Pick appropriate plants. Not all plants are appropriate for the area you live in. While you might be able to control the temperature, humidity, and rain conditions inside your house, you can’t do it out in the garden. If you pick appropriate plants for your area, you may be able to avoid using fertilizers and saving on water too. Research, what plants are native to your surrounding areas and try planting them in your own garden. Wildflowers, are just that, they can pretty much be left alone and will thrive in most areas.

Pick natural repelling plants. You don’t need to rely on poisons to keep away garden ruining pests. Many plants produce chemicals that repel these animals naturally. By putting them in or around you garden, you can keep your garden safe with little effort and no chemicals. Plus, you can pick parts of these plants and use them to make products to keep them away from you too.

If you don’t want to plant natural repellents in your garden, you can use them to spray your plants without harming them or adding artificial chemicals to your garden. Many herbs like hot pepper, vanilla, and lavender can help repel insects from your garden.

Pull weeds. We’re all looking for a quick and easy way to safely get rid of weeds without chemicals, but the good old fashioned way is still very effective. It you take time every day to pull the weeds you can find, you’ll only take a few minutes so it doesn’t seem like a lot of work. You can even get the kids involved, just be sure to do it properly so you don’t spread the seeds around. There are even some common weeds that are edible, just make sure there are no pesticides that could have gotten on them.

Crop rotation. Farmers all over the world use crop rotation to naturally fertilize plants. The concept is to change what crop you’re putting in a certain field each year. Plants use different nutrients and put other nutrients back into the soil. If you rotate crops that replace the nutrients the other plants use, you will have to fertilize the soil less.

You can use this same concept in your garden by planting different plants every year, or just rotating where you put specific plants in the garden.

So, you’ve made all these changes and are using a low-water, chemical free garden? Well, you still haven’t done the most important thing: pass it on! One garden can make a dent, but more can make a bigger difference. Tell your friends, teach your kids, you can even visit their school and teach your kids friends! Every little bit helps make a better world.

1.Limit, as much as possible, the use of water. Of course water is not that expensive (at least for now); but saving water saves energy. When cleaning the driveway, the deck or patio, using the broom instead of the hose would save several hundreds of gallons of water a year.

2.A push mower is a good idea to mow a small lawn. Aside from not using electricity or fuel to ride the mowing machine, it is also good exercise.

3.Rakes are good leaf movers. Like the push mower, you do not need energy to fuel up a machine to get the job done. There is also a sense of nostalgia in using this traditional tool.

4.Use compact fluorescent light bulbs to light up your driveway or as a security light. CFLs are one of the most handy and energy efficient products that you can have. If you are worried about bugs sticking to the light, there are yellow CFLs that are available.

5.When shopping, avoid going for the disposable ones. Disposable products need more landfills and landfills emit dangerous gasses. Go instead for items that could be used several times over. Again when shopping, go for products that are made of better quality. They might be a little more expensive but generally, quality products last longer.

6.Bring your own bags when shopping. Paper bags are made from trees; the environment can use more of them. Plastic bags on the contrary are oil based and are not biodegradable. If you bring your bag with you, you do not only help in saving energy, you could also get a discount from your store.

7.Batteries contain toxic materials. They produce heavy metal like zinc, zinc, arsenic, cadmium, mercury etc. Thus, disposal needs proper care. Once the heavy metal in batteries seeped into the ground it has a good chance of contaminating the ground. When buying products that would need batteries, pick those that are rechargeable. That way battery disposal is limited and you save on the cost of buying new batteries.

8.Good thing that SUV sales everywhere are going down (well, at least for the environment and not for car manufacturers). SUVs use much more energy than compact sedans for the same distance. While using SUV’s could be fun, there is also that tinge of indifference to the current energy issues and environmental problems we are facing. Reducing the use of SUVs on the street may not mean much in terms greenhouse gas emissions but is a signal to manufacturers to build more energy efficient vehicles.

9.The use of solar power is an excellent idea if you want to tackle the issues of energy conservation and environment protection. If there is one thing that the world needs most at this time, it is the widespread use of solar power.

10.Energy saving devices may cost a little extra but the pays offs are much more than the extra cost in terms longer life spans and energy saved.

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Heating and Cooling.

Almost half of your electric bill goes for your heating and cooling systems so if you really want to maximize your savings here are the following things you can do:

Clean your air filters at least once a month.

Clean baseboard heaters, radiators, and warm-air registers as often as necessary; make sure that they are working properly; and that they are not blocked by drapes, carpeting, and furniture.

Set the thermostat as high as is comfortable when it is hot or as low as is comfortable when it is cold.

Turn off exhaust fans (kitchen, bath, others) 20 minutes after cooking or bathing. Keeping them on for a long time affects the temperature of the room.

Lighting and Appliances

As much as possible, use natural lights – working near the windows will prevent you from turning on the light and consuming energy. Utilize the power of the sun.

Switch off the lights every time you leave the room even if it is just of a minute.

If you are using the 4-foot fluorescent lights, install reflective backings to maximize the light.

Switch to compact fluorescent lights. There are 4-watt minifluorescent lights and 40-watt fluorescent lights have the same illuminating effect.

Turn off all lights and appliances when not in use. Unplug unnecessary appliances like microwaves, television, stereos, computers, and VCRs if you are not using them. Also, unplug chargers and devices with bloc-shaped transformer on the plug. All of them consume energy when plugged in. Do not leave them on “stand-by” mode.

Look of Energy Star label when purchasing lighting product.

Use task lighting instead of lights that cover the entire room. For example, use lamp shades when reading and not the lights for your room.

Laundry

Washing your clothes cold will reduce washer’s energy consumption by as much as 90%. Air drying eliminates the energy use for machine drying.

Always do full loads whenever possible. If you are washing a small load, use appropriate water level and wash setting.

Refrigerator

Maintain a right temperature for your freezer and refrigerator.

Do not hold the refrigerator or freezer open. The energy consumption increases if the motor works endlessly just to maintain the temperature of the refrigerator and freezer.

Check for leaks and cracks in the gasket. Make sure that your refrigerator is completely sealed to maintain the temperature inside.

Insulation

Heat loss happens when your house is not properly sealed. Use sealants or weather-stripping on windows.

Make sure that air cannot escape or enter in to the pipes, doors, walls, floors and ceilings. A properly insulated home saves as much as 10% in electric bill.

In a typical household monthly electric bill, 44% goes to the heating and cooling systems; 33% goes to lighting and other appliances; 14% goes to heating the water; and 9% goes to the refrigerator. Take note of this power distribution to know where exactly you can maximize your saving.

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Almost half of your electric bill goes to regulating the temperature of your home. Thus if you want to save on your electric bills, the best place to start is your home’s insulation system.

Insulation is important to minimize or eliminate the heat exchange/loss inside your house. Good insulation keeps the interior warm during winter and cold during hot summer days. A well-insulated house allows your heating and cooling systems to effectively work as needed. Proper insulation can save as much as 10% of your monthly electric bill.

Meanwhile, if your house has leaks or if it has insufficient insulation, air will pass through; and heat exchange will occur on areas where insulation is inadequate. This results to heat loss. And because a house with leaks and insufficient insulation requires more power to regulate its temperature, energy consumption will likely increase.

Where to insulate?

Areas of the house including the switches, power outlets, plumbing fixtures, walls, windows, doors, ceilings, floors, basement, crawl spaces and attic should be properly insulated.

Insulation Tips

Make sure that you consider factors such as building design, budget and climate when selecting the R-values of the insulation materials. Use the proper R-values insulating materials for particular parts of the house.

Consider parts of your house such as the attic, floors, kitchen, bathroom, windows, walls, door and other parts where heat loss are more likely to happen. Use the required insulation materials on these parts to effectively control the temperature.

Sunk-lights can be a source of heat loss but you need to be careful on how close you place the insulation next to these fixtures. Check with your local building codes for reference.

When constructing a home, check on some construction materials that provide both structural support and good insulation.

Follow the product instruction when installing the insulation. Product instructions are the best source of information on how to maximize the use the products.

More Energy Saving Tips

Reduce your light consumption. Some lights produce heat that affects the temperature of the house.

Keep your temperature sensor away from hot materials like stove, oven, lights and other appliances that emit heat to get accurate temperature reading for effective heat regulation.

If the temperature outside is comfortably warm or cold, turn off your heating or cooling system. During heat season, open the drapes of the south-facing windows to allow natural light to enter your home. Close it at night to prevent cool winds from coming in. During winter, keep the drapes and shades closed to help reduce heat loss.

Buy energy-efficient products that will help minimize heat loss and reduce power consumption. Find a reputable contractor and ask advice on good heating and cooling equipment to buy.

During winter, adjust your thermostat at the lowest comfortable level; during summer, highest comfortable level.

Minimize the use of heat generating appliances to reduce the use of cooling system and save on electric bill.

A well-insulated house is like a well-sealed refrigerator. Lesser heat loss means lesser power consumption; and more heat loss means the motor will work harder to maintain the desired interior temperature and thus more energy consumed.

Saving energy means saving money. Make sure that you routinely check your house for leaks and holes and replace or repair leaking parts as soon as you discover them.

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The rise and drop in temperatures in the coming years, place intense pressures on consumers around the world as this means only one thing, more energy and fuel are needed to control the environment and make homes more comfortable.

Over the years, new technology has been invented to improve the manner of living – energy saving devices are not excluded. However new technology, as always, is a bit expensive at first. And the prices will go down after some time. But instead of waiting for a more affordable energy saving devices, let us apply our common sense today and do some effort in saving energy.

•Avoid “phantom” energy users.

Electrical appliances that are plugged in to sockets even when not in use consume energy. It is like a turning on the engine of your car and idling for a very long time. A single appliance that remains plugged in may not give a significant increase in your electric bill but letting every appliance on “standby” can be a real money spender. Make sure to pull the plugs of every appliance from their sockets whenever you don’t use them.

•Turn down temperature of water heaters.

Water heaters hold about 40 gallons of water and maintain it at a constant temperature. Forty gallons of water that is sitting in your tank for a very long time consumes a lot of energy. If the water heater is not expected to be used for a while, it is advisable to maintain it at a lower temperature.

•The openings and leaks in doors and windows create drafts.

The stronger the draft is, the longer it will take for homes to be heated or cooled – in addition to the extra work that a heater or an air-conditioning system is doing to regulate the right temperature of the house. In newer homes, the problems may be few as today’s’ builders take more attention to sealing drafts potential areas and slots. Older homes may not be as well sealed. Even if the outer walls are insulated, air leaks often occur around wall outlets, switches and vents that could result in water condensation around these areas. A good foam patch could fix the problem.

•If there is really nothing to prepare much cooking for, let the stove and oven rest.

Instead, use the microwave. When cooking in stoves though, the closer the bottom of the pan used for cooking matches the hob ring of the stove, the more energy is saved. Too much flame for the pan and you are paying for heating the air around it.

•CFL lights are energy savers.

Using CFL bulbs will save you more than sixty percent of the cost of lighting compared with using incandescent light bulbs. Sure CFL lamps are a little more expensive but these are recovered easily because of its longer life and the energy saving feature it has.

•Clean appliances regularly.

Dirt and dust interferes with the efficiency of appliances. Likewise, place a good distance; allow about four inches of distance between the wall and appliances that generate heat for your walls not to retain the heat.

•When in the market always look for the energy coefficient and the energy saving features of the appliance you are buying.

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Everyone knows what is meant by solar energy, and that is, the energy that comes from the sun. In its most basic sense, solar energy and other solar home equipment are environment-friendly.

Why is the solar home energy said to be environment-friendly? What are its general benefits? Practically speaking, when solar home energy is used, the electrical bills tremendously go down as compared to the other type of home energy available for all people. Why would you pay for such expensive bills when all you need to do is to employ solar home energy?

Another major advantage of the solar home energy is the absence of the very complicated and dangerous wiring. Solar energy lights in the garden path or any other solar energy-powered items used in your home are ready to be installed less the wiring to be dealt with. In reality, these solar light bulbs are equipped with darkness sensors so they need not be turned on to give off light and they need not be turned off as well when they are no longer needed.

As a sort of simple explanation, the solar light bulbs will simply have to be purchased, taken out of the boxes, installed, and then presto! You just have to situate them where you want them to be and never worry about them ever again.

A List of the Benefits of Solar home Energy

Why is the solar home energy equally beneficial? Why is it more recommended for use? Here are some of its benefits which are truly worth the attention to be graced by anyone:

Solar home energy is environmentally friendly. As mentioned a while ago, solar home energy will not harm the environmental features. It is specifically clean and renewable as well. More so, it does not cause pollution just like what the rest of the traditional electrical forms do.

Solar home energy systems need the least maintenance. They are not fuel-powered so no need to buy the refills.

Solar home energy makes you save a lot of money. The energy that is derived from the sun can be accessed for free as you make use of solar lights, solar panels, and the likes. The federal government most of the time gives out financial incentives. You don’t get affected by the rise of the fuel rates since you are using solar home energy.

Making use of the solar home energy makes you entirely independent from the foreign and centralized energy sources. Power outages will not likely affect you in any manner.

Most of the solar energy items are very easy to install thus lessening the complicated work of the wiring systems.

Some Common Disadvantages of the Solar Home Energy

Of course the disadvantages will not be taken aside. Here are some of the most common disadvantages of the solar home energy:

The employment of a solar home energy can be expensive at first. But as time passes by, it becomes light to the pocket.

The strength of the solar home energy will relatively depend on the location of your home in relation with its facing to the sun. Also, the area of your home is another point to consider. You will need large areas to install the solar panels.

The Various Solar Energy Items

There are lots of solar energy devices that you may opt to buy. Included are the solar flashlights, solar heaters, car ventilators, solar video cameras, solar radios, solar pool purifier, solar mosquito inhibitor, solar lighting, and solar fountain pumps.

What You Must Do

Back in the earlier years, solar energy powered devices were very costly that very few homeowners made use of the solar home energy. But these days, small volumes of solar energy devices are put up for sale therefore making it affordable for all …. NOW SEE HERE