First of all, making your home more efficient and eco-friendly isn’t an “all or nothing” endeavor. Many suffer from the impression that green homes are all straw bale houses with solar panels and bearded hippies everywhere. Public perception is that making one’s house efficient and environmentally friendly is hard, expensive and not worth the effort. However, that impression is simply wrong. With growing demand, (and cutthroat oil prices) the industry has risen to the challenge. With a few simple fixes, your own home will not only be more efficient, but it will start saving you money, too.

“It’s just common sense to me,” says Fran Timbrook, senior interior designer at Charlotte’s Fine Furniture in El Paso, of adding green design to your home. “It’s like turning off the water when you are brushing your teeth. Even if you are living in a state where water is plentiful, there’s just no reason to run the water.”

“The suppliers are all jumping on the band wagon,” says Timbrook. “Everybody knows about it now. The consumers, though, still have that concept that it is going to cost them too much time and money and it’s going to look ugly.” With Timbrook’s help and a little research of our own, we put together the following list of quick fixes that are affordable and easy to make your home greener.

12. Windows are one of the largest sources of heating and cooling loss. However, while buying new windows is a good idea for those that can afford it, there are a few simple fixes you can make without replacing the entire unit. First, make sure your windows are sealed and caulked (you will know they are leaking if you hold a candle near the frame. If it flickers, you’ve got some caulking or weather-stripping to do). Next, apply a good window film (like Vista) and buy cellular shades (blinds that have honeycomb insulation can help save heating and cooling costs).

11. Conserve water. Each day, a typical bathroom for four sucks away 260 gallons of water. Toilets alone account for 40 percent of our water use. Showers and faucets for 35 percent. Ouch. Low-flush and dual-flush toilets are now widely available and will cut down on water use. Also, a toilet dam (basically a device that keeps some water in the tank when you flush is an easy fix if you don’t want to buy a new one. In the shower, look at more efficient shower heads and steam shower options.

10. Look at your water heater. Today, there are practical, instant-hot units and tankless water heaters that are much more efficient and will save on your energy costs. A tankless water heater is basically a box of coils that heat the water the instant it is turned on (as opposed to keeping in warm all the time in a big tank the way antiquated models do). They do require a high water pressure in order to work properly, so check with a professional before installing. Instant-hot units are installed directly below or above sinks and heat water on an as-needed basis. Surprisingly, these only cost a fraction more than a conventional unit. At the very least, get a water heater jacket, available at most hardware stores for $20.

9. Lighting. It has been forecasted that you will not be able to buy conventional lightbulbs in the near future. Instead, the world will move to compact florescent lighting. Replacing just six lightbulbs can save you $35 a year. If you don’t like the quality of the light, install colored shades that make it fit your taste.

8. Install hardwood instead of carpet. Off-gassing from carpeting releases toxins into the air (in your home, where your kids are playing). According to Global Green USA, many carpets have Dioxin, the most potent carcinogen known to science, and a host of other bad chemicals in them. Hardwood, on the other hand, is, uh, made out of good ol’ trees (which have been linked to being pretty, not cancer). So long as your wood is Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified, you know it is coming from a sustainable source, too. (And really, unless you are the owner of a cheap apartment complex, no one really likes carpet anyway.)

7. If you are remodeling and need new kitchen or bathroom cabinets and countertops, Timbrook suggests salvaging what you can from your existing units, so it doesn’t all end up in the waste dump. If you do have new cabinets done, make sure they are made without the use of formaldehyde. A lot of cabinetry and furniture is being made in China, where they use formaldehyde. In general, be sure to use FSC certified wood and consider using natural products when possible.

6. Buy green energy. El Paso Electric, like most electric companies everywhere, offers renewable energy alternatives for about $2 more a month. Basically, this is just energy that is derived from sustainable sources – like wind fields, solar panels, etc. – with none or very little of the harmful emissions found in traditional electric power (which is derived instead from burning fossil or nuclear fuels that leaves harmful particles in the air). Read more at: www.epelectric.com and click on “renewable energy” or call 915.543.5970.

5. Ask yourself this question: How much space do you really need? Do you and your spouse and 2.5 children really need to live in a castle? “We really need to consider how much space we need and how we live,” says Timbrook. Once you determine how much space you will really use, limit your building envelope to that size.

When that is done, look at how you can orient your house to maximize the heating effects of the sun in the winter, while using awnings to keep it cool in the summer (this is called passive solar design).

4. Buy new appliances. Appliances built before 1990 are energy hogs and new Energy Star models are at least 40 percent more effecient. New refrigerators use 75 percent less electricity (upgrading will save more than $100 a year). Also, don’t use your dishwasher until it is full. Wash your clothes in cold water and hey, try out a clothesline, which dries your clothes…for free.

3. Don’t buy bottled water. When designing your kitchen, make room for a filtration system. Tap water has been getting a bad rap lately, even though it is better regulated than bottled water production. Somehow, a marketing genius thought to sell us something we had been getting for free, in small non-biodegradable plastic bottles, for about a buck a pop. And now, we consume roughly 70 billion of these bottles a day, with about 22 billion of them clogging our landfills every year. Here’s a better idea, instead of buying a palatte of disposable water bottles, install a water filter and use reusable bottles (like nalgenes). Or check out www.newwaveenviro.com for corn-based water bottles, that will biodegrade, and have built in filters which allow them to be reused 90 times.

2. When buying products, look for trusted certifications. Make sure your appliances have an Energy Star label. Make sure wood is FSC certified. For adhesives, paints, insulation and pretty much everything else, look for Green Seal (www.greenseal.org), GreenGuard (www.greenguard.org) or Scientific Certification Systems (www.scscertified.com) markings to ensure they are low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds) and will be safe for you and your family.

Ask questions. Check up on the companies you are buying supplies from and make sure they are making products in line with your desires. Try to buy regionally (which in regard to building materials can mean buying from your own backyard, or at least limiting your purchases to items that are made in the United States, as opposed to being shipped in from China or elsewhere).

1. Don’t be intimidated. Ask for help. Consult the U.S. Building Green Council at www.usgbc.org, or visit www.buildinggreen.com or www.greendepot.com and get help with larger projects. Working with a qualified design consultant or expert in the field will shorten the process of determining what can be done easily in your home and what meets your needs, and will also offer their perspectives on making your home livable for all age groups and what can be done to make it efficient. “To be a responsible designer, I think you have to think of those things,” says Timbrook. “It [green design] can be adapted very easily in today’s world. Just do it step by step.”