Keep Your Car – The environmental costs of buying a new car easily outweigh the costs of keeping your old car and keeping it as energy-efficient as possible. Extend its life as long as possible so that the landfills will be less crowded.

Slow Down – Save 30-40 percent of gas costs by accelerating gradually, maintaining steady speed and braking slowly. Plus, your tires, brakes and engine will last longer, thus, saving on additional car costs including speeding tickets. Your ride will be safer, too.

Check Your Tires – Three things: Ensure that the tires are the right size for the car, that the tire air pressure is of the recommended amount and that the tires still have good treads. This should result in lesser gas costs and tire blowouts.

Go for Tune-ups – Make the mechanic your friend through regular tune-ups. This should save about 7 to 10 cents to the gallon, which should add up in the long run. Better yet, ask your mechanic for the energy conserving synthetic motor oil.

Throw Away the Junk – Excess weight in the car makes the engine work harder than it should, thus, lessening fuel efficiency. It makes sense to clean and clear your car of its junk on a regular basis. Plus, it makes a better-smelling ride.

Cruise Control – Unless you are climbing mountains, the car’s cruise control should be turned on. Fuel efficiency is maximized because the smaller decreases and increases in speed balances out with this standard feature in most cars.

Idling Off – When stuck in traffic or waiting for someone for more than 10 seconds, just turn off your car. You will be saving on gas costs and lessening carbon emissions. Every little smoke helps in global warming, if you must ask.

Multi-task with Trips – Before going out of the house with driving in mind, plan the errands that need to be accomplished. This way, you can maximize car use. And if possible, just walk to your destinations when you get to the general area.

Carpool – It may not sound cool to carpool with others but for the sake of the environment, it should be. It will help in lessening the traffic, the dependence on oil of our society and the pollution from too many cars on the road.

Clean with Green Materials – Cleaning with hose, bucket and rag is fun for the whole family, not to mention that it conjures up images of those sexy carwash girls. However, it is also the most wasteful use of water, more so where commercial car washes are concerned. Instead, use waterless car cleaning polishes and sprays to make your car sparkling clean.

Reduce Food Waste
Your grocery bill may constitute more than 50 percent of your total household bills. Thus, any and all efforts to reduce food wastes will add up to big benefits to your pockets and to the environment for many reasons. You can achieve this end by:

• Lessening your food consumption in terms of shopping for groceries.
• Using leftovers for new dishes and enforcing a no-dregs policy
• Planning meals in advance to avoid too much leftovers

Use Heaters Wisely
We are so dependent on hot water for many of our needs from washing our bodies to washing our dishes and clothes. Well, go green by choosing cold water for many activities in the house. Start by taking cold showers when the weather permits instead of hot tub baths. Then progress into using unheated tap water for washing your hands, dishes and clothes. Studies have shown that tap water is just as effective in killing germs as hot water. The trick is in washing your hands properly for 20 seconds, soaking the clothes for 30 minutes to remove stubborn dirt and washing off the dregs on the eating utensils before placing on a full dishwasher.

Unplug the Appliances
You can save as much as 10-15 percent of your electricity bill simply by unplugging the cords from their sockets when these are not in use. This is because so-called phantom electricity does not flow from the grid into your appliances. And speaking of appliances, you can save money by either buying ones with the Energy Star logo or ones that have been refurbished. Of course, make sure that the refurbished appliances are also energy-efficient. You ought to save money in the long run instead of sticking to your run-down appliances. However, do recycle said old appliances with the manufacturers or with the recycling centers.

You can also find ways to save money on the accessories associated with your appliances. For example, you can exchange CDs, DVDs and computer games with your family and friends, or even with strangers via dedicated online sites.

Use Recycled Materials for Your Home
As much as possible, use recycled materials for your home. You can purchase scrap lumber from hardware stores, vintage wood and glass panels from garage sales and old houses, utensils and ornaments made of recycled materials from green stores and sites, to name a few options. You will often spend less on these items and yet get as much mileage as you possibly can from them. Better yet, you should adopt the motto of environmentalists everywhere – reduce, reuse and recycle. You will soon find that indeed being eco-friendly has its rewards for you and for your children’s children.

Starting today, do look around your home and see what else needs to be done to be as environmentally-friendly as possible. And earn as well as save money while you are at it!

1. Lessen Water Waste – There are many ways to lessen water consumption in the home without sacrificing material comforts.  First, take more showers instead of tub baths, which will also save on heating costs.  Second, add a 2-liter water-filled bottle into an old toilet’s water tank to lessen quantity of water used with every flush.  Third, use a glass for brushing your teeth.  Every little drops of water helps!

2. Replace Incandescent Bulbs – Fluorescent bulbs do the job of lighting up your home just as well as incandescent bulbs, so replace the latter today.  Plus, you will enjoy the benefits of 75 percent less energy consumption with 10 times longer life with fluorescent bulbs.

3. Install Programmable Thermostat – You will be able to save on energy costs simply because you can program said thermostat to reflect your immediate needs for heating and cooling energy.  Plus, its energy-saving feature adds up in the long run.

4. Install Eco-Friendly Faucets and Shower Heads - Low-flow faucets and shower heads will save on water and, hence, your utility bill. Shower heads are easier to install but replacing your old faucets for a cost will pay for itself.

5. Become a Gardener – Not only will you be able to grow your own organic food but you will also be able to lessen your carbon footprints.  Plus, it does look nice having a small garden to look forward to at the end of the day for exercise and stress relief.

6. Look Into Eco-Friendly Insulation – You can either apply organic insulation such as recycled denim, recycled cellulose fiber and even soy materials or revamp windows using double panes or embrace weather stripping.  All of these options will lessen energy costs while ensuring that you are comfortable in your home.

7. Opt for Low-VOC Products – When undertaking a DIY project involving paint, stains and other chemical substances, opt for the low-VOC products.  Ask the salesperson for assistance, do your research and just take the time to read labels.

8. Make Your Own Organic Home Products – In the same vein as growing your own food to some extent, you can also lessen your consumption of the Earth’s resources and lessen your grocery bill by making your own products for the home.  For example, look into homemade oral hygiene and home cleaning products using common ingredients like baking soda and vinegar.

9. Composting – You will only need a vacant portion of the backyard to make your own compost.  It will definitely do wonders for your garden, not to mention lessen our dependence on synthetic fertilizers.

10. Solar Power – You can always build solar panels for use in water and house heating.  Don’t worry about costs as you can always avail of tax rebates and financial assistance.  Or you can follow the example of Ma Yanjun, a Chinese farmer, who used interconnected beer bottles to harness solar power.

With a little ingenuity and plenty of concern for the environment, not to mention an eye on your energy expenditure, you can live as green as possible.

I happen to know a couple, Pam and Phil, who are both teachers. One is a principal and the other happens to be a really smart English teacher. Of course, they don’t make a ton of money, and they have a baby on the way. Instead of just throwing the idea of solar power right out the window, they sat down, did the numbers, and did a lot of research too. One option they had was to put an entire system on their house and get rid of using coal and the other option allowed them to get rid of coal while paying nothing. Take a guess which option they decided to go with.

The option available is known as solar leasing. If you can’t afford to pay for a system outright, this option allows you to lease the system you need and it makes a great alternative that you won’t want to pass up. Not sure how it works? Here is a closer look.

First of all, you make the decision to go with solar power, which is definitely a great decision for the environment. Then you take measures to contact a company that leases out these systems, such as SolarCity, which works in states including Texas, California, Colorado, Oregon, and Arizona. Then you can ask them if your home is going to be a good fit for solar power. If you end up being a good candidate, then you sign all the paper work and they show up and put in a photovoltaic system on the house and you don’t have to pay. You can monitor it wirelessly and it also has a good warranty. What you pay is a fee on the setup and this fee usually ends up begin less than the electric bill you are paying. The amount stays the same as well for the entire lease life, which can save you money too.

Basically, this is a great option if you want to choose greener solar energy for your home but you don’t have the money. You don’t have to pay anything up front, they install the system for you, and you pay a fee that is less than your electric bill. You are able to kick the cola habit and you cut down on what you pay for energy each month, which is a great benefit. Of course, there are a variety of options to consider when you are considering the transition to solar energy. However, this one is one of the best options and can allow you to have the solar energy you need without the up front huge expense of paying to have the photovoltaic system put in by yourself.

What you need to understand when it comes to energy subsidies is that every form happens to be subsidized. There are not any types of energy, including nuclear, renewables, or any others, that can stand on their own without having loan guarantees, tax preferences, or even research grants on their behalf. Of course, this really doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The biggest questions is which problems are we dealing with when it comes to energy and in order to solve them, what energy subsidies need to be used?

Trying to pin down what really is and is not a subsidy is not that difficult. There really isn’t a definition of subsidy that is accepted universally, according to the U.S. Information administration back in 2008. This makes it even easier for people to get confused on what subsidies are all about. Since there are benefits and costs with all programs from the government, many times the term subsidy ends up getting connotations that are derogatory.

When you keep this in mind, several reports need to be kept in mind which try to calculate the subsidy amounts and their beneficiaries. Back in 2004, several energy worthies that are bipartisan, came up with estimates that ranged between 27-64 billion dollars each year. They included tax incentives, cleanup of sites that are polluted, R&D grants, royalty relief for gas and oil, and oil supply line protection by the military. They did note within their reports that the numbers they came up with were really only estimates.

Another estimate was done by Earth Track about three years later, which was done on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development federal subsidies. Their estimates were that there is $49-100 billion each year, with conservation getting only 2.1%, about 2/3 going to fossil fuels, ethanol getting 7.6%, 2.4% going to nuclear, and 7.5 percent going to various other renewables. Then in 2008, there were even different numbers that were come up with by the Department of Energy, saying that the total was only about $16.6 billion. Of course, it was made clear that this report shouldn’t be the last word and didn’t include the cap on military protection of supply lines for oil and nuclear power plants.

Depending on policy preferences, subsidies can be described and defines in different ways. Those who advocate renewable energy sources say that the tax preferences that are for the tax codes happen to be permanent tax code provisions, while the ones for renewable energy forces have been off and one for some time. On the other hand, those who are champions of nuclear and coal power feel that the cost of subsidies for the renewables are much higher than the costs for plants that run on a constant basis. So, numbers on subsidies can easily be manipulated and used as weapons for either side of the argument, and it is important that you understand that.

If you are looking for ways to save money on house maintenance as well as do your share in saving the environment, then roofing insulation is a must. Of course, the initial outlay for the purchase of fiberglass batts, which are the insulation used in residential buildings in the United States, can be hefty but the savings in energy consumption (up to 13 percent) and in the reduction of greenhouse emissions, not to mention having a cooler house in the summer months, are worth it in some ways.

The disadvantages about fiberglass batts are that these are made with formaldehyde-injected adhesives and these require plenty of energy to produce. Thus, the eco-friendly advantages are often offset. And did you know that fiberglass batts are not used in commercial and industrial buildings? It does tell you something about these insulating materials. Fortunately, there are other eco-friendly roofing insulation materials that you can use.

Recycled Denim
There are many advantages to cotton insulation or recycled denim insulation. First, it is made from approximately 80 percent recycled denim and cotton materials, thus, providing it with sustainability benefits. Second, its manufacture is not as energy-intensive as fiberglass batts. Third, it is more easily handled than recycled cellulose especially as it comes in rolls. Fourth, instead of formaldehyde, boric acid is used as a fire and vermin retardant with the added benefit of not being itchy. Take note that boric acid is comparable to table salt in terms of human toxicity.

Recycled Cellulose Fiber
Yet another recycled roofing insulation material is recycled cellulose fiber. Its main advantage focuses on the fact that it can be spray-painted with water-based, eco-friendly adhesives into hard-to-reach areas, finished wall cavities and even attics. Think no formaldehyde, no petrochemicals, and no highly toxic chemicals added to the mix.

You will like that it is made from 80 percent recycled newspapers, hence, sparing a few more trees from being chopped down. Plus, your installer will love it that it poses lesser risks to his health. It is also a Class I fire retardant, which means that it can delay the spread of fire in your house. And just like recycled denim, boric acid makes it vermin-repellent, too.

Soy Insulation
The humble soy plant has many applications in modern life from maintaining our health to insulating our homes. Soy insulation is, of course, manufactured from soy bean oil, thus, making it one of the most responsible and renewable insulating materials available.

It is also spray-painted into place, which will then expand and dry off to fill in the cracks and seal in the holes especially in hard-to-reach areas. It also possesses fire retardant properties – it will just char but not sustain a fire – that will last through the building’s lifetime. And did we mention that it is also highly resistant to mildew and mold?

There are other eco-friendly, pocket-friendly, and long-term roof insulating materials like straw bales and sheep wool that you can choose from. No matter what type of insulation used, the most important thing is that it’s properly installed to ensure high-energy efficiency. The initial costs may be high, but the benefits more than pays for said costs.

I have to confess I didn’t know much about ethanol until today, when I decided to actually make the effort to do some research on the subject.

What had I known previously? That for several years, gasoline had been mandated to be mixed with 10% ethanol, because it was better for the environment. However, because of the law of unintended consequences, the use of ethanol was driving up the cost of corn (from which it was made), and causing the poorer people of the world even more misery as they were now unable to purchase it cheaply as their staple food.

So, today, as I said, I began doing some research.

Ethanol can be made from several substances. In Brazil – the world’s largest ethanol producing country, they make ethanol out of sugar cane rather than corn. Sugar cane has a 30% greater concentration of sucrose than corn, and is also much easier to extract. In addition, the bagasse (the fibrous residue remaining after the stalks are crushed to extract their juice) is then used for a variety of purposes – nothing is wasted or dumped into landfills.

So why does the United States make its ethanol out of corn, I wondered. (One doesn’t really need to research that. Farmers already had corn crops in place, probably, and want to make money out of that, and our politicians want to keep our farmers happy. That’s why the US adds a tariff to ethanol produced outside the United States. Brazil ethanol is much cheaper than that produced in the US, because it does not need to be converted into sucrose – it already is sucrose. (In addition, Brazilian producers don’t have to pay their workers near as much as American farmers have to pay theirs.)

CNN Money reported on August 7, 2007: “The reason we use corn and grains in this country to make ethanol is that’s what we produce best. It’s the easier thing for us to do at the moment,” said Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association. “The likelihood that cane will become a huge ethanol food stock isn’t high, though you may see it in the future.”

This despite the fact that ethanol made from sugar cane is: “about six times more economical to produce than corn ethanol, and has the potential to help the environment because it requires few chemicals to grow.”

It’s the Corn Lobby in the US government that is producing a shift over to sugar cane – the government simply has too much invested in its corn-into-ethanol programs.

It’s hard to get anything done if you’re sitting in a sweltering room in your home. But you don’t want to run your air conditioner, and although fans cost less to run than an air conditioner, they still cost money to run, too.

Well, there are some things you can do to reduce the heat inside your home.

First off, if you live in a house, consider planting some shade trees on the east and west sides of your home. As long as you’re planting deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves in winter) you can even shade the south side of your home as well. Typically, people help heat their homes naturally during the winter by allowing the south sun to come in. With deciduous trees, you keep the sun out during the summer, and let it in during the winter.

Plant shade trees or shrubs around your picnic table or porch, or, depending on how much land you have, plant a double row of trees to make a nice, cool soothing walkway, with perhaps a picnic table in the middle.

If you don’t want to plant trees, there are other things you can do to let the sunlight into your home, but keep the heat out.

Window curtains may shade the light, but they do very little to keep the heat out of your home. If you can’t afford to purchase new windows that are treated to keep out the heat, consider applying solar screens. They’ll serve the same purpose, and they’re removable during winter if installed for this purpose.

Solar screens should be applied to every window in your home that gets any amount of sun. They allow the light of the sun to enter, but keep the heat trapped outside, which of course keeps your home that much cooler, and thus necessitate less use of fan or air conditioner.

You can purchase solar screens commercially, or purchase the components and put them together yourself. In addition to keeping out the heat, solar screens will also reduce fading of your interior furnishings, carpets, and books.

As well as the incentive to save money during a recession, saving on electricity also means you are helping the environment. Electricity sourced from coal powered stations is non-renewable and linked to high carbon emissions, so there is more than one reason to turn out the lights. But saving money on electricity requires everyone in the household to help out – here are a few strategies you can start implementing right away.

In a typical US household, home heating and cooling can account for just over half of a household’s energy use, with the other half being fairly evenly split between appliances and water heating. So make the most of big decisions regarding heating and cooling options if you are at the stage of purchasing, but if that is not possible you can still reduce your overall bills by focusing on appliance use and limiting your use of heating and cooling whenever possible.

1. Turn appliances off at the on/off switch or unplug them rather than leaving them on standby. Also, when an appliance comes to the end of its life, consider seriously whether it needs replacing. When you do buy a new appliance, compare the energy efficiency ratings before making a purchase. Look at the wattage of each product.

2. Think about installing a solar powered water heating system. Water heating systems are a major user of electricity in the home. If you do keep an electricity powered system in place, be strict on shower frequency and length.

3. Turn lights off when you leave the room, and limit the use of lights during the day wherever possible. Allow natural light in instead. Make sure all fittings use compact fluorescent lights, which use 75% less energy and last about 10 times longer than incandescent bulbs.

4. Use energy-saving home heating options, such as slow combustion wood heating, instead of electric heaters. Although natural gas is a fossil fuel, it may be cheaper to power a heating system on gas instead of electricity. Ask whether you really need heating or cooling before you switch something on – dress for the weather first. Ceiling fans use less power than air conditioning systems.

5. The kitchen is a big energy user – consider doing tasks by hand rather than using an appliance where you can, such as chopping and mixing. When using an electric kettle, only use enough water as you need to boil. The bathroom and laundry can also be big areas of electricity consumption- clothes dryers and even hair dryers use a lot of electricity for example, so devise ways to cut back on how often they are used.

6. Make sure your computer or PC is switched off when you are not using it for long periods and is set to energy-saving mode in between those times.

7. Think of fun ways to encourage a reduction in power usage, for example having a night a week where you only use candle light, or a television free night each week with board games or reading and conversation instead.

Once you have built these strategies into your household routine, saving on electricity will be a lot easier. There are also devices available on the market allowing you to monitor your energy usage. Check your utility provider’s rates and shop around to see if you can get a better deal. Ideally, you would use an energy provider that offers renewable energy sources but this may not be cost effective for everyone.

Keep in mind that the biggest electricity users in most households are heating and cooling – so if you can ensure your house is properly insulated, and find natural ways to release heat in summer and contain it in winter this will make a big difference to your total energy costs.