It has never been more effortless to make the decision to change your place to an earth-friendly house, and in the process, save some cash. All people share the duty to clean up the earth by cutting down waste and pollution. We can all make a start by just doing some of the many things that are possible around our houses. The inefficiencies contained in our houses waste lots of money.

Proper Insulation

Housing insulation standards were raised just a while back, so most dwellings are not insulated very well. Therefore, the place to start is by improving the insulation in your home, starting with the attic, but the side walls as well when possible, and then replace any inefficient windows. The resultant savings on the costs of energy will cover the cost of the upgrades over time, and even more quickly so if energy costs keep rising.

Water Conservation

Paradoxically, people drink insufficient water but waste a lot of water in many ways as well. By merely replacing toilets with the water saver ones, would save an astounding amount of water. The old toilets that are in almost every toilet use three and a half gallons for every flush, which is quite a difference from the one and a quarter gallon that is used by the new high-efficiency toilets. If you did nothing more than this, in making your home earth-friendly, it would make a huge difference in your water bills. Another big cause of energy wastage in the regular home is the inefficiency of the regular light bulbs that are utilized.

Energy Efficiency

You would have to replace a compact fluorescent lightbulb only once per 10 standard bulbs, and you would have saved 85% of the energy. The initial higher cost of the CFL bulbs will before long be made up by the money saved on energy, so it’s another no-brainer way of turning your home green. You will get even greater efficiency from LED lights, so you might want to consider those. If your house’s insulation is sub-standard, it will leak heat during the winter months and allow the heat in during the summer months, which means you will gain throughout the year by improving this aspect of your home. Your house can not be made properly green by improving only the insulation, you must install more efficient doors and windows as well.

Yet another drain on energy is heating water for washing dishes and doing the laundry. The current detergents used for washing have gotten so good, that the washing can be done in cold water. Most of the energy used by your washing machine originates from heating the water, so if you want to save the most energy, use cold water for washing clothes and doing the laundry. Making your place environmentally friendly in this way is very easy. And, contrary to what most people think, a dishwasher uses a lot less water compared to when you do the dishes manually. So you see, going green is something that you can accomplish.