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Consider: Area Rugs, Bamboo Flooring, Carpet Installation, Carpeting, Ceramic Flooring, Cork Flooring, Floor Repair, Flooring Installations, Flooring Structure, Hard Wood Flooring, Install Wood Flooring, Kitchen Design and Renovation, Laminate Flooring, Marble, Terrazzo, and Stone Flooring, Radiant Floor Heat, Rubber Flooring, Tile Floor, and Vinyl Flooring.

The new generation of Eco-friendly flooring gives you a lot of options. Here are 5 sample materials for you to review:

1. Bamboo - Bamboo is technically a woody grass and grows very quickly.

Consider: Garage Cabinets and Storage, Garage Door Openers, Garage Doors, Garage Floor Paint and Coatings, Garage Floors, Walls and Ceilings, Garage Organization, and Garage Remodeling Plans.

Take it to the next level and Green Up Your Garage

If your garage is still full of used automotive fluids, pesticides and chemicals, and still sports a drafty old door and little insulation, your garage just isn't as green as it could be. First, clean out the garage. It will be hard to launch green habits in a cluttered, disorganized environment.

Consider: Home Foundation Repair, Home Repair Costs, Home Repairs Yourself, Replacing Filters and Seasonal Tune-ups, and Water Damage.

A heating system tune-up is a great way to help reduce energy costs. Heating and cooling account for about 40% of a homes energy use, so a professional tune-up can go a long way to make a difference.

Consider: Hot Tub Buying and Installation, Hot Tub Gazebo, Jacuzzi Hot Tubs, Round Hot Tubs, Solar Hot Tubs, Spa, and Spa Covers.

The non-toxic revolution begins with you.

Introducing chlorine or bromine into your hot tub may not seem like a major crime against nature. But the problem isn't just you. There are more than 6.3 million hot tubs in the United States alone, producing nearly 20 billion tons of environmentally-harmful wastewater.

Consider: Garden Sheds and Outdoor Storage, Gazebos, Greenhouse Effect, Greenhouses, Hot houses, and Patio Enclosures.

To go green, go local for materials and services.

When it comes to wood:
REUSE - If you want the look of wood, you can always consider the ‘REUSE’ path by sourcing salvaged barn materials and cutting the siding or floor stock down to size.

NEW - For ‘new’ wood go with FSC certified lumber.

Consider: Arbors, Composite Material Fences, Fence Installation and Maintenance, Garden Walls, Invisible Fences, Metal Fences, Ornamental Fences, Picket Fences, Privacy Fence, Retaining Walls, Trellis, Vinyl Fences, and Wood Fences.

For great looking and eco-friendly fencing you have several solid options:

Fences from real wood:
REUSE - If you want the look of wood, you can always consider the ‘REUSE’ path by sourcing salvaged barn materials and cutting the siding or floor stock down to size.

Consider: Microclimate, Regional Climate, Shading, Water Conservation, and Windbreaks.

Climate change is literally ‘changing the map’. When it comes to ‘plant hardiness’ rethink the old approach. The old climate characteristics of North Carolina are now mare applicable to Northern Virginia and Virginia is now more applicable to Maryland. Think of it as a one state shift up.

Home gardeners typically get a good feel for the plants that grow best on their property.

1. Green your grill - Conventional charcoal burns dirty and produces greenhouse gases. If you have a charcoal grill, look for organic or natural lump brands. Natural gas is the most energy-efficient; however, infrared grills are the greenest as they heat quickly, use the least energy, and use less gas than regular gas grills.
   
   
2. Avoid toxic materials - Grills made of cast iron or stainless steel are the safest because they remain non-toxic at any temperature. Watch out for models made from chrome-coated aluminum, which can become toxic if the aluminum oxidizes.

Consider: Back Yard Sports Equipment, BBQ Grills and Built-Ins, Firepits, Hammocks, Outdoor Fireplaces, Outdoor Play Sets, Patio Furniture Maintenance, Patio Umbrellas, Porch Swings, Swing Sets, and Tree Forts.
Play sets and BBQ grilling are two of the most popular backyard activities:

Outdoor Play Sets
The most eco-friendly approach is to use leftover construction materials from your own home or a neighbor’s property. Over 25% of landfill waste is from construction debris, so the more that you can ‘reuse’ the better.

In the quest for reduced utility bills at individual homes and energy independence across the national stage, we are increasingly seeing the opportunities to go green, but the challenge is more often in funding the ‘vision’. At the Federal level, ‘borrowing’ money and increasing our national debt is perhaps inevitable, but homeowners do not have the same luxury to print money.