Greening the home--from low effort to high tech
A California start-up recently announced plans to manufacture "net zero-energy homes," a term that is starting to enter the national vocabulary. But what if you don't plan on buying a new home anytime soon?
It is true that it's far easier to make new construction green than to retrofit existing homes. At the same time, residential energy use is only expected to climb, as we fill our homes with more electronic gadgets and, most likely, as energy prices trend upward.
So how do you keep your energy bills under control and lighten the environmental footprint of your home?
For most of us, it will be a mix the low tech--insulating, air sealing, changing our habits--and high tech--solar panels, smart grid appliances, and LED lighting.
To run through some of your options, we offer this photo gallery with room-by-room advice and recommendations ranging from low effort to high effort. The best place to start is to schedule an energy audit, which will help you forge a plan.
For previous green home coverage, see:
Martin LaMonica is a senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog. He started at CNET News in 2002, covering IT and Web development. Before that, he was executive editor at IT publication InfoWorld. E-mail Martin. 
You can overcome this via a pre-heater, for a "high system" you connect the solar water heater to the "instant" via a heat exchanger in a storage tank...
Also if you do need a dishwasher, get one of the models that has a built in water heater...
- by Dan_DHRT September 29, 2009 1:24 PM PDT
- We have what we refer to as an Un-Official Guide to Home Energy and Water Conservation with 500+ suggestions we have collected from lots of folks ( > 500) in ways they use in their own homes.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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- by screamapillar September 29, 2009 9:55 PM PDT
- Cheers - thanks Martin and Dan_DHRT :)
- Like this
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(4 Comments)http://dailyhomerenotips.com/energy-conservation/
It can be accessed for free per the above.
Sure, there are some duplicates; it is more of a checklist that folks can go through to see what makes sense for their own situation since everyone's own residential situation is unique to them (geographic area, climate, # family members, size / shape / direction of home, etc., etc.)
I hope this helps some; it has helped us.