Orange Door Properties wants to let you know that orange is the new green, so here are a few tips for how you can easliy be part of the global solution, without spending too much of your green. Click on an item to learn more about it and how to put it into action.

We just became certified as an EcoBroker, so we’re learning more and more about ways to make your new home--or your old home!--more environmentally friendly and energy efficient. We'll keep you posted.

Things That Cost Nothing and Save $$

• Turn down water heater thermostats as appropriate
• Turn off lights when leaving a room
• Use energy-saving settings on washing machines, clothes dryers, dishwashers, and refrigerators
• Avoid wasting water, hot or cold, inside or outside your home
• Air-dry your clothes, when practical
• Close heating vents in unused rooms
• Close drapes (and windows) during sunny summer days and after sunset in the winter
• Clean your air conditioner's and refrigerator's condenser coils once a year
• Repair your leaky faucets and your running toilets (5 percent of water "use" is leakage)
  Did you know a leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons of water per day?
• Practice green landscaping
  
  • Consider a push-mower: lawn mower engines contribute 93 times more smog-forming emissions than new cars, providing more than 2 percent of the smog-forming pollution from all engines.
  • Native plants usually require less water and care than non-natives, and many California natives are drought-tolerant.
  • Consider alternatives to a lawn--which guzzles water and requires constant care--such as ground-cover plants.
  • Get rid of pests without using chemicals.
  • Visit the EPA's web site for more tips on green landscaping.
• Go to Earth 911 for more ideas.

Simple and Inexpensive Things That Will Pay for Themselves in Less Than a Year

• Install a water-saving 2.5-gallon-per-minute showerhead ($15)
• Install water-efficient faucet heads for your kitchen and bathroom sinks ($2 each)
• Install a programmable thermostat ($26)
• In the attic and basement, plug the air leaks a cat could crawl through
• Replace and reputty broken window panes (about $20)
• Clean or change the air filter on your warm-air heating system during winter and on air conditioning units in the summer ($2)
• Install an R-7 or R-11 water heater wrap ($12)
• Insulate the first three feet of hot and inlet cold water pipes ($6)
• Install compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) in the fixtures you use the most ($4 each)
  Incandescent light bulbs convert approximately 90% of the energy they consume into heat (compared to 30% for a CFL.) CFLs use 1/4 of the power of an equivalent incandescent lamp, thereby saving significant amounts of energy, up to $30 per year for each bulb! CFLs last 10 times as long as incandescent bulbs.
• Check out econoheaters for inexpensive space heating (costs about 3¢ vs. 45¢ per hour of use) ($60)
• Discover what Europeans have used for years: tankless, on-demand water heaters.

Green Power Sources

• Learn how to buy green power or look at PG&E's new green power program.
• Explore the possibilities of solar power. Also look here and here.
• Peruse a database of state incentives (read: tax credits) for renewable energy.
• Luminalt designs, installs, and maintains premium solar electric, solar hot water, and wind generation systems for residential, commercial, and non-profit customers in the Bay Area.

Energy-saving improvements for the long term

• Are you altering or remodeling your home or kitchen? Use rapidly renewable products or sustainably-grown wood for new cabinetry and flooring.
  • BioBased Spray Foam Insulation: soy-based polyurethane sprayable insulation; does not release microfiber particles like fiberglass (800-803-5189)
  • UltraTouch Natural Cotton Fiber Insulation: made of recycled denim and other fabrics; releases no airborne particles (480-812-9114)
  • Fusiotherm: PVC-free, polypropylene plastic pipes that require no glue.
  • Environ Biocomposites Manufacturing: durable Environ Biocomposite recycled newsprint, Dakota Burl sunflower hull and BIOFIBER Wheat composite boards (800-324-8187)
  • Plexwood: formaldehyde-free, low-VOC composite building boards made from a variety of woods harvested under EU guidelines.
  • Richlite: countertops made from paper and hemp fiber (888-383-5533)
  • COVERINGS ETC specializes in sourcing sustainable eco-friendly bio-architectural materials for innovative design surface solutions.

• Do you need new flooring? Use rapidly renewable flooring materials that are durable and affordable, materials made from trees and grasses that mature in half the time of hardwoods, such as bamboo, cork, and eucalyptus. Here's one local source for information.
  • Eco Timber: FSC-certified and reclaimed wood flooring; the company's HealthyBond adhesive is virtually VOC-free (7 grams per liter), and many of the products are formaldehyde-free. Pre-finished floors are UV cured at the factory to further decrease VOCs (415-258-8454).
  • Duro Design: bamboo, cork, oak and eucalyptus flooring with low-VOC finishes (888-528-8518)
  • Shaw Industries: modular carpet featuring PVC-free, recycled-fiber EcoWorx backing (www.shawfloors.com, 800-441-7429)
  • Eco-Friendly Flooring: funky 100-percent recycled aluminum, brass or glass tiles for floors, walls and ceilings (866-250-3273)
  • Sisalcarpet.com: natural-fiber rugs and carpets made from seagrass, hemp, jute, coir (from coconut husks), wool blends and even paper (877-757-4725)
  • Dodge-Regupol: ECOsurfaces recycled rubber flooring line (866-883-7780)

• Are you repainting your home? Improve your air quality by switching to paint products that don't give off "volatile organic compounds" (VOCs), or using other wall coverings. Low-VOC paints are offered by most major paint companies.
  • Auro Paint: mineral- and plant oil-based paints that utilize rosemary, eucalyptus, castor and linseed (888-302-9352)
  • American Clay: New Mexico-made attractive natural-clay plaster alternative to cement, gypsum, acrylic and lime (866-404-1634)
  • Sina Pearson: recycled fabrics for use as funky wallpaper or decorative wall hangings (212-366-1146)
  • Maharam: stylish interior textiles made with natural fibers and/or recycled content (800-645-3943)
  • Mio: textured "3D" wallpaper made from recycled paper; can be applied with double-stick tape.
  • Innovations: Innvironments cotton, hemp, paper and cellulose wall coverings.

• Sustainable Spaces can perform a three-hour comprehensive analysis of your home, quantitatively measuring how it performs as a system. You receive a detailed report, with practical cost-effective steps to make your home healthier, more comfortable and energy efficient.

• ecohome Improvement is a great East Bay resource for all your home remodeling needs. They sell 100% no-VOC paint, a high quality low-VOC exterior paint, flooring, and custom and semi-custom cabinetry. They can match most major-brand paint colors and will custom match anything else for $5.

• For more suggestions, see the new Product Directory at The Green Guide.

• Visit State of Green Real Estate to learn more about green real estate.