Green Your Home: The Complete Guide to Making Your New or Existing Home Environmentally Healthy

Greening your home simply means finding things you can do around the house to reduce your impact on the planet. Things that green your home usually make it a safer and healthier place to live in as well; this new book will present thousands of low or no cost ways to make your home environmentally friendly. You will learn 101 things you can do today to help save the planet. If you are building a new home these include how to locate a green-friendly architect and contractor, using energy-efficient appliances, using renewable energy systems, such as solar and wind, selecting earth-friendly products and materials, installing energy-efficient windows and skylights, and planting a green roof. Other great, environmentally friendly tips and tricks include stopping electronic waste and junk mail, non-toxic paints and stains, eco-friendly flooring, kitchen, and bath supplies, earth-friendly weed-killers, citrus pest killer, organic soils, compost, and fertilizers, and even plants that reduce indoor air pollution, rain barrels, smart sprinklers, water efficiency, tankless water heaters, energy efficiency, tax credits for earth friendly choices, environmentally friendly landscaping, plantings, fertilizers, and mulch. We dissected your house, looking for easy (but not always obvious) ways that homeowners can conserve energy and water - and money at the same time. Here is an example: Replace just five of your incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs (which use two-thirds less energy, generate 70 percent less heat, and last up to ten times longer), and you will save an estimated $35 to $65 a year in energy costs. You will also learn about the award-winning Caroma "dual-flush" toilet from Australia, an eco-friendly toilet whose half- and full-flush modes can save more than 65 percent of your toilet's annual water usage. There are hundreds of other great suggestions in this new and up-to-date book that will make your home greener simply and quickly.Roberts, Jeanne is the author of 'Green Your Home: The Complete Guide to Making Your New or Existing Home Environmentally Healthy', published 2008 under ISBN 9781601381286 and ISBN 160138128X.