Amazing Ways to Go Green
With the movement to go green in full swing, green living is becoming more and more common with every passing day.
Some of the things people do to help the environment are simple, like shopping with a recycled bag or recycling plastic bags from the grocery store.
Other things that people do to make a smaller footprint on the world are more costly but totally worth the investment.
Solar panels are a popular choice for people who are looking to go green in a major way.
However, solar panels can cost upwards of $30,000 if they are used to replace electricity throughout the home.
This makes solar panels inaccessible for many families.
A good choice for those who can do it, but not a choice every family can make.
When considering the home, many environmentally friendly families are turning to moving from their suburban neighborhoods to a more remote area where their home cn be reflective of their love of nature.
For such families, a yurt makes an ideal dwelling.
A yurt is essentially a roundhome.
Both environmentally friendly and gorgeous to look at, a roundhome offers ease of heating and cooling thanks to less square footage contained in the exterior walls.
A yurt is a dwelling that has been around for ages.
Traditionally, this sort of a dwelling was portable, used by nomads who would pick up and travel from one place to the next.
Their homes were carried on the backs of camels and were easy to set up and tear down when necessary.
Today, a roundhome is built to stay put right where you want it.
The call for a roundhome is not so that you can up and move, but so that you can create a more environmentally friendly place to live with your family.
Because this type of a home uses less energy, it makes less of a negative impact on the environment.
Because it is so beautiful and the homeowner gets to play a large roll in the design of their new home, the trend is catching on all over the world.
OK, so maybe you're not in the market for a new home.
Does that mean that you cannot make an effort to be kinder to the earth you live on? Not at all.
Right now, you can do several things to conserve energy and natural resources.
One thing that many people don't even pay attention to is their water heater.
However, according to the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) online consumer's guide from the Department of Energy, you can save between 3 and 5 percent in energy costs with each ten-degree reduction in water temperature.
If your water heater has settings of low, medium and high, set it to medium and you will save energy.
Another way to set it and forget it is in terms of cooling and heating your home.
Without a programmable thermostat, you are forced to make changes to the heating and cooling system when you come home or leave each day.
With the business of life tugging at you, it is easy to forget you have the thermostat set and you may often leave it to run in an empty house.
A programmable thermostat costs a few hundred dollars.
But by setting a programmable thermostat to 78 degrees or higher in the summer and 62 degrees or lower when you're not at home, you can save about 10 percent a year in energy costs.
Whether you want to go big and make a move into a yurt, or you want to make small changes; you can go green in your own way and feel good about impacting the world.
Some of the things people do to help the environment are simple, like shopping with a recycled bag or recycling plastic bags from the grocery store.
Other things that people do to make a smaller footprint on the world are more costly but totally worth the investment.
Solar panels are a popular choice for people who are looking to go green in a major way.
However, solar panels can cost upwards of $30,000 if they are used to replace electricity throughout the home.
This makes solar panels inaccessible for many families.
A good choice for those who can do it, but not a choice every family can make.
When considering the home, many environmentally friendly families are turning to moving from their suburban neighborhoods to a more remote area where their home cn be reflective of their love of nature.
For such families, a yurt makes an ideal dwelling.
A yurt is essentially a roundhome.
Both environmentally friendly and gorgeous to look at, a roundhome offers ease of heating and cooling thanks to less square footage contained in the exterior walls.
A yurt is a dwelling that has been around for ages.
Traditionally, this sort of a dwelling was portable, used by nomads who would pick up and travel from one place to the next.
Their homes were carried on the backs of camels and were easy to set up and tear down when necessary.
Today, a roundhome is built to stay put right where you want it.
The call for a roundhome is not so that you can up and move, but so that you can create a more environmentally friendly place to live with your family.
Because this type of a home uses less energy, it makes less of a negative impact on the environment.
Because it is so beautiful and the homeowner gets to play a large roll in the design of their new home, the trend is catching on all over the world.
OK, so maybe you're not in the market for a new home.
Does that mean that you cannot make an effort to be kinder to the earth you live on? Not at all.
Right now, you can do several things to conserve energy and natural resources.
One thing that many people don't even pay attention to is their water heater.
However, according to the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) online consumer's guide from the Department of Energy, you can save between 3 and 5 percent in energy costs with each ten-degree reduction in water temperature.
If your water heater has settings of low, medium and high, set it to medium and you will save energy.
Another way to set it and forget it is in terms of cooling and heating your home.
Without a programmable thermostat, you are forced to make changes to the heating and cooling system when you come home or leave each day.
With the business of life tugging at you, it is easy to forget you have the thermostat set and you may often leave it to run in an empty house.
A programmable thermostat costs a few hundred dollars.
But by setting a programmable thermostat to 78 degrees or higher in the summer and 62 degrees or lower when you're not at home, you can save about 10 percent a year in energy costs.
Whether you want to go big and make a move into a yurt, or you want to make small changes; you can go green in your own way and feel good about impacting the world.
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