Green Home Improvement 101: How To Get Started – Part I

So you want to go green? There is no better way to do that than by starting the process right at home. I remember when I decided to get started with this process. Everywhere I looked in my house, there was an opportunity to go green. Whether it’s the way your power up your house or consume water, there is always opportunity to improvement. As someone who jumped into this field without having too much background, I can tell you that things can get a bit confusing. There are a lot of things you can do, and you want to make sure you have the right knowledge to get the maximum out of your dollars.

There are plenty of ways to get started with this process. I personally would suggest breaking it down to a few main things and then tackle them one by one — divide and conquer if you will. Here is how I would divide it:

• Energy: you know, solar panels, solar chargers, wind mills, and so on. Look for ways to reduce your energy consumption at home and find new energy alternatives.
• Light: going back to the first point, you need to use energy efficient lights to save money in the long run and conserve energy.
• Cooling & heating: we all want to have the coolest/warmest rooms during summer/winter. But you should avoid going overboard. It’s not good for your pocket, and it’s not good for the environment either. Using a thermostat always helps. You can also save a lot of money with evaporative fans and more.
• Plumbing: wasting water is not exactly an admirable thing to do. So if your faucet is leaking or there is something wrong with your showers, you should take time to fix them to not only save money but also water. Water is a precious thing. In some companies, people pay a lot of money to buy it. So conserving water is a great move for today and the future.
• Outdoors: you’d be surprised how many opportunities you’ll find in your yard to save the environment and money at the same time. I am not just talking about putting soloar panels on your roof. Think about your lawn. Using an energy efficient lawn mower could be a good start. You can focus on organic gardening to avoid introducing harmful material to the environment. How about collecting rain water? Doesn’t sound too silly, does it?
• Green Gadgets: Energy star gadgets are energy efficient and are in general better than their non-eco counterparts. But you should always read the descriptions of what you are buying to get gadgets that are not only energy efficient but also don’t introduce any harmful material to the environment.
• Accessories: there are lot of small little things that you can buy to go even greener at home. Green bags, detergents, and … are all helpful towards your cause.

There you have it. You can obviously break these down even further. But as I have experienced, anytime you feel you have done all you could to go green around your house, there is more to be done. Trust me.

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