What are some cheep, easy ways to go green AND cut utility, fuel, food costs?

Question

I want to go greener for 3 reasons:

~Earth

~My pocketbook

~My kids

Unfortunately I do not have alot of $$ to work with. I do not plan on being in my current (mobile) home for more than two more years.

I want to make it as green as possible (It is skirted, has ALOT of insulation, and has double pained windows already.)

I want to make us as green as possible

I want ideas for the new home we are building to make it green while cost effective.

Best answer will need sources.

THANK YOU!!!!!

Answer 1

Congratulations on building a new home. I think I can help because I had my home built almost 10 years ago and these ideas have worked well.  The first set of suggestions have to do with the placement of the house on the lot.  Make sure the front of the house faces east.  The Sun rises in the east and will aide in efforts to grow flowers, ground shrubs and trees.  It will also accelerate snow and ice melt. It too will aide your furnace in keeping your house warm.  Make sure the placement of the thermostat is in the hallway, not a room.  Your family will have a truer reading of a comfortable temperature in the hallway versus a room.   Comfort is even greater with a humidifier.  A good spend is to make sure the lot is on a slight rolling hill.  You will not be concerned about water in your basement or up against the foundation, because this type of lot will have a natural barrier that pushes water away from the house.  Get Rain barrels to collect rain water, placed on the side of the house connected to your gutter system you will have 1 or two barrels of water to keep your plants hydrated, during drought spells.  Make sure tall arborvites, shrubs are up against the house to break the direct wind.  When a wind chill is present the house will have a barrier that works with the insulation, so the furnace will not have to work as hard since the exterior of the house stands naked in the wind or in the hot days of summer.  

Since you are having your house built, make sure they measure for handicap accessible doors where your kids will be running in and out.  Chances are this will be the same door that appliances and sofas, tables are brought in.  This will also be the same door that will remain open in the warm months that the kids will be told to make up their mind...in or out!  A screen door connected to a handicap accessible door will increase ventilation, becuase of the wider berth.  This should not be an addtional cost to building your house, it just makes the doorway wider.  Relatedly, get stand up rotating fans and use them in place of the air conditioner.  I would suggets you get 2 or 3 good fans.  If you have one fan face the window, it will blow out the hot air and create a suction of air in the room.  The others can be used accordingly.  Have some lights connected to a dimmer switch and others florescent and you will save money on electricity, particularly since kids leave the lights on in the house.  Consider a back up generator at the cost of central air, or choose one over the other because of the effects of global warming.  I wish your family a happy home. Cheers.

Answer 2

You can waste a lot of electricity on Lighting and heating. Storage heaters are good, as are florescent or LED lamps.

Answer 3

First check with your local utilities many will give free energy efficiency kits to qualifying people.  Qualifying peoiple can be anything from needing to be low income to needing to be a use of the utility.  The kits can be everything from window insulation to energy efficient light bulbs,  water companies will also sometimes supply free low flow shower and faucet heads.

Well you can seal any cracks with caulk which might let air in or out.  

Low flow shower and faucet heads reduce the amount of water you use (saves the water bill, the energy you use to heat the water, as well as any energy to get the water EG if you use a well pump)  

CFL or LED lights will reduce the energy you consume to light your house.  

For the new house you are building you can plant evergreen trees as a wind break on the northern corner of your property and deciduous trees (trees that loose their leaves) on the southern side of the house(blocks sun with their leaves in summer and sheds leaves in winter to allow sun to heat house.  The trees can have a huge impact on heating and cooling. They will also absorb CO2.

unplugging battery chargers and other electronics with those large transformers on the cords when unused they can drain a suprising amount of power even when the device is turned off.  A good tip with tvs vcrs and dvd players is to use a switch controlled power strip and after turning the devices off you can turn the power strip off.

Turn off your computer and other electronics don't just let them hibernate hibernating electronics can still use 100watts! or more also remember screen savers don't actually save any energy.

Although its expensive an energy efficient furnace can do wonders with the fuel costs we just got one and even with higher fuel prices our fuel bill has been cut in half.

You can also check out on demand water heaters which heat water only when you need it so you are not heating a large tank of water all day on the off chance you want some hot water.

Recycling can not only be good for the earth but good on your wallet depending on how garbage is disposed of in your area.

Of course reusing is even better EG if your local dump has a swap shack like our dump has check it out I have seen hundreds of good things in there from tools, building supplies to toys and even new dishes that people I guess didn't like the color or something.  I'm always amazed by the amount of brand new still in the package things are there sometimes.

You could grow your own food organically its cheap, teaches kids about where food comes from and tasty.

Make your yard green by having less lawn or no lawn and using compost you make yourself from garden waste its free and makes your grass and plants healthier.  (chemical fertalizers make nutrients too easy to get meaning the roots don't grow nice and long and makes the plants large but weak and dependant on constant fertalizing and watering to stay alive.

Getting food from local farms will also cut down on the amt. of energy it takes to get the food to market and you can often find good deals if you look.

Reflective roof coatings reflect the heat in the summer and are relatively inexpensive.  

lowering the thermostat will of course save energy in the winter and of course using less A/C in the summer.

Lowering the waterheater thermostat and insulating the pipes saves energy.

using rechargable batteries especially on high energy devices will reduce waste and be more cost effective in the long run.

Although this is not so much about savng energy its something I recomend make free donations on sites like www.ecologyfund.com   www.thehungersite.com and www.care2.com the donations are free and I have seen articles in the newspaper where the donations really are doing good and are not a gimmock and you will not get adware or spam or anything by clicking on the click to donate buttons and hey its FREE!

Answer 4

Use a laptop with small solar panel - and log into Greentrust.org forums

In fact any environmental forums are a good source.

Cycle.

Shop locally,

Insulate well on the Outside of your home

Increase thermal mass of the Inside of your home

Put a big barrel of water inside your home, and an old radiator painted black on your roof inside a glass fronted box.

Pump the water down into your inside tank for nighttime warmth.

Increase your solar thermal gains - bigger windows on the sunny side. Use a shade in summer.

Eat less meat.

Recycle and buy recycled products.

Carry a canvas bag when going shopping.

Grow fruit over your home.

Read Sue Roaf's book - Ecohouse.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Wash in cold Water you save energy because yr not heating the water up E.g: Tide Cold Water, in the summer don't use the dryer and hang yr clothes outside, replace yr light bulbs with CFLs, Try to carpool or take public transit.

Answer 6

Replace your bulbs with compact fluorescent.  You'll cut your electricity bill significantly.  Instead of disposable items, reuse take-out containers, china, reusable coffee mugs, etc.  Also, purchase reusable grocery bags.  Recycle everything you can. Compost your food scraps!  Join free-cycle (check it out at www.freecycle.com), grow a garden, even if it is on your window seal. For your new home, look into blue jean insulation by bonded logic.  Bamboo floors are cool since bamboo is a renewable resource.  If you can, look into solar panels. If you are really adventurous, check out the compostable toilet!

Answer 7

Seek out cracks that are letting outside air in.  Penetrations such as water pipes to outside faucets, and vents for things such as dryers or stoves are a good place to look.  Seal them with appropriate materials (caulk for low temperature areas, insulation for high temperature areas).  Weatherstrip doors.

Use compact fluorescent bulbs for lighting.  LEDs are still awfully expensive.

Get a programmable thermostat that turns heating down at night, and, if no one is  home during the day, then also.

Manage window coverings to let the Sun warm the place when appropriate.

Answer 8

how, im nto sure, but you could try looking at a small solar panel. i knwo it has been done before.

also, use florecent and LED lights (they have a longer life and dont use as much power).

also, if you dont have to rely on heat, dont. if you can stay just was warm with a few more blankets, do that. its cheaper and uses less reasources.

and remeber, always recycle.

i admire that you want to became as green as possible. the world would be a better place if more people thought like that.

Answer 9

The inexpensive quick payback items will be anything that helps to keep air from leaking through.  About 30% of heat use is attributed to heated air blowing out the multitudes of small holes in houses.  I haven't seen an study that relates to mobile homes though.

Concerning new construction. The energy use areas that seem to be most overlooked are  1) Advanced Framing, 2) minimizing air leaks by various construction methods.

Most other issues will be an economic and location specific trade off.   There are lots of resources on the internet from various government outfits and energy providers.  So far, for modeling and choosing alternatives the best web site I have seen is: http://hes.lbl.gov/