In a time of recession, each home is seeing costs rise, and one of those costs is the monthly utility bill. With this in mind, there is no surprise that people want to curb their power consumption, or at least want to make their consumption more efficient. There was a time when green energy was only the interest of the environmentalist movement. However, it is quickly become less of an alternative form of technology and more of a standard way of life.
Solar panels cost well into the five figures, if you are looking for an array that will power an entire house. However, depending on where you live, you may be able to qualify for a tax credit that will help ease the initial expense. Additionally, the savings that you will gain from your monthly electric bills — which will be much lower because of the power that your photovoltaic cells are contributing to the power grid — will pay for the rest of the cost of the solar panels over time. It will take over ten years for the panels to pay for themselves, so make sure that you plan to stay in one particular home for that period of time, and that your home is correctly aligned to take advantage of the angle of the sun.
Instead of using natural gas or electricity to heat your home through your furnace, you can augment your existing systems with the power of wood. Putting wood-burning stoves in different places throughout your home, and by taking advantage of your fireplace, you can greatly reduce your electric or gas bill — at least the part that covers the cost of heating your home. Burning wood in your stove or fireplace will also give your home a more natural, pleasing aroma that smells much more rustic than your odorless gas furnace will.
If you don’t want to pay for the expense of operating a clothes dryer, you can put up a clothesline in your back yard, or hang your clothes to dry throughout your home. The place where you live may have regulations saying whether or not you can put a clothesline up on your property; if it is allowed, then find an unobtrusive place where you can erect two poles and stretch a line between them. Your clothes will have the fresh smell of the outdoors, and you won’t have the electrical costs associated with powering the machine. Even if your dryer is powered by gas, you will still experience significant cost savings — and you will improve the environment.
Rain reclamation only costs as much as the barrels that you put out around your house. When rain falls, a lot of the time it just runs off into the sewer system. Use rain reclamation barrels to save water during heavy rain periods, so that you can water parts of your landscape with what you have saved, instead of draining the already overtaxed reservoirs.
If you make your home greener, you’ll boost the environment — and your own quality of life.