Clean up The Environment & Lower Your Bills.

Check your furnace and air conditioning filters monthly. Clean or replace them as needed. Also, put filters on vents that dispense warm air. Debris (and small toys) will not reach the heating ducts to clog the main filter.

If you use fuel oil to heat your home, speak with a technician to see if it’s possible to change to bio-diesel. Some systems can easily be changed to biodiesel without having to make major modifications or installing extra parts. Biodiesel is a better fuel because it has a cleaner burn and is more efficient.

If you are charging products within your home, use smart green ideas to conserve energy by unplugging these devices when you are done. Even when they are fully charged, these units still consume energy and cost you money. So unplug them when they are finished, and save some energy and money.

Insulate your home. A pre-1950 home that isn’t insulated will use approximately 60 percent more energy than a house that was built after 2000. Adding sufficient insulation to your attic and basement will greatly improve your home’s energy efficiency. As well as keeping you warm in the winter, you will find that the home remains much cooler in the summer months, reducing the need for an air conditioner.

Are you still using oil heat? You could switch to a greener solution without replacing your furnace. Find a qualified technician to inspect your system and make sure you can switch to a biofuel. Biofuels are non-toxic, degradable and renewable sources of energy that you will be able to re-use.

Warm-air registers, radiators, and baseboard heaters need cleaning at least once per year. It is best to clean these at the beginning of the cold season so they are ready to work at top efficiency once the weather turns cold. Clean heating units will distribute the heated energy evenly.

Before you start shopping for a wind power system, know how much power your home consumes. In order to get the most out of a residential wind power system, it needs to be the proper size. If your property is hooked into a utility grid, your wind system should be sized to provide about 50 – 80% of your power needs.

Make small changes if you do not have a lot of money to invest or do not have access to the kind of resources you need. Get a small solar power installation to provide power for one room only, and get a few solar cells to charge your cell phone and other devices, for instance.

A high-efficiency furnace becomes far less efficient with a clogged, dirty filter, so change your furnace filters often. This is especially important if you use tightly-woven pleated filters, because the HVAC system must work much harder to draw in air through its tiny openings. Most filters need to be changed or cleaned at least once every 3 months.

To incorporate green energy into your life, heat your home using biofuel instead of traditional fuels. This way, you can heat your home using renewable, biodegradable and generally, more environmentally friendly energy fairly easily. A wood or pellet stove is a great way to heat your home using biofuel products.

A clean environment is key to ensuring that we continue to have the food and water that we need to survive. It’s up to each individual to play their part and a great start to that part is to use the ideas in this article to “green” your energy use. Start implementing what you’ve learned and reap the rewards!

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