Being energy efficient no longer has to be expensive. With each passing week there are new innovations to help you start saving money as well as the environment as fast as possible. Here are some quick tips you could do today to help the environment and be a little more “green”.

1. Upgrade your light bulbs

CFLs (Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs) are one of the quickest and easiest ways you can be energy efficient today. The next time your bulbs go out, or if you feel like just investing in better bulbs, head to your local home improvement store and pick up some CFLs. These light bulbs can save over 40 dollars in electricity over their individual lifetime. They also are built to be more efficient and produce 75% less heat and energy while still lasting longer then a normal bulb. Save the environment and your money by investing in CFL’s.

1. Use Your Garbage Disposal.

To many people, the garbage disposal is simply that thing that makes noise under your sink. Most people do not understand that if they dump food waste down the disposal instead of the sink, they can more efficiently help the environment. Naturally disposing of waste like this also create less trash, therefore less to throw away in the local landfill. So next time you have a full plate, put it in the garbage disposal instead of the waste bin.

1. Install water efficient fixtures.

Whether it is the showerhead or the faucet, there is easy ways to save water today. Installing new fixtures with low flow options can greatly cut back on the amount of water that is wasted on daily basis. These products are designed to optimize the lower water flow, and most people cannot even tell the difference from the less water. This is especially important if you have a faucet with a slow leak. Slow leaks can waste gallons of water per day and thousands of water per year.

These are only a few simple ways you can save energy, water and waste, but hopefully you have seen that this is a simple process and the time impact you put into them will greatly affect the environment for the future.

Author Bio

Josh McNair is an avid believe in living a green lifestyle. He works for PlumberSurplus.com which sells everything from Bathtubs to Shower Doors.

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Net-zero energy homes are gaining in popularity, but before buying a green home or an add-on product designed to generate energy, make sure you do your homework.

Modular homes are rising in popularity due to advances in the prefab home manufacturing industry. They can build modular homes based on your needs while being cost efficient as well as time efficient, a great value with all the performance of a stick-built house.

Here are a few features of contemporary modular homes:

• High Quality

  – These houses are built at factories with high quality-control standards. These houses can be mass produced while maintaining a high level of quality. These factories have access to machines not generally available on a job-site. Walls that are built are generally built stronger than stick-built houses’ walls.

• Low Cost

  – Contemporary modular homes are cost efficient because of the automated process of house prefabrication. With the use of machines there is less labor, less travel to and from a job site, and mistakes are handled inside the factory before the house is completed instead of later on. There is an overall lower cost of materials, lack of job-site risks, and theft.

• Fast

  – A prefab house is built much faster than a stick-built home. A small prefab home consisting of two “modules” can take three to four weeks long to complete. Again, machines make this possible by automating a lot of the home building process.

• Green Building

  – Newer modular homes are being built to federal “green building” and EPA standards. These houses are Energy Star compliant and very energy efficient. You will save money over the life of the house due to lower electricity, water, and heating bills.

• Higher Value

  – While modular homes generally cost less than a stick-built home, they are typically worth at least the same or more. Due to the modular home’s high quality construction they retain their value very well.

Contemporary modular homes are not the same as mobile homes. A modular home is built to the same standards as a normal site-built home. Mobile homes are built to different federal safety standards. This is one reason for modular homes increasing in popularity.

Modular homes are a great value, performance based, high quality alternative to a stick-built home.  These companies make some very nice modular homes:

Green building is a great way to differentiate your buildings from others. Green building is getting more popular these days, and more buyers are looking for homes that are built with ecofriendly materials. However, there are also other things you can do to make sure that the house you build is safe for the people who are moving in.

The National Center for Healthy Housing has developed a list of things you can refer to when checking if the home you are building can be considered healthy. A lot of evidence points to the fact that houses can greatly contribute to people’s poor health. Cases of lead poisoning, mold formation, lung cancer, and asthma are just a few examples.

With a little planning, you can take your green building practices and give your system a healthy spin. Here are a few examples:

• Keep your workspace dry – Mold formation can be a potentially dangerous situation for homeowners. To avoid this, keep your workspace dry and in an environment with a controlled temperature.
• Keep your workspace clean – Employing a building system where dust and debris is reduced will make sure that the homeowners move into a cleaner home. Invest in upgrading your equipment and hiring skilled craftsmen to minimize material waste, at the same time helping the environment.
• Keep your workspace well-ventilated – Ventilate the rooms in the house while building it to prevent contaminants from being concentrated indoors. Make sure a good flow of air goes through the living room, kitchen, bathrooms, and fireplaces. Even if it’s acceptable in some building codes to let some gas models of fireplaces vent indoors, opt for the healthier option of installing models that vent outdoors.
• Keep the house safe – Put extra safety features on all floors of the house. Gas poisoning can happen quickly and silently, so it would be good to install carbon monoxide detectors in addition to smoke detectors. Also provide alternative means to get out of the house in case of fires or other emergencies. Advise the homeowners to have their HVAC (Heating, Ventilation, Air Conditioning) systems inspected annually to make sure that they’re properly cleaned and maintained.
• Keep the house contaminant-free – Use paint that has low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) levels to keep contamination out of the house. It’s also good to include a mud room in the house plan so that shoes, boots, and umbrellas can be kept there before entering the living space.
• Keep the house well-maintained – It’s a good idea to give homeowners a checklist of things that they can inspect in terms of regular maintenance. Some homeowners (especially first time homeowners) might overlook some things.
• Keep pests away from the house – Make sure that cracks and openings are sealed so as not to invite pests into the house. Educate the new home owners on how to keep the house pest-free by keeping food in sealed containers, using non-toxic pesticides, and keeping cracks and openings around the house sealed.

It may also be a good idea to give the homeowners a safety manual which they can read through so that they can have a better understanding of how they can keep their home safe. Here are a few things you can include in the manual:

• Keep the house dry to discourage the formation of mold and pest infestation which causes or triggers asthma attacks.
• Keep the house clean to maintain a contaminant-free environment.
• Keep the house pest-free by using non-toxic pesticides. Recent studies show a correlation between pest infestation and asthma episodes in children.
• Keep the contaminants out of the house. Chemical exposures have more intense effects indoors than outdoors. Examples of such contaminants include second hand smoke, volatile organic compounds, lead, pesticides, and others.
• Keep your house well-ventilated to encourage better respiratory health.

Building green would be more effective with a better understanding of how to make a house safe. There are many instructional materials available in the market to help you understand this further.

Builders are beginning to embrace zero net building techniques, building homes which produce as much energy as they use.  In the past 5 years net-zero homes have begun to hit the market and for good reason.  These homes offer buyers a reduced cost of ownership over the long term.

One selling point: energy bills that can run more than $2,700 a year are cut to about $700, and total energy savings allow buyers to recoup the purchase premium in roughly 12 years after tax incentives and rebates are included.

A 12 year recoup after tax incentives proves there is still a long way to go to bring these technologies to general public acceptance.  The solar and wind power is offset by new efficient technologies in; natural lighting, high performance windows, energy star appliances, waste water heat recovery systems, thermal storage basements, high efficiency heat pumps, heat recovery ventilation, quality insulation and state of the art mechanical controllers.

See an interactive net-zero home here at wsj.com.

We all know that green homebuilding is hot in new home construction.  But do you know how to spot a green home?

Today’s Atlanta Journal-Constitution outlines some things to look for when choosing your new home:

Green Homes 101

• How was the site developed, and what happened to the debris from the construction?
•What about insulation? Is the attic insulation R-49? What about wall insulation and air sealing (caulking)?
•What’s the SEER (seasonal energy efficiency ratio) on the air-conditioning system? Is the unit the right size? Too big a system won’t dehumidify properly and the equipment will short cycle, wearing it out quickly.
• For the furnace, what is the AFUE (annual fuel utilization efficiency) rating?
• How is the water heated? Consider a gas tankless water heater or point-of-use models to save by not having to store heated water.
• Look for WaterSense labeled high-efficiency toilets, which use 1.3 gallons per flush or less. Toilets are the largest users of water inside a home.
• Are the appliances Energy Star? They’ll save both water and energy.
•If you’re using carpet, is it certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus program?
• Is the landscape planned for lower maintenance and water use?

The article also suggests that green homes cost less or are breakeven to a standard home.

What does it cost?

The U.S. Green Building Council says the net cost of owning a green home is comparable to — or even less expensive than — owning a standard home. “Month to month, people who live in green homes save money by consuming 40 percent less energy and 50 percent less water than standard homes,” Roberts says.

He says now that items such as low-emissivity windows have become standard, “The cost of being green is already being built into construction. The true cost of homeownership includes not only the mortgage payment, but also utilities and maintenance. The owner of a green home pays less per month in total and owns a more valuable asset. Plus the home is more comfortable and has better indoor air quality.”

West Coast Green Residential Building Conference + Expo September 20 -22, 2007.  This 3-day conference and expo is aimed at green professionals, businesses, and individuals to network, display new technologies.

Speakers include: Michelle Kaufmann Michelle of Kaufmann Designs, Eric Corey Freed Architect, LEED AP, OrganicARCHITECT and Sarah Susanka, author of the Not So Big House series and The Not So Big Life.

Visit West Coast Green for more information.

Finding a knowledgeable Green Builder can be challenging. While the concept is gaining notice with consumers, builders are slow to learn the new green building techniques. Here are three steps to finding a qualified Green Builder.

Contact your regional USGBC office

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is the nation’s Green Building coalition covering every sector of the building industry. With 7,500 members and 75 regional chapters, USGBC provides resources for the green consumer. Visit the The U.S. Green Building Council website for more information, contact them for builders and architects in your area.

Interview certified green builders

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the ranking system by USGBC. To earn certification a builder must submit projects which are judged on prerequisites and performance benchmarks, or credits. Builders are awarded Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum certification depending on the number of credits they achieve. Be sure your builder has LEED certification.

Ask to see green projects

Find out the quality of your builders by visiting past and present projects. Speak with the homeowners if you can. The NAHB also publishes a Green Homebuilding Guidelines PDF, free of charge. Use this as a reference.

Green home building can add 20% to 30% in additional costs as opposed to traditional construction. From a financial standpoint those considering green home building should weigh the dollars saved from energy efficiency and tax credits vs. the additional costs to build green. While financial incentives may not be the main point for most green consumers, they do play a major role in determining your construction budget. It is important to remember that green home building is not an all or nothing decision.  One may choose which features best suit their objectives and budget.

The Energy Policy Act of 2005 provides a variety of tax credits for homeowners, businesses, and manufacturers for purchase of energy-efficient equipment, completion of new energy-efficient buildings, and improvements to existing buildings. If you are interested in learning more about tax credits for green home building explore these resources. Tax form 1040 to includes a line for energy tax credits, in the tax credit section, and will issue regulations early in 2006 specifying what energy efficiency equipment and improvements to existing buildings or new building designs qualify for the credits. The Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Information Center hotline is collecting information and will be updating information on the tax credits as it becomes available. You can reach them at 1-877-337-3463. For specific tax advice, of course, please consult your tax preparer.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s REScheck and COMcheck software tools cannot be used to determine percent savings to receive the tax credits described in the Energy Policy Act. These tools are designed solely for energy code compliance. The “percent improvement” provided for envelope (COMcheck and REScheck) and lighting (COMcheck) are not based on a whole building or performance-based approach.