Earth Day: Top 5 best ways to Green your home for less

Mon, Apr 20, 2009

You recycle your plastics and air dry your dishes, but is your home as eco-friendly as it can be?

In honor of Earth Day, we polled our Trulia Voices community of over 350,000 professionals across the US to share their top three tips on what green or eco-friendly changes add the most value to a home - without breaking the bank.

Surprisingly, many of the most popular fixes are relatively easy and do-it-yourself-type improvements. Below are the top 5 tips from Trulia experts, along with examples and an assessment of the costs, in terms of immediate out-of-pocket financial cost (labor, parts, etc.).

earth-day-chart1

And what we heard was pretty refreshing:
1) The first step to making your home more eco-friendly or green comes down to taking advantage of your local environment (i.e. avoid cooling when it’s hot outside, use natural/local products).
2) The best eco-friendly changes balance short-term cost with long-term gains. Our experts preferred improvements with clear benefits to home value and low-to-medium cost – such as ways to reduce your heating bills.
3) Green improvements don’t have to cost an arm and a leg – from radiant floor heat to simply adding foam insulation – providing evidence that home owners can make green improvements at nearly any price range.

And of course, what would a “Greening Your Home” blog post be without great examples, from double-paned windows to radiant floor heat.

Here are our favorites - from economical, do-it-yourself upgrades to fancier improvements for the more cost-indifferent.

Fav #1: Energy Star certified appliances - Earth Advantage certified home

Portland, OR
$252,500 / 4bd / 2.5ba / 1,860 sqft