’s best to have a thermostat to regulate the temperature of the heater.
• Electric ignition or low-energy pilot. Electric ignition of the fireplace is more efficient than a gas-powered pilot light, because the gas pilot burns constantly. However, if electric power outages are a problem in your area, you may want to choose a model with a pilot light. If you do, try to get one that 1) burns a minimal amount of gas and 2) is easy to relight or extinguish. This way, in hot weather, when there’s no need for the fireplace, you can turn the pilot off, and you won’t have a big hassle when you need to turn it back on.

Other Considerations

• Gas fireboxes installed in existing fireplaces vent fumes from combustion out through a flue installed inside the existing chimney.
• Gas fireboxes can also be used in homes that don’t have fireplaces. They are designed with vents that safely send combustion gases straight out through the wall instead of up the chimney, helping you avoid the expense of chimney repair, upgrade, or installation. If proper venting is possible, these “direct vent” fireboxes can be included as part of any remodeling project if you want the feeling of a fireplace. The same is true of the freestanding fireplaces that look like wood stoves. (Non-vented fireplaces are also manufactured. But they are banned in some states, while in others they may be used only if there is a carbon monoxide detector in the house. )
• A gas fireplace may even lower your heating bill. How much you turn up the thermostat is largely determined by how comfortable you feel in a given spot. If people in your house tend to spend a lot time one room, you can practice “zone heating,” by turning the heat down in the rest of the house and sitting comfortably by your fire while using less energy.
• Models with built-in fans gently circulate the air. They’re worth considering in large rooms, or in rooms where you spend time at some distance from the fireplace.
• Gas fireboxes cost about $1,200 to $3,200 depending upon their capacity and whether they have extras like a fan and a thermostat (not including installation).

Benefits

…to you
A gas fireplace can give you the cozy feeling of an old-fashioned hearth with none of the hassles.

…to your wallet
A modern gas fireplace can save money on heating, especially if it allows you to turn down heat elsewhere in the house.

…to the planet
Efficient new gas fireplaces emit much less global-warming carbon dioxide than the old models and, if strategically placed, can help you burn less fossil fuel throughout your home.

Common Mistakes

Thinking bigger is better. Don’t waste gas by buying a gas fireplace that is too big for your room.

Getting Started

Installing a gas fireplace or freestanding gas stove is not something that should be attempted by most do-it-yourselfers. There are code and safety issues that require professional attention. After finding a model you like, hire a licensed heating contractor who has experience with these systems to do the installation.

Content contributed by Earth911.com, the leading resource for local recycling solutions.

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.

Read the tips below to boost the statistics for your household—and maybe even benefit your whole community. Recycling not only saves energy and reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills. It can also prevent hazardous materials and chemicals from contaminating soil and leaching into local drinking water.

Top Tips

At home

• Know your trash. Check with your local government or recycling company to get a list of what materials you can and cannot put in your curbside bin.
• Go beyond the big five. Most curbside recycling programs accept the “big five”: paper, plastic, glass, steel, and aluminum. For everything that can’t be put on your curb, check Earth911’s recycling database for drop-off locations near you. This includes items like paint, batteries, compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs), and pesticides. You can access through the database using the widget at the top of this page.  In addition, use mail-back and store drop-off programs. Most auto parts stores and mechanics will take used motor oil and old tires. For electronics, look into drop-off programs such as Best Buy’s and the EPA’s eCycling Program. Products such as cell phones can be mailed to manufacturers or traded in for money.
• Spread the word. Encourage your family and friends to recycle, both when they visit you and at their own homes.

While shopping

• Shop for better trash. Choose products with minimal packaging or packaging made from recyclable materials. Better yet, buy in bulk and bring your own reusable containers to the store to hold items you might otherwise put in a disposable container. Tell the checkout clerk the weight of the container when it’s empty, so it can be subtracted from the price of items bought by the pound.
• Know your plastics. If you need to buy something in a disposable plastic container, use one made from one of the most readily recyclable forms of plastic: #1 and #2, which will be marked in a recycling symbol on the bottom of the product. Check Earth911’s recycling database for ideas about how to recycle products made from other kinds of plastic, such as plastic bags and Styrofoam. To motivate yourself, remember this: It takes plastic bottles 700 years to begin to decompose in a landfill.
• Make a deal. Consider trade-in programs when purchasing computers and other new equipment. By planning ahead, you’ll save time and money on proper disposal.
• Close the loop. Buy products that contain recycled materials. When buying recycled content paper, remember to look for the highest percentage of post-consumer waste content.
• Buy less. It’s good to recycle. But it’s even better not to create any waste in the first place. Before you buy, ask yourself: Do you really need another (fill in the blank)?

Other Considerations

Some recycling lingo is confusing. What, for instance, is the difference between recycled-content products and recyclable products? What’s post-consumer content?

• Recycled-content products are made from materials that would otherwise have been discarded. That means these products are made totally or partly from recycled material such as aluminum soda cans or newspaper. Recycled-content products also can be rebuilt or re-manufactured from used products such as toner cartridges or computers. More than 4,500 recycled-content products are available, and this number continues to grow. In fact, many of the products people regularly purchase contain some recycled content.
• Recyclable products can be collected and remanufactured into new products after they’ve been used. These products do not necessarily contain recycled materials and only benefit the environment if people recycle them.
• Post-consumer content is material that has served its intended use and is being reused in a different product. If a product is labeled “recycled content” and not “post-consumer content” it may be made from manufacturing waste—not material collected through a recycling program.

Feel as if you need to be a chemist to figure out what kind of plastic you are trying to recycle? This list will help:

#1 PET (Polyethylene terephthalate)*: soda bottles, oven-ready meal trays, and water bottles
#2 HDPE (High-density polyethylene)*: milk bottles, detergent bottles, and grocery/trash/retail bags
#3 PVC (Polyvinyl chloride): plastic food wrap, loose-leaf binders, and plastic pipes
#4 LDPE (Low-density polyethylene): dry cleaning bags, produce bags, and squeezable bottles
#5 PP (Polypropylene): medicine bottles, aerosol caps, drinking straws, and food containers (such as yogurt, ketchup bottles and sour cream/butter/hummus tubs)
#6 PS (Polystyrene): compact disc jackets, packaging Styrofoam peanuts, and plastic tableware
#7 Other: reusable water bottles, certain kinds of food containers, and Tupperware

Benefits

…to your health
Keeping hazardous wastes out of the waste stream will keep local water and air cleaner.

…to your wallet
Recycling programs can bring new jobs into your community. Incinerating 10,000 tons of waste creates one job; landfilling 10,000 tons of waste creates six jobs; recycling 10,000 tons of waste creates 36 jobs. Recycling can also put money in your pocket. Some cities pay for recyclables you bring to their centers and/or reward good recyclers with lower rates for their trash pickup or other incentives. Shopping to minimize waste saves money, too.
…to the Earth

• According to the U.S. EPA, recycling (including composting your yard wastes and table scraps) diverted 68 million tons of material away from landfills and incinerators in 2001, up from 34 million tons in 1990.
• America’s current level of recycling saves the equivalent of more than 5 billion gallons of gasoline, reducing dependence on foreign oil by 114 million barrels.
• Substituting recycled for virgin material reduces climate-altering greenhouse gas emissions. Producing new plastic products from recycled materials uses two-thirds less energy than is required to make products from virgin materials.

Common Mistakes

Getting All Mixed Up. Throwing the wrong thing into the recycling bin increases the cost of your community’s recycling effort. Some estimates put the industry-wide costs of contamination at about $700 million a year.

Getting Started

Here are few of the key elements to starting a recycling program, whether it’s for a business, a school, an organization, or just in your home.

• Decide what to recycle. Evaluate how much space you have to sort and store materials and what items you tend to go through on a regular basis, such as plastic bottles.
• Find a vendor. Check with your local recycling center, municipality, or waste hauler to find out what kind of materials are accepted in your area. The green Earth911 recycling locator at the top of the page can help.
• Decide on storage. Washable plastic bins or trash cans are the best to use to store your recycling. Be sure to rinse out the containers that held food to avoid critters.
• Educate participants. If items are put in the wrong containers, it means more work for you and could mean materials are not recycled.
• Label bins. Print up a sheet of special instructions, such as: remove caps, stomp on containers, break down cardboard boxes, bundle newspapers, and so forth.
• Maintain and monitor. Keep the storage bins clean and dry and make sure materials don’t pile up. A clean recycling area encourages other to keep it clean and uncluttered as well.
• Reward good behavior. Praise your participants and share any monetary rewards from dropping off materials.

Related Products and Services

• Home Composting
• The 3 Rs and Beyond

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. They involve new kinds of lamps and bulbs, better controls, and smarter lighting strategies. Most of these options aren’t costly or complicated. They make it easy for every household to save money and megawatts.

Watch this video from Go Green Tube to learn more.

Top Tips

At home

• Lights out! The most energy-saving electric light is the one that isn’t on. Even if you’re just leaving the room for a few minutes, you’ll save energy by turning off the lights. That’s true for any kind of bulb.

• Free lighting. Illuminating your home with daylight doesn’t use electricity or add heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere. Plus natural light can make a room cheery and comfortable. If you need more daylight in your home, read about windows and skylights. Also try using reflection. White and light-colored ceilings, walls, and other surfaces reflect daylight, bouncing it deeper into rooms and helping you get away with little or no electric lighting during the day. Arrange rooms to make the most of daylight. Put reading chairs and kitchen tables near windows. Look for ways to share daylight between rooms. If you’re planning a major remodel, think about removing some interior walls to open up spaces. Add windows above doors, and interior windows or translucent partitions between rooms. Finally, do you have voluminous drapes? Make sure your window coverings aren’t keeping the light of day from reaching you.

At Sierra Club Green Home, we have four good ways to bring your lighting technology into the 21st century. Take your pick, or better yet, read them all: Lamps; Fluorescent Light Bulbs (CFLs); Light-emitting Diodes (LEDs); and Lighting Controls.

Streets paved with recycled concrete. Eco-friendly siding on suburban homes. Hybrid and electric cars parked in every driveway. Sounds like a perfect eco-friendly neighborhood. What’s missing? The perfect eco-roof.

An ideal roof serves as an efficient barrier between the elements and the interior, is well insulated, and may even have solar modules. If you are looking for an elegant, simple, solar, and space-conscious solution, invest in solar shingles. This new solar product is a great esthetic alternative to photovoltaic (PV) panels. If you’re an environmentally-aware homeowner who is searching to lower utility bills in a tasteful manner, solar shingles are for you.

You can install enough BIPVs to sell electricity back to the local power company (where this option is available). At least 39 states allow you to sell unused wattage to the local power company; however, there are certain locations that limit the amount of solar electricity produced. For example, it can be difficult to produce all the energy necessary to power a Boston home during a cloudy day, so you may end up tapping into local power for service on rainy days. In California or Nevada solar energy is abundant and can potentially take a home powered by solar shingles off the main grid.

For example, Sheri Gage of California was recently featured on This Old House. She and her husband invested $15,000 on the BIPV system integrated into their existing cement-tile roof. Since the install, her last electrical bill was a mere $3.85. Gage says, “I am now a firm believer in the power of the sun.”

Although some may think that a solar-shingled roof requires more work, it really demands the same maintenance as an average roof. The shingles must be monitored for leaks and hail damage. It is recommended that your solar roof is added to your homeowner’s insurance policy. On occasion, it may be necessary to test the efficiency of your BIVPs to identify damaged or malfunctioning shingles. It is recommended that you occasionally hose off your solar shingles to maintain the constant supply of energy and remove debris.

Fortunately, with proper maintenance the average lifetime of solar shingles (depending on location and company) is approximately 20 – 25 years.

Incentive & Cost

Going green doesn’t have to mean huge costs. Solar shingles may be a pricier investment, but the government is helping out with incentives. The 30% Federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) for both residential and commercial solar installation has been extended through December 2016. To determine your local and state solar tax incentive visit DSIRE USA.

… to your wallet

A solar-shingled roof provides many economic benefits, despite its initial costs. Upon installation, prepare to be astonished by much lower utility bills and in many cases, your meter spinning backwards. Sell power back to the local electric company and/or cut back on power bills.

… to the Earth

Harvesting sunlight as energy is an excellent way to be green. Reduce your dependence on the local electric company and give your checking account a break. Solar energy is renewable, clean and can be harvested without exhausting fossil fuels or causing pollution. When you save on energy it means you are reducing toxic emissions: sulfur dioxide, nitric oxides, VOCs, toxic metals, and others. The sun will continue to shine whether we use its rays to generate electricity or not, so be energy-independent and earth-friendly by using a clean source of energy.

Solar Savings Calculator

Solar Myths

Why Go Solar?

Solar Heating for Pools and Spas

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.

Watch this video clip from GoGreenTube to learn more about shopping for healthy food.

Top Tips

• Keep it simple. What should we eat to be healthy? It may seem complicated, but it’s basically common sense. Nutrition scientist and food writer Marian Nestle boils it down to ten words: “eat less, move more, eat lots of fruits and vegetables.” Journalist Michael Pollan, author of In Defense of Food, puts it slightly differently: “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” (By “food” he means fresh whole food, not processed food products.)
• Grow your own food. In 1943, with the country’s resources devoted to the war effort, Americans planted 20 million victory gardens, producing 40% of the country’s fresh food. In the 21st century, there’s been a resurgence of victory gardens, as more people look for ways to free their families from rising food prices and uncertainties about food safety. Of course, the main reason for planting a vegetable garden hasn’t changed: it’s hard to beat the taste of a juicy tomato still warm from the sun or peas that go straight from the garden to the pot. Growing food at home covers the gamut from potted herbs on the windowsill to vegetable beds and fruit trees to poultry and other small livestock. If you wind up with an abundance of basil or chard, pass some to your neighbors–you might get homemade jam or fresh eggs passed back.
• Eat whole food. That means unprocessed or minimally processed food that is close to its natural state. Think fresh fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and unprocessed meat, poultry, and fish. Whole foods typically contain more vitamins, minerals, and fiber than processed, packaged foods and few or no additives. As Nestle points out in her book, What to Eat, “heavy processing does three things to food: diminishes the nutritional value of the basic ingredients; adds calories from fats and sugars; and disguises the loss of taste and texture with salt, artificial colors and flavors, and other additives.” Whole food also tends to have a lower carbon footprint than processed food because less fossil fuel-based energy goes into producing it.
• Eat local. Eating food grown in your region is a terrific way to reduce your carbon footprint. The New York Times reports that if you live in Iowa, the carrot in your salad likely traveled 1,600 miles from California, the chuck roast came 600 miles from Colorado, and that side of baked potato covered 1,200 miles getting from the Idaho soil to your plate. So how do you go about reducing food miles? Grow some of your own food. Also, shop at farmer’s markets and farm stands, and look into becoming a member of a community-supported agriculture (CSA) farm. When you join a CSA, you pay in advance for a weekly box filled with ripe produce from the farm. The box may be delivered to your home or to a neighborhood pick-up spot. The farmer gets a stable source of income and you get delicious food from near your home.
• Buy organic. Once a niche market, organic food has become big business, with U.S. sales exceeding $30 billion annually. Organic farmers don’t use synthetic pesticides or fertilizers that degrade the soil, contaminate waterways, harm non-target species, and endanger the health of farm workers and people who eat the food.
• Take care with kids. Children, in part because of their smaller body mass, are even more susceptible to the harm caused by pesticides and mercury. For this reason, take special care when thinking through meals for your entire family.

Other Considerations

• Organics cost more than conventionally produced food, so if your budget is tight, focus on choosing organic when you buy what the Environmental Working Group calls the “dirty dozen,” the 12 fruits and vegetables most contaminated with pesticide residue: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, lettuce, imported grapes, pears, spinach, and potatoes. To see if the produce is organic, look at the PLU (product look-up) number on the item’s sticker, twist-tie, or bag. If it begins with 9, it’s organic.
• For decades, health advocates have exhorted us to eat more fish. It’s low in saturated fat, rich in healthy omega-3 fatty acids, and a good source of protein, minerals, and vitamins. But these days the arguments for eating fish aren’t so cut and dried. Many species, especially tuna, swordfish, and shark, are poisoned with mercury (much of which comes from emissions from coal-burning power plants). Mercury contamination is especially harmful to developing fetuses.The environmental news about fish is equally dire. According to WWF, an international conservation group, the populations of all species currently fished for food will collapse by 2048 if humans don’t dramatically change our fishing and fish consumption practices.Unfortunately, fish farming has not turned out to be a panacea. Huge quantities of wild fish are caught to feed farmed fish, exacerbating overconsumption problems. Waste from fish farms contaminates the oceans, and the flesh of farmed fish may contain artificial dyes, as well as PCBs and other chemicals from industrial and agricultural waste.What to do? If you choose to eat fish, be a conscious consumer. The Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch provide handy lists of best and worst seafood choices that are tailored to regions of the country.  Download the one that is right for you clicking on your region of the country – Hawaii, West Coast, Southwest, Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast.  If you happen to live in the Midwest, you can also download the Right Bite Wallet Card of preferred fish provided by our partner, the Shedd Aquarium.  In addition to containing ocean fish, it also contains advice on lake fish.

Benefits…

…to your health
Your health can be directly related to what you eat. Less meat in your diet reduces your risk of cancer and heart disease. Buying organic food and avoiding certain fish can reduce your exposure to pesticides and mercury. Eating locally likely ensures that your food will be fresher and more full of nutrients. And remember, avoiding pesticides and mercury and eating healthy is even more important for children.

…to your wallet
Buying whole foods that are in season usually costs less than buying processed foods or out-of-season imported foods. Organic food usually costs more than food grown with pesticides and synthetic fertilizers. But with giant retailers and agribusinesses getting into the organics game, the cost of pesticide-free food is coming down.

…to the Earth
Responsible food consumption can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, support environmentally sound agriculture and aquaculture practices that conserve soil and protect waterways, and transform the inhumane and unsustainable practices in the livestock and fishing industries. According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the livestock sector produces 18% of global greenhouse gas emissions–more than the transportation sector. What’s more, livestock uses 30% of the planet’s land surface, forests are being cleared at an alarming rate to create pastures to grow corn and soy for animal feed, and the livestock industry is one of the major polluters of fresh water and even the oceans.

Common Mistakes

Buying organics at the store but using pesticides at home. Whether you’re growing your own food or just trying to keep ants out of the kitchen or thrips off your roses, nix the nasty pesticides. Unhealthy chemicals don’t belong anywhere near your food, your kids or your pets.

Getting Started

Changing to a healthier, more environmentally responsible diet doesn’t mean you have to go whole hog. If you do, in fact, you risk becoming overwhelmed and slipping back into old habits. Try making one positive change this month that feels manageable: cutting out two meat meals per week, for instance, or buying organic milk, or steering clear of fast food restaurants. Next month, add another positive step, like shopping at a farmer’s market one Saturday morning or taking fresh fruit to work a few days a week so you’re less tempted to grab that jelly donut. The following month . . . well, you get the idea.

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.

Clothes dryers, on the other hand, don’t vary much in energy use. But their consumption does add up–dryers in the United States use the equivalent of 58 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year. That’s about as much electricity as the entire city of Los Angeles uses annually. One of the easiest ways to help bring that number down, not to mention reduce wear-and-tear on your clothes, is to hang your clothes to dry, either on a line outside or on drying racks inside. Line drying is one of the oldest and most effective energy-saving (and therefore money-saving) technologies around!

Top Tips

At home

• Wash less often. Sure, socks and undies need to be washed after each wearing, but how about those jeans and polos?
• Run only full loads. When it comes to energy and water use, full loads are the most efficient. So fill the machine, but don’t overdo it. Stuffing the washer past full makes it harder to get your clothes clean.
• Adjust water levels. If you must do a smaller load, use less water. If you’re lucky enough to have a washer with a “mini-basket,” use it. Such baskets fit over the washer’s agitator, enabling you to wash tiny loads with a minimum of heat and water.
• Wash in cold water. Roughly 90% of the energy used for washing clothes goes directly to heating the water. For all but the most stubborn stains, washing in hot or even warm water is unnecessary. Most detergents are now formulated to wash in cold water. When you do use the hot setting, turn your water heater down to 120 degrees F. (“Normal” on heaters without temperature markings).
• Air dry your laundry. Solar power doesn’t get more direct than a clothesline. If you live in a rainforest or where the winters are long, things can still dry inside on a rack.

At the laundromat

• Try eco-friendly. If you don’t have laundry facilities in your home, visit one of the ecofriendly laundromats that are starting to show up in many cities. They have more efficient machines, sell detergents without harmful additives (see our cleaning supplies article to learn more about additives), and may also offer wet cleaning, a less energy- and chemical-intensive version of dry-cleaning. Schlep your clothes to and fro in an organic cotton laundry bag or petroleum-free (non-plastic) basket.

When shopping, look for

• Energy and water efficiency. Choose a washer that has earned the government’s Energy Star label. Many of the highest-efficiency clothes washers are front-loading models, but manufacturers now also make efficient top-loaders, so you can choose whichever suits your needs. Shop carefully, however, as there are still differences among Energy Star models. Choose an Energy Star model with a high Modified Energy Factor and low Water Factor. You can find MEF and WF on Energy Star’s qualified product list.
• Moisture sensors. Some dryers now come with moisture sensors that shut off the machine when the clothes are dry. This saves energy and lengthens the life of your clothes.

Other Considerations

• If your home has a gas hookup, it’s more energy efficient to use a gas dryer rather than an electric one. New gas dryers have electric ignition, which does away with the money-wasting pilot light found on older models.
• Gas dryers should always vent to the outside because the exhaust air can contain unhealthy combustion gases. It’s also a good idea to vent electric dryers outside so that you’re not introducing too much moisture inside the home. Check with your local building department for code requirements.
• Washers and dryers contain a lot of recyclable steel. When your old one fails, be sure to have it recycled. Contact your local recycling or public works department or visit www.earth911.org for recycling options.
• Try using an environmentally friendly laundry detergent. It’s not only easier on the earth but it’s also easier on your skin.

Benefits…

…to your wallet
Although an Energy Star washer may cost more upfront than a standard machine, it can cut your utility bills by an average of $50 a year, saving $550 over an average 11-year lifetime. Line drying can save you $65 a year. It also reduces wear-and-tear on your clothes.

…to the Earth
According to the Energy Star program, the average household does nearly 400 loads of laundry each year, sending about 13,500 gallons of water down the drain. An Energy Star washer will save 7,000 gallons of water a year. Over the machine’s typical 11-year life, that’s enough for a lifetime of drinking water for six people!

Common Mistakes

Leaving the lint. If you forget to clean the lint filter after every load, your clothes will take longer to dry and use more energy.

Getting Started

Check with your local energy and water utilities about rebates on high-efficiency washing machines.

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.

Say ‘goodbye’ to millions of trees

Bagging your red peppers and carrots in a paper bag is not the answer to ‘greening up’ your trip to the grocery store.  In fact, paper bags are no better than plastic bags.  Many believe that because they are tree based products they are more eco-friendly.  In order to produce the desired amounts of paper bags, many trees have to be logged and processed. According to the American Forest and Paper Association, in 1999, 14 million trees were cut down to produce the 10 billion paper grocery bags used in the United States that year alone.  It is reasonable to say that the numbers have increased since then to accommodate the rising population.

The production of paper for grocery bags worldwide is a process which heavily relies on the presence of various chemicals.  The pungent smell of paper mills is not the only thing that can irritate the surrounding ecosystem.  The use of toxic chemicals contributes to both air pollution, such as acid rain, and water pollution.  In 1988, the Federal Office of the Environment published that in fact the production of paper sacks generate 70% more air and 50 times more water pollutants than plastic bags.

Since people associate paper bags with other unwanted paper products like newspapers or advertisements, paper bags have a higher recycling rate than plastic.  Unfortunately, despite the great effort of recyclers worldwide, paper recycling can cost a lot of energy.  The Society of the Plastic Industry’s (SPI) research states that it takes 1444 BTUs or 1362 kJ to recycle one paper bag.  This is almost half of the energy is taken to create the bag originally; thus, some energy is conserved.  But, is expelling additional energy to remanufacture the product a good choice?

Plastic isn’t that fantastic

Plastic bags are often seen blowing in tree branches, clogging street drains, floating in our oceans, and flooding our storage cabinets.  It is estimated by scientists that, worldwide, more than a million plastic bags are consumed and discarded per minute. That is approximately 500 billion to 1 trillion plastic bags annually.  Many are striving to decrease the outrageous number of plastic bags that reach the landfill by recycling used bags.  According to the Wall Street Journal, only 1% to 3% of plastic bags are being recycled,  Eleven barrels of oil are saved when one ton of plastic bags is reused or recycled, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

What happens to the plastic bags which do not get recycled?  The most obvious answer – they reach the landfill where they do not biodegrade due to their chemical composition.  Even the SPI determined that plastic bags do not break down completely into organic materials.  While the bags make your local landfill their home, they go through a process called photodegradation.  This means that the plastic is broken down into smaller pieces which can gain mobility and relocation via water, wind, or wildlife.  According to the EPA and The Ocean Conservancy, wildlife is significantly threatened by various plastics, including discarded bags.  Marine life constantly mistake plastic bags for prey like jellyfish, and consuming plastic bags can cause blockage to the digestive tract which leads to starvation and death. In 2002, a whale that washed up on the coast of Normandy had 800 grams of plastic elements, including plastic bags, in its stomach.

Unlike biodegradable paper bags, plastic bags have become common in even the most remote places like Antarctica.  According to David Barnes, a marine scientist with the British Antarctic Survey, plastic bags were a rarity in the late 1980s, yet since the early 1990s they have significantly contributed to pollution.

Thankfully, news like this travels faster than migrating plastic bags and has motivated worldwide communities to take action.  In 2002, the Irish government imposed a plastic bag consumption tax (called a PlasTax); consumers pay an obligatory fee of $0.15 per bag at check out.  This has reduced consumption of plastic bags by 90% and has saved the country 18 million liters of oil, and counting. China has also banned the distribution of free plastic bags, in efforts to encourage reusable alternatives.  Closer to home, San Francisco has become the first U.S. city to ban petroleum-based plastic grocery bags in 2007.

The answer you’re looking for – BYOB

Bring your own bags!  The alternative to plastic and paper bags is reusable bags because they are designed for more than a one-time use.  Reusable bags come in many different colors, sizes, and are made out of various materials. Reusable shopping bags are available to accommodate produce, heavy items, and little storage space.  Substituting reusable bags for disposable ones will help save millions of dollars on oil extraction used for plastic bag production, land clean ups, future disposable bag purchases by stores, and the remanufacturing costs incurred by recycling centers to process disposable bags.

By bringing your own bags to your shopping experience, you will help eliminate the addition of plastic and/or paper bags into our landfills and ecosystems.  Consequently, you are preventing the pollution of our oceans.  One reusable bag can replace thousands of plastic bags which could have negatively impacted our planet.   You are also saving terrestrial and marine wildlife by decreasing their interaction with disposed garbage and possible paper mill emissions.

The answer to our shopping woes almost seems too obvious, but most Americans continue to use plastic and/or paper bags.  Take a stand against plastic and paper bags, and damaging consequences associated with them.  Start by recycling your current paper bags, along with your other paper products. Then take a trip to the local grocery store to dispose of your plastic bags, by dropping them into the designated plastic bag recycling bin that most grocery stores are taking the initiative to install.  The last and most exciting part of this eco-friendly approach to shopping is the investment in reusable bags.  Browse the collection of reusable bags at your local grocery store or online.

Eco-friendly pet waste baggies (no more petroleum based plastic)

Reusablebags.com

Earthwise Bags

GoGreen-Bags

Wedge World

That make a difference

Countertops are a place for serious work. But you also want them to be beautiful–and easy on the Earth. After a few minutes in a kitchen store, you’ll know which ones suit your esthetic. But figuring out which ones are green takes a little longer. First, ask yourself, what environmental problems do they solve? A granite counter is durable, so you won’t have to replace it anytime soon. But getting it out of the ground may harm natural habitats at the quarry site and downstream. On the other hand, a counter made from salvaged wood reduces pressure to harvest trees. Counters made from recycled paper and water-based resins may be putting your junk mail to good use. None of these products is perfectly green, but some do make an environmental difference.

Top Tips

At home

• Consider keeping your countertops. Sprucing up what you already have is easier on the environment and your wallet than buying new. If that’s not workable, check out salvage yards and online classified–maybe you can use someone else’s.

When shopping, look for materials that are

• Healthy. Pay attention to what goes underneath the counter. Many counters are installed on top of a backing like plywood to provide stiffness and strength. Make sure the backing has no added urea formaldehyde, or, if it does, seal it on all sides with a zero-VOC, water-based sealant. Also, if you purchase a wood counter, the manufacturer may recommend a polyurethane-type sealer for water resistance. If the sealer will be applied in your home rather than in the factory, choose a zero- or low-VOC water-based product.
• Renewable. If you’re leaning toward wood countertops, there are many green options. Some are made of salvaged wood, some with wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), and some with the newest kid on the block, bamboo (which is really a grass). Although a polyurethane sealant can help, wood and bamboo counters will scratch and stain, very hot pots can leave burn marks, and you need to be careful about not leaving liquid spills standing for too long. Some people consider the worn look of a wood counter a plus–it shows you know your way around the kitchen. But if you want an impervious surface, wood’s not for you. Also made from renewable resources is linoleum, an old-fashioned product typically used on floors that occasionally shows up on countertops. It’s made mostly from eco-friendly linseed oil.
• Abundant. Old-fashioned ceramic tiles are made from abundant clay. While energy goes into firing the tiles, they are long-lasting and don’t give off unhealthy chemicals. The main drawback? The grout, which can attract crumbs, dirt, and mold.
• Recycled. Countertops with post-consumer recycled content include certain brands of ceramic and glass tiles, terrazzo (made of glass chips embedded in concrete or epoxy resin), stainless steel, and at least one brand that uses recycled paper mixed with a water-based resin.
• Local. If it comes from within a couple of hundred miles of your kitchen, stone is another good choice. Its proximity to you reduces the energy needed for transportation, and chances are the quarries in your neck of the woods have to comply with more stringent environmental-protection laws than in some other parts of the world.

Other Considerations

• The “end-grain” type butcher-block counter is harder than the horizontal strips and holds up better to whacks with the cleaver. For real butcher block that you’ll be cutting on, skip the plastic finish and use an oil finish–tung and linseed oil products meant for countertops are good options. Food-grade oil that may go rancid isn’t a good choice. Reapply the oil now and then to protect the wood.
• If you’ve chosen tile for your counter, you’ll have a decision to make about grout. Portland cement-based grouts are generally considered low-toxic; most contain latex additives but they stop emitting fumes once the grout has cured. Make sure the kitchen is well ventilated when using grout or other adhesives, paints, and sealants, and consider sealing off the kitchen from the rest of the house while doing the work. You can cut down on grout lines by using larger tiles. Apply a zero-VOC grout sealer for moisture resistance.
• Less-green options
  • Popular for decades, seamless, smooth, thick solid-surface countertops are durable and come in many colors. But they’re basically a big slab of plastic. What’s green about that? You can get a similar look for less money with a basic laminate, which is a thin sheet of compressed paper and plastic. And laminate uses fewer resources. Just be sure to get it with a formaldehyde-free plywood or MDF backing.
  • Engineered stone counters are made of stone chips in a plastic resin; unless the chips are from a post-consumer source (which isn’t common), there’s no green advantage to them.
  • Concrete counters aren’t particularly green. The primary component of most of them is portland cement, which requires lots of energy. Be aware that concrete counters, like concrete floors, have a propensity to crack and are likely to stain.
• What about cost? Countertop prices range from $5 a square foot for some plastic laminates to more than $200 a square foot for rare granites and marbles. Going green doesn’t have to cost more, but make sure you’re doing a fair comparison. A recycled glass countertop will be pricey, but no more so than many high-end granites. Recycled-paper composites may cost more than your basic laminate, but less than many plastic solid-surface counters.

Benefits…

…to your health
Plywood and other counter backings without added urea formaldehyde help protect your indoor air from dangerous chemicals.

…to the Earth
FSC-certified wood counters protect forests and the ecosystems they support. Salvaged-wood counters and counters with high post-consumer recycled content reduce waste and resource consumption. Local stone reduces the energy required for transportation of countertops, which increases fossil-fuel use and contributes to global warming.

Common Mistakes

Ripping and dumping. When remodeling, many people rip counters out of kitchens and toss them in the Dumpster. But if removed with care, they can be reused in your laundry room, office, or workroom–or in someone else’s home.

Getting Started

• Questions for the retailer or contractor:
  • Is the product made with rapidly renewable or recycled-content materials? If so, what is the percentage and what is the source of the materials? If the countertop is made with wood or bamboo, is it FSC-certified?
  • Where did the countertop materials come from and where were the countertops manufactured? Are locally sourced materials or locally made countertops available?
  • What steps does the manufacturer take to reduce energy, water, and waste during manufacturing?
  • How long will the countertop last? At the end of its life, can it be recycled locally or returned to the manufacturer for recycling?
  • Does the countertop material offgas VOCs? Is the product independently certified to be low- or zero-VOC?
  • Will the countertop require a backing such as plywood, medium density fiberboard (MDF), or particle board? If yes, is there a urea formaldehyde-free backing available?
  • Will any adhesives, grouts, mortars, or sealants be used during installation? Are low- or zero-VOC products available?
  • Does the manufacturer recommend a specific maintenance product? If yes, ask for the material safety data sheet (MSDS), so you can assess the product’s ingredients.
  • Will the installer be able to remove your old countertops intact so they can be reused elsewhere? If they can’t be reused, can they be recycled?
• If you’re confident of your do-it-yourself skills, you might consider installing the countertops yourself, especially if you are using a material that’s fairly easy to cut and install, such as laminate or butcher block. For materials that are more challenging, such as granite and other stones, tile, concrete, and thick plastic solid-surface, most people choose professional installation.
• If you’re having new cabinets installed, it’s best to hold off on completing the countertop order until after the base cabinets are installed. To ensure a precise fit, the countertop fabricator (or you, if it’s a DIY project), should take the final measurements when the cabinets are in place.
• For advice on what questions to ask contractors and tradespeople, see our “What to Ask Your Contractor” article.

Related Products & Services

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