The Lazy Homeowner's Guide to LIVING GREEN

It's shockingly easy to make your home radically more earth-friendly, says editor in chief of Business of Home Kaitlin Petersen. All it requires is creative thinking and a little commitment.

- Kaitlin Petersen

Conserve Energy:

Swap your lightbulbs. New energy efficiency standards will phase out the sale of incandescent bulbs by 2023—so get on the LED train. (They now come in dimmable soft white!) Cree Lighting, Feit Electric, and Philips offer straightforward swaps.

Use the sun more strategically. “Think about which rooms have the most sunlight,” says New York designer Gala Magriñá—and then rearrange the furniture to take advantage of it. Also, make sure your windows are letting in as much natural light as possible; for starters, Margiñá suggests fixing any faulty shades and keeping the glass clean.

Connect your heating and cooling system to an app. Thanks to smart thermostats by brands like Google Nest, Ecobee, and Honeywell, and apps like Flair or Ambi Climate, you really can set it and forget it. Magriñá calls it “putting a healthy home on autopilot.”

Choose energy-efficient appliances. Designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an Energy Star certification specifically denotes that the consumer will recoup any additional upfront cost of the appliance in energy savings over time.

Replace old windows. Even small cracks can let in hot air during warmer months and bitter cold in the winter— undermining the energy and money you’re expending on climate control. In addition to stopping drafts, new windows can also be installed with low-emissivity (aka “low-e”) glass, which helps prevent sunlight from heating up the room.