Table of Contents
   Foreword: Making Up Your Mind to Be Energy Efficient--Why It's Right for You
   What You Need to Know about Carbon Footprints
   Some Common Misconceptions
   Where the Energy Goes (includes charts and tables)YourCarbon Footprint
   How Much Energy Is Too Much?
   Reducing Your Carbon Footprint
   Introduction: Making Your House an Efficient Home
   Types of Renewable EnergyWhat Is an Efficient Home?
   All the Shades of Green
   LEED Certification and Other Confusing Terms
   Assessing Your Needs
      Doing an Energy Audit
      Better Ways to Heat and Cool Your Space
      Realistic Uses for Renewable Energy/ Sidebar: Pay a Small "Green Fee"--for Renewable Energy
      Offsetting Your Travel
      Detoxing Your Home/Sidebar: Peace Plants: A Breath of Fresh Air
   Choosing the Right Materials
      Walls & Ceilings: Low VOC (volatile organic compounds) & nonwoods
      Floors: Recycled, renewable, & organic materials (w/ flooring chart)/ Sidebar: Why Bamboo Is for You
      Appliances: Properly fitting your space with energy-efficient appliances
      How Much Electricity Do Appliances Use?
      How to Read the EnergyGuide Label
      Your Home Office
      Save $$$ with the Flick of a Switch: Compact fluorescents and Powerstrips
      Stuff It: Plugging the holes and gaps around windows and doors (with map of sources of air leaks in your home)
      Feature: Insulating with Sheep's Wool and Other Natural Options
      Stopping the Flow: Eliminating junk and other unwanted mail and paper; buying less and getting rid of more
      Heating Clean and GreenLow-Impact Cooling
      Feature: "Paper" Houses and Other Renewable Building Materials
   Make Your Clean Green: Low-impact Cleaning Products
      Getting Clean with Less Effort and Energy
      Laundry (Box: Mite-free Living with Organic Linens)Housecleaning
      Feature: Cleaning Where You Can't See: Make Your Refrigerator, AC, Furnace, or Chimney Run Better by Cleaning ItDishwashingBath & ShowerPets
      Vacuuming versus Other Options (w/ chart)Trash & Recycling
   The Great OutdoorsnAround Your Home
      Native Vegetation: Low-upkeep Is Earth-friendly
      Birds, Bees, and Butterflies
      Vegetables and Fruits
      Flowers and Plants/Box: Worm Castings: Natural Fertilizer
      Nontoxic Pesticides (including insects)Composting
      Energy-efficient Landscaping
      Shading
      Windbreaking
      Xeriscaping (Water usage)Outdoor Lighting
      Feature: Eco-pools: Chemical-free Fun (featuring comparison chart)
   Buying Local
      The Cost of Moving Food on the Environment
      Green Tips: Bagging It/Sizing Up: If you're going to use it up anyway, get more product for less packaging/Buying local also reduces packaging
      Feature: DIY: From-scratch baking
   How Green Is Your Ride?
      Car Maintenance Tips for a Greener and Cheaper Ride
      Feature: Low-Carbon Cars: Hybrids & SMART Cars
      Ride-sharing & Public Transportation/Box: Green-transit Cities: Curitiba, Brazil & Portland, Oregon
      Human Power: Walking, Biking, Skating, Scootering
      Telecommuting: Focusing on Work Instead of How to Get There/Box: Your Home Office
   Carbon Checklist: What You Do and How You Do ItAt Home
      On the Road
      At Work or School
      On Vacation: Putting Your House on Hiatus