Home Business Ideas: Turning Your Home Office and Your House Green

When you work out of your home, and spend day after day in the same place, there are even more reasons to be green. When you’re spending all your time in one space, there is more incentive to lower your electricity bills and create a more efficient environment.
Here are four ideas to help you make a difference with your home office:

1. Take a look at your appliances. The more you take care of your appliances now, the bigger the payoff later. Clean your refrigerator’s ventilation grill. Have your boiler, furnace, air-conditioning units and clothes dryer serviced thoroughly and on a regular basis.
2. Recycle your clothes dryer exhaust. You can purchase a bypass filter from your local hardware store. It’s an 8-inch cube. With a screwdriver and the instructions by your side, you can easily install this device that will help humidify and heat the house in winter. It also will prevent lint and dust from getting into the air.
3. Invest in weatherstripping. One of the ways that you lose the most heat in your home is through air leakage. If you weatherstrip every door and window, you will see a huge difference. Also, double check possible heat loss through mail slots, mechanical chases, chimney flues and outlets on exterior walls.
4. Purchase insulating window shades. By installing these, you will keep in the heat. You will be able to open and close window shades to help heat or cool the house, depending on the season and geographical location.
   

When your office space is also your home space, it pays twofold to do what you can to save energy and be as green as you can be. Your local home improvement store will have the supplies you need, along with additional ideas to be eco-friendly.