Recent news about the impact of global warming has many of us wondering how we can do our part to live “greener” in our homes. One of the ways we’ve learned how to do this, of course, is to simply conserve and recycle when we can, but it’s also very easy to go green in other ways. If you have a green home, you’re helping the environment, and it’s also a way to save money. With just a few changes to your lifestyle, everyone can go green — yes, you too.

One of the big ways you can save energy costs and go green relates to the energy it takes to heat your home. If you set your thermostat to 20 degrees Celsius or 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and to 25 degrees Celsius or 78 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, you’ll conserve energy and save money on your energy bills simultaneously.

You can also save energy costs if you can create shade in the summer at the west and east ends of your home. This can keep your indoor temperature several degrees cooler while the sun is at its hottest in the morning and afternoon. If you cook early in the day before the temperature is at its hottest or late in the day after it has cooled down, this will also reduce your energy needs because heat won’t be trapped inside your home, thus reducing your dependence on air conditioning. You can also use ceiling fans to circulate the air and help keep it from becoming too hot.

Polyethylene plastic bags, like those commonly offered by grocers, are manufactured using petroleum. As 100 billion plastic bags are thrown away annually, their disposal by burning presents a devastating assault upon the environment. By investing a dollar or two in re-usable cloth grocery bags, the amount of plastic bags wasted can be reduced along with their global warming impact.

Plastic water bottles, too, cause significant damage to the environment because they are not biodegradable; they spend years and years in landfills. Do your part to keep this from happening by buying every member of your family their own reusable water bottle and then filling it with tap water from home. (If you’re concerned about the quality of your own tap water for drinking purposes, filtration systems are still a very environmentally responsible and economic way to drink your tap water from home.)

Travel, too, is another thing you can easily adjust to help reduce your fuel costs and reduce carbon emissions, which negatively impact the environment. Use public transportation or carpool to get to work, and walk or bike shorter distances whenever you can. Reducing the number of cars on the road makes the air cleaner and also saves you money, because it’s much cheaper to take public transportation, to carpool and/or to ride a bike or walk where you need to go. In addition, walking or biking provides you a very effective form of exercise that’s easy to do.

If you’re about to remodel your home, bypass the hardwood flooring and instead install bamboo flooring. Bamboo flooring is environmentally friendly because it is self-replenishing and produces a high yield. The bamboo matures in six to eight years, versus the 50 to 100 years it takes the trees necessary for hardwood floors to mature. And when you install your bamboo flooring, use glues that don’t contain formaldehyde, which is very toxic.

Finally, whenever possible, to see electronic bill payment system of paper bills. Companies sometimes offer discounts to customers who opt out of the paper bill choice and who choose to receive and pay bills electronically. This saves many trees every year because of the paper saved, and also helps keep paper waste products out of landfills. To further reduce paper usage and keep paper out of landfills, when you must buy paper products choose those that are recycled and choose products that are unbleached. Bleaching paper is toxic to the environment.

Some erroneously assume that going green takes a lot of thought and work, but in fact, it’s pretty easy to do once you know how. If you go green, you can have the satisfaction of knowing that you are doing your part to take care of the planet — and save some money besides.

About the author: Jerry Dyess has been in the Texas Electricity business for the past 7 years. He has published many articles on Texas Electric prices.