Easy Greening: Affordable Ways to Green Your Home

The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute certifies a wide range of IAQ-related products within the home, from construction materials to furniture. Replacing a home’s entire existing insulation or flooring with GREENGUARD-certified alternatives may not be the most budget-friendly approach to greening up the home, but selecting a healthier paint can be. Eco-Trend Corp. offers a line of indoor paints that is one of only a few to earn the GREENGUARD label. The Eco-Trend paint is made with collagen from the inner membrane of eggs, which acts as the main binding ingredient and replaces many of the harmful VOCs and heavy metals found in other paints. “Our paint is also antibacterial and releases negative ions, which both also benefit the air quality,” says Anthony Bak, sales manager and vice president of the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company. Starting at $32 a gallon, Eco-Trend’s indoor paint sits on the cheaper side of the higher-end paints but is also far less expensive than many of the competing green paints on the market, which can cost anywhere from $40 to $60 a gallon. ECO-Trend’s GREENGUARD-certified indoor paint improves a home’s indoor air quality. Inexpensive Energy Savers Energy savings are always a focal point in a green home. Purchasing Energy Star-rated appliances is an easy step to take, but it’s not necessarily the easiest on the budget. Before a homeowner considers changes to the home’s energy-consuming devices and systems, an energy audit should be completed. “Homeowners need to have a diagnostics done on the home,” says O’Brien. “For $500, an auditor can evaluate the whole home to determine where energy is being lost.” The Building Performance Institute (BPI) trains and certifies contractors to understand a home’s performance and interconnected systems. Through the institute’s Web site, a consumer can locate a BPI-accredited contractor by ZIP code and specialty (such as HVAC, Building Analyst, Shell/Envelope, etc.). Evaluating the home’s overall performance will help prioritize energy-saving steps and provide a plan toward longer-term improvements. “Addressing the building envelope is 50 percent of the battle,” says O’Brien. Free energy audits can be added to the growing list of incentives that many cities and towns have in place for green-minded homeowners. A call to the local utility companies will determine if a complementary examination of the home’s energy system is available. Sealing up the home can be an easy and inexpensive energy-saving project. The Energy Star Web site is a great resource and guide for locating and addressing a leaky or a drafty house. Replacing or adding insulation can be easy or hard on the wallet, depending on the type and amount of insulation, but sealing up air leaks might only require caulking or spray foam, which is certainly affordable. View the video “Insulating Water Heaters, Pipes and Attic Spaces” for step by step instructions. Weatherstripping is another effective and fairly inexpensive energy-saving step. DIYers will require a short list of tools (hammer, utility knife, tape measure, self-adhesive foam), and the less tool-savvy can usually turn to a weatherization contractor and have the job done for a reasonable cost. View BobVila.com’s How To Video, “Weatherstripping for Energy Savings,” for step by step instructions. If you’re still using a mercury thermostat, make the switch to a programmable replacement. The initial $100 investment can see payback in half of a heating season and can save thousands of dollars over the lifetime of the product. The electronically challenged might seek the help of an electrician for installation, though the actual process is fairly straightforward and do-able by those with even the most basic knowledge of the home’s electrical system. View BobVila.com’s How To Video, “Replacing a Mercury Thermostat with a Programmable One,” for step by step instructions. Greening up a home doesn’t happen with the snap of the fingers, but it shouldn’t require breaking the piggy bank, either. With a little time and a little money, any home can be well on its way to saving energy, water, money and the environment.

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