Cheap ways to lower your energy bill

1. Turn down the temperature of your hot water heater to 115 or 120 degrees. Cost: Free

2. Change your light bulbs to compact fluorescents. Cost: $2 to $9 per bulb.

3. Caulk and weatherstrip your doors and windows. Cost: $4 to $35 for weatherstrip of various types and lengths, and $2 to $5 for a tube of caulk.

4. Install low flow showerheads and faucet aerators. Cost: $2 to $7 for a faucet aerator and $10 to $50 for a low flow showerhead.

5. Insulate your hot water pipes. Cost: $20 to $50 for foam insulation that slides over the pipes.

Source: Dave Kozlowski, www.homedepot.com, www.acehardware.com, www.1000bulbs.com, www.eartheasy.com, www.google.com/products

Caron and Steve Wenzel of Woodstock consider themselves pioneers of the green home movement in the area: Twenty years ago they were buying fluorescent light bulbs when they cost about $25 each, Caron Wenzel said.

Today, they have the bulbs all over their house. They turn off the power strips to their appliances and electronics when they're not being used, they have eight solar panels on their roof and a large portion of their yard is native plants that do not require watering.

Susan and Gilbert Tauck of Marengo may be the first family in McHenry County to install a wind turbine on their property. They also use compact fluorescent lighting, installed low-flow toilets and replaced their old windows with new ones that do not let out as much heat or cold air in or out.

The Wenzels and the Taucks are among a growing group of McHenry County residents who are making investments into their homes to save energy and money.

Dave Kozlowski, who runs a remodeling business out of his Woodstock home called Little Green Houses, has worked with both families to make their homes more environmentally friendly.

"One third of all energy used in this country is used for heating, air conditioning and power we use in our homes," Kozlowski said, making the home a good place to start when deciding where to make changes to help slow global warming and decrease energy costs.

"Most houses could easily save 20 [percent] to 30 percent of their energy bill for several hundred dollars in changes," he said.

Insulating windows and hot water pipes; using hot water conservatively; giving away old, inefficient appliances and replacing them with newer appliances; and using natural heating through south-facing windows and natural cooling with window awnings can do a lot to increase the energy efficiency of a home, Kozlowski said. And when less energy is produced, fewer greenhouse gases that add to global climate change are emitted into the air.

Caron Wenzel, who teaches environmental education in McHenry County Schools, said she predicts the lifestyles of McHenry County residents will change as a result of global warming, but she has hope for the future.

"I'm not a doom and gloom person by any stretch, and one of the reasons that we do what we do is that I think we're going to be living in a different world," she said.

"It will be dire if we don't start doing stuff, but we still have a little time to start getting things turned around."

On a windy day, the turbine quietly whirrs in the Tauck's backyard. The sound gets louder as the wind picks up. The turbine towers 70 feet in the air and is supported by four sets of cables that are tethered to the ground. On the ground next to the turbine, four solar panels point towards the southern sky.

Susan Tauck said she was interested in helping the earth, not necessarily lowering her own energy bill.

"I'm an environmental wacko sort of person," she said. "I just wanted to do something for the earth. I just feel like we're kind of making a mess as humans."

Tauck and her husband have lived on their 66-acre property north of Marengo for 35 years. With a house, a guest house and a studio built in the 1930s and 40s and electric boilers for heating, the couple had many opportunities to improve their energy efficiency.

They started by insulating the house, crawl space and basement, replacing the windows, and adding the solar panels and wind turbine. Now, they are considering replacing their electric boilers with propane.

Kozlowski said producing your own energy through wind turbines and solar panels are some of the most expensive options for decreasing your energy footprint, but residents who install the systems are eligible for rebates and tax breaks.

And investing in a system that produces energy is like paying your future energy bills in advance, at today's prices, he said.

But before deciding to spend $10,000 or more on a wind turbine or solar panels, Kozlowski recommends doing a self-audit of your energy use.

"Get to know how much energy you actually use and how it varies from time to time," Kozlowski advised. "Understand why it goes up and how much and start to figure out what you can do differently."