ReZoom

Rezoom offers a room-by-room guide to small steps you can take to save energy and money, while helping your home leave a lighter mark on the planet.

Saving the planet can begin at home. Every home uses energy, puts chemicals into the environment and generates garbage nearly every day. But you don't have to install solar panels or make dramatic lifestyle changes to make a difference. Taking small steps to green up your home can have a positive impact on the earth — and on your pocketbook and health, too. With this whole-house guide to going green, you can make just one change today, to protect tomorrow.

Front Entryway
Seal and insulate doors and windows. The entrance to your home may be a heat-loss hotspot. "If you can't afford to have an installer update your insulation, weather-strip and caulk around doors, windows and anywhere you have ductwork or joints," says Paul McRandle, editor of The Green Guide, a publication of the Green Guide Institute, which helps consumers make educated choices and changes that help the environment.

According to the Environmental Defense Fund, "Whenever you save energy – or use it more efficiently – you reduce the demand for gasoline, oil, coal and natural gas. Less burning of these fossil fuels means lower emissions of carbon dioxide, the major contributor to global warming. Right now the U.S. releases about 40,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per person each year."

Just by sealing your entryways, "It could save you 639 pounds of carbon dioxide just from natural gas heating, 462 pounds from electric heating and 226 pounds from your AC use," according to McRandle.

Living Room
Install compact fluorescent light bulbs. "If you use that bulb two hours a day for a year, you'll cut your emissions by 55 pounds. If you replace five bulbs you can save about half the money you save on your energy bill," says McRandle.

Install honeycomb shades or thermal curtains. If you can't replace leaky older windows, many types of window treatments can significantly reduce the transfer of heat and cold through windows.

Tend a plant. Houseplants not only beautify your home, they help clean and filter indoor air.

Kitchen
Replace your old refrigerator. "Older fridges use huge amounts of energy," McRandle says. "Getting a new Energy Star refrigerator can cut your energy use in half. Don't put [the old fridge] in the basement or give to someone else. It's such a huge energy draw it's not worth keeping going."

Compost your food scraps. Reduce the amount of waste you send to the landfill, and boost your garden soil with nutrient-rich compost.

Choose earth-friendly cleansers. Good old vinegar and baking soda can clean most things, and earth-friendly alternatives minimize your exposure to chemicals, and cut the amount of petroleum and other chemicals that end up in our waterways.

Bathroom
Install a low-flow toilet and a low-flow or pulse showerhead. These devices will reduce your water use.

Turn down the water heater three degrees (to 120 degrees). You won't notice such a small difference, until you see your heating bill.

Buy toilet paper with recycled content. Buy recycled paper products throughout your home whenever possible.

Bedroom
Throw a wool blanket on the bed, and turn the heat down a few degrees at night. For every two degrees you lower the thermostat, you prevent 500 pounds of CO2 per year from being put into the atmosphere. You'll sleep better and cut your heating bill significantly.

Replace mothballs with cedar. Mothballs contain naphthalene, a harmful chemical that accumulates in the environment and harms red blood cells.

Basement
Replace the filter on your furnace or air conditioner. It will run more efficiently, and your indoor air quality will improve.

Wrap your water heater in an insulating jacket. This will prevent heat loss, saving money and up to 1,000 pounds of CO2 emissions a year.

Office
Cut off "phantom loads." Many printers, computers, and office devices draw electricity even when they are off. Move these "phantom loads" to a power strip that can be turned off when not in use.

Laundry Room
Buy green laundry soap. Conventional laundry detergent is a petroleum product. Even if you commit to buying just one bottle of a natural soap a year, you can keep a gallon of chemicals out of the environment and away from your skin.

Back Yard
Landscape for nature. Plant trees and bushes to shade your home from the hot sun, and buffer it from cold winds, reducing your need to heat and cool it. Plus, a typical tree can absorb 1/3 ton of C02.

Eliminate your yard service. Yard services make your lawn dependent on chemicals that harm waterways and wildlife and pose an immediate health risk to pets and children on your property.

Use a hand mower. Today's push mowers are lightweight and highly effective and make short work of a small yard without using gas or electricity.

Garage
Park the car. The single most important thing a person can do for the planet is to take light rail, a bus, or walk or bike instead of driving," says McRandle.

Most people aren't ready to give up their cars, so start by changing a light bulb – just one can make a difference. "We like to think in terms of incremental change," says McRandle. "We don't ask people to change the way they live, but rather to change the way they think about how they live, and make the small changes that over time make a big difference."

At ReZoom, one of the ways we want to help build a better world is by being kinder to the earth. Check in for regular tips and ideas on making your life and home more environmentally friendly.