Make Your Home a Green Home: Ways to Save Energy

In this day and age, there is plenty of talk of living “green” and helping to protect the environment.  However, you may have thought, what more can I do after recycling my paper and returning my cans and bottles?  There is still plenty!  The first step would be to install an energy-efficient furnace and an energy-efficient air conditioner.  The Bryant Evolution systems are energy-efficient.  You can easily talk to a FLAME Comfort Consultant about which energy-saving system is right for your home so you can stay comfortable all year round without paying huge energy bills.

Buying a special furnace or air conditioner isn’t the only way to be green; you can also schedule an Energy Efficiency Evaluation, which can show you where you are losing energy in your heating and cooling system.  Such as duct systems that may have holes. 
Energy Efficiency does not have to stop with just heating or cooling, An article on the website Forecast Earth by Kelly Regan lists 10 surprising things that you can recycle:
1. Vintage door knobs, radiators, windows, and mantels.  Salvage Web or Second Chance Inc. collect older architectural items and reuse them.  These are just examples of salvage and restoration companies or organizations.
2. Buy a Recycled toothbrush, and you can mail it back in a postage-paid envelope where it will be reused for plastic lumber.
3. Packing peanuts are fun to play in, but they are also recyclable! Contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers about recycling your old packing material.
4. Tennis shoes or sneakers can be turned into Nike Reuse-a-shoe, where they will be ground into the material to surface playgrounds and running tracks. If your shoes are still wearable, consider donating them to an organization like Shoe4Africa, which donates them to developing countries.  Or feel free to drop them off at an organization of your choice.
5. Wine Corks can be recycled for more than just a crafty corkboard.  Yemm & Hart uses used wine corks for floor and wall tiles.
6. Leftover motor oil can become fuel or lubricant.
7. Your old formal dresses can be turned into organizations such as the Glass Slipper Project that give teens who can’t afford things for prom free prom wear.
8. It is possible that you could be like me, and up until recently, your eye prescription changed for the worse every year.  That is a lot of pairs of old glasses.  The good news is that you can also recycle those! The Lions Club collects them and distributes them to those in need.
9. Old electronics such as computers and cell phones can be recycled at places like Best Buy.
10. Old toys can be given to places like homeless shelters and the Salvation Army.

For more information on different organizations, feel free to check out the article: http://climate.weather.com/articles/recycle021508.html?page=1