Turn off lights when leaving rooms.
Dry laundry outside when weather permits.
Buy only high-efficiency products and appliances.
Use a programmable thermostat to automatically adjust home temperature.
Install insulation and seal home air leaks and save up to 20% on heating and cooling costs (energystar.gov).
We encourage renters to see their landlords as partners in living green. Try to start a face-to-face discussion with them, rather than using
At the time, I'll admit I was a bit skeptical of the idea of actually being able to heat your home without burning some sort of fuel on-site such as natural gas, propane or even wood in a wood stove. This seemed especially unlikely in a climate like Minnesota's. I later visited my dad's house in the winter after his system was installed and found that it was actually quite comfortable.
In recent years, you may have seen news items about fuel cells and the coming “hydrogen economy” and wondered what exactly is a fuel cell? A fuel cell is a form of a reactor where we can create electricity through an electrochemical reaction of hydrogen and oxygen. The only by-products of a hydrogen-fueled fuel cell are pure water (H2O) and heat.
At 93 million miles from Earth, our sun is a middling star that provides nearly all the energy on Earth. The only energy sources we have on Earth which do not come from the sun are the tides caused by the moon's gravity, radioactive materials and geothermal energy. The sun provides everything else. All the energy embodied in fossil fuels and biomass is actually the sun's energy stored as carbon.
Here are a few easy things you can do to cut your home energy use. Convince the entire family to follow these steps, and you may find that it doesn't take any time or cost any money to improve your home's energy efficiency.
Electricity