Green living has become increasingly important in the beginning of the twenty first century. For thousands of years the human kind has been consistently destroying the natural habitat, to the point of endangering our life on the planet.
Many people are aware of the consequences of pollution or are wondering what is going to happen when the oil reserves run out completely. What is the future of our planet is a very important question.
However, not many people know that their everyday choices can make a difference.
This guide provides some quick tips on how to make your home greener:

• First and foremost, by simply replacing three incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs, you eliminate 300 lbs of carbon dioxide.
  
• By recycling just half of all the plastic, aluminum, paper and glass, reduces 2400 lbs of CO2.
• By installing a simple ceiling fan or a whole house fan, reduces the need for air-conditioning at 1/10 price.
• The use of water to flush toilets is one of the biggest wasters. If you purchase a low flow toilet, you can save around 22.000 gallons of water per year for a family of four.
  
• By using green paints, the no-VOC (Volitile Organic Compounds) or low VOC paints that can eliminate eye, throat and nose irritation and other severe health threats.
• purchase energy star refridgerators and other appliances to save on energy use, up to 1000 lbs of CO2 per year.
• When you wash COOL, or warm, but not in hot water, and hang clothes to dry instead of dryer machine, you save 500 lbs of carbon dioxide per year
  
• Turn your heater down by three degrees and your air conditioner up by three degrees and save 1050 lbs of carbon dioxide a year.
• When you build a new house, build green using green materials and install solar energy panels. The biggest energy saver- from 1000-6000 lbs of CO2.
• And finally purchase the green power from a company and prevent 3800- 6200 lbs of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.

By checking off the list points to improve the health of the planet you are also improving your own health. By building green, you are joining a new sustainable green living movement in architecture, that is not only a trend but a way of living in the twenty first century. Sustainable green living is also the only answer to what happens when we run out of traditional energy sources.

*sustainable- able to sustain itself for an extended period of time or indefinitely without artificial, man made supply of energy.
** the data has been compiled from different "green" sources