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Give Your Kitchen a “Greenover”

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The average home consumes a lot of energy through the use of electricity and natural gas each year. One of the parts of your home that uses the most energy is your kitchen; if you check your circuit box, you’ll see that several of your kitchen appliance may have their own dedicated circuit, such as the oven and maybe even the refrigerator. If it’s time to remodel your kitchen, there are some steps you can take to make your kitchen much less of an energy drain in your house.

Energy Star certification means that your appliance meets minimum standards for energy efficiency. Whether you’re looking at a refrigerator, an oven, a dishwasher, or even a window air conditioning unit for your kitchen, choose only those that have the Energy Star sticker on them. When you install them in your home, you are guaranteeing that your power bill will go down, because you’ll be a more responsible steward of your electricity. You’ll also be doing the environment a favor. Check in your city to see is there are tax rebates available to help with your purchase price for buying Energy Star appliances.

Tile and linoleum are the most popular flooring materials in most kitchens. They are waterproof and durable. However, they require a lot of energy to manufacture, so if you want to “green” your kitchen a bit, think about using natural materials for your flooring. Bamboo and cork are just two ideas to consider; while there is more of a challenge with waterproofing, these materials are much less of a burden on the environment to produce. If you are careful in your kitchen, you shouldn’t have much of a problem with either of these two.

When you are remodeling your kitchen, one of the most common sources of toxins is the paint that you put on the wall. It’s not what you’re putting on the walls that does the damage; it is the paint that is left over, and that you are tempted to throw into your trash bins to be carried off. When this paint leaches into the landfill that serves as your town dump, if the landfill is not properly sealed, the effects on your water table can be damaging. Instead, ask your home improvement professional for paint brands that are friendly to the environment.

If you have the flexibility, add some natural light to your kitchen. If you can’t add a skylight, find a way to change your blinds so that more outdoor light makes it inside, so you won’t have to turn on as many light bulbs.

A part of most kitchen remodeling projects includes the installation of new counter tops. To make this part of your project a little “greener,” choose recycled tiles or even some stained chipboard. Recycled tiles have come from other homes or buildings, instead of the factory, so you are cutting the energy used per installation in half by taking this tile and using it again.

Remodeling your kitchen is a great opportunity to help out your environment — and it doesn’t have to cost as much as you might think.

Give your Kitchen a Green Makeover

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Each month, your house consumes a great deal of energy, and the kitchen is one of the biggest drains on your electrical grid. However, it doesn’t have to be that way. There are some simple changes you can make to your lifestyle in order to bring those bills down. Check out the tips in this article to get started with turning your kitchen into a “green” place.

Many of the appliances in your kitchen have their own dedicated circuit — you can see this if you check out the labels in your circuit box. Some of them may even have a dedicated double circuit. This means that these appliances are some of the biggest energy users in your home. You need things like an oven, a refrigerator and a dishwasher, though, so getting rid of them is not really an option. Instead, when you shop for appliances, look for the Energy Star label on the tags. This is an organization with stringent certification standards for appliances, and if the refrigerator that you are looking at has an Energy Star label, it will use energy much more efficiently than those that do not have it.

Kitchen flooring does not consume energy — except in the manufacturing process. Linoleum and tile are not renewable — and not natural. They are expensive to make and to buy, and the process also uses a great deal of energy. Instead of investing in these processes, look for natural flooring materials, such as bamboo or cork. These will not be as water-resistant, but they take a lot less energy to produce.

When you remodel your kitchen, look for light fixtures that have that Energy Star certification as well. Not all lines of fixtures receive it, so make sure that you talk to the home improvement professional about this when you are shopping. Choosing the CFL bulbs will also help you ensure that your lights are energy efficient. Open window blinds in your kitchen to allow more natural light to come in, so that you don’t have to turn on the lights for as much of the day. Every kilowatt-hour adds up.

You can use a similar procedure when choosing your counter tops that you did when you were choosing your flooring. Instead of choosing that marble or granite, or even that composite plastic, think about using a chipboard that has been stained or even some recycled tiles. This will give you a much “greener” vibe in your kitchen, and there are many older items out there that are coming back into vogue. You can end up with a look in your kitchen that will be the newest trend!

It’s also important to remember that your microwave cooks with much greater energy efficiency than your oven. When possible, nuke your food instead of waiting for that big box to get to 350 degrees.

When it’s remodeling time in the kitchen, making it “greener” will help the environment as well as the value of your home. You don’t have to spend more to do it, if you research in a smart way.

Get Green Energy On Your Side

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Because of the increasing strain that appears to be squeezing American budgets, people are looking for areas in which they can cut costs — and energy is one of those areas. The tips that you read in this article can help you trim your energy costs, so that you can apply those savings toward other needs in your budget.

Instead of running your outdoor lights that are attached to your home’s energy grid, invest in some solar powered outdoor lights. You can find these in a variety of sizes and layouts, ranging from a series of lights that you can put along your front walk or in your bed to larger units that can light up a porch. Gathering energy through the day from the sun’s rays, these lights turn on when things become dark around them. You don’t have to worry about the wiring running up to the house, because they get their current from the sun.

Natural light can make a huge difference in your energy costs. If you don’t have to turn on any lights during the day, you can save a lot of money over time. One way to accomplish this is to squint a lot and to use candles; a more trendy way is to install skylight tubes into your ceiling. These do not have the dramatic visual effect that larger skylights do; however, they do bring natural light from the sky outside, so that you don’t have to turn on the electric lights overhead. The net result is a lower energy bill — and a cooler ceiling.

If you don’t have enough money to put a solar cell array all along the top of your house, you can take an intermediate step and install a hot water system that is solar powered. It just takes half a dozen solar panels, or even fewer. There is a dedicated circuit that runs from the panels to your hot water heater, and on sunny days, the system will send enough energy to your heater to keep your water hot without your having to access the electricity coming from the utility company. You keep your connection to the grid as a backup, but the hope is that the sun can do that work for you.

If you have an automobile that is powered by diesel fuel, it is fairly inexpensive to purchase a filtering kit that will allow you to pour biodiesel into your engine — or even to pour in used cooking oil. If you make an arrangement with some area restaurants to pick up their used oil, you can power your car with the waste of cooking processes, instead of draining the fossil fuel reserves even further.

In some areas, you can get tax credits if you purchase Energy Star efficient appliances, solar panels, or even wind turbines. Talk to energy professionals in your area to see what tax benefits you can gain from going green.

You have a lot of options in the green energy sector. Use the tips in this article to help yourself get started.

Five Money-Saving Green Energy Tips

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People out there are always grumbling about how much everything costs. While things do cost a lot more now than they used to, some of these expenses are the result of people wasting energy. There are several ways that you can help the environment while saving yourself some money. Keep reading if you are interested in learning how to do this.

Recycling is something that many people do not take advantage of. this makes no sense because it does not cost anything. You can go to the sanitation department in your town and ask for a free recycling bin if you want to get started. You will use less trash bags considering the amount of materials there are that can be recycled. This can save you some money, especially if you live in a town that requires you use special bags to throw your trash away.

When you are purchasing new appliances, pick those that have an Energy Star label. The reality is that these items cost more in the beginning, but you will save a lot over time. You will use a lot less energy to run them, so you should see a difference in your monthly energy bills. Also, if you are looking to purchase a new toilet, buy one that uses less water. Your bills will be lower and you will save a ton of wasted water.

Switch to an energy provider that uses renewable sources of energy. Many people do not realize that they may have a choice of utility providers. In a lot of areas there are new companies popping up that promise to assist you in your effort to go green. The added bonus is that a lot of these people are saving alot of money by making a switch.

Turn off anything that you are not using. There are people all over the world that have televisions running in rooms where no one is there to watch them. This equates to a ton of unnecessary energy being wasted every day. if you are leaving a room for a while to go do something else, turn off anything that wastes resources. You can always turn everything back on when you reenter the room.

Buy energy-efficient light bulbs. If you are worried about the fact that these bulbs cost more than others, you should think about it in another way. The initial cost is more, but over time you will save a lot of money. The fact that less energy is used with these bulbs means savings every time you get an electric bill. Also, these bulbs last a lot longer than traditional light bulbs, so you will have to buy them less often.

Adopting green energy is not as difficult or expensive as most people think it is. The reality is that in many cases you will save much more money than you spend by going green. think about all of these tips the next time you start to complain about the ever-growing cost of energy bills. These minor changes can make a huge impact on your finances and the environment.

Easy Ways to Go Green in the Home

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Whether you’re doing it for the health of the planet, the amount of money you spend on your energy bills, or both, going green is a very practical, helpful decision to make. And no matter how green you plan on going, it all starts with making changes in the home. Some people cannot afford to make the really big changes, so in the article below you will learn about a few quick and easy changes you can make to go green.

A lot of people already know that Energy Star appliances use far less electricity and are thus the greener choice. But the reason many people don’t make the change is that they don’t have thousands of dollars available to them. You don’t have to change all at once, however. Start slowly. Begin with one appliance, witness the difference it makes, save up the difference, and then gradually make the other changes until you’re running all Energy Star appliances.

Just like with Energy Star appliances, you can make small, gradual changes using solar panels. Solar panels can be very expensive, but purchasing smaller solar panels one at a time is a great way to change on a budget. And if you’re a resident of the US, you can receive some great tax benefits by making these small changes. In fact, with today’s federal policies, smaller solar systems may allow you to recoup the entire expense with one return.

Although you may not realize just how much energy you’re using, a clothes dryer actually saps more power per usage than any other appliance in the home. Not only does the drum have to operate, but the machine needs to create enough heat to dry the clothes. You can cancel out these expenses completely if you dry outside on a clothesline. Unless it’s the dead of winter, your clothes will air dry in a few hours.

Did you know that planting trees has many positive energy benefits for the home? In the summertime, the sun bearing through the windows is going to create a lot of heat. But if the trees are there to block some of the sun, you’ll get the cooling benefits of the shade. And in the wintertime, that bitter wind will have a tough time blowing through the branches, even without the leaves there to provide extra cover.

One of the best ways to go green is to simply make small changes around the home. It sounds very trite and generic, but just try washing clothes and rinsing dishes with cold water, turning off your lights, and even unplugging appliances when they’re not in use. Over time, these small changes will add up to big savings. The gain you receive from the small changes may motivate you to make bigger changes.

As you can see from the above tips, there are many benefits you can gain by making the choice to go green. The best part is that you don’t have to make these changes all at once. Start slowly and work your way into a green lifestyle.