CONSERVE WITHOUT REALLY TRYING

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Retailing at around $500 more than conventional washers, these front-loading H-axis machines are one of the best conservation investments on the market. Before your heart stops at the prospect of spending that amount of money on such a simple appliance, consider the following. Instead of filling a tub of water and using an agitator to move clothing around, Haxis machines have an inner perforated drum that contains the laundry, and an outer drum that contains the wash water — as little as half the amount of water needed to fill a comparable vertical-axis washer. Clothes are lifted and fall into the wash water, efficiently cleansed and rinsed by water forced through the clothing fibers. Drying times are shorter because the drum spins upwards of 900 rpm, extracting most of the water from the load before it goes in the dryer. Water consumption is cut by 30% to 50%, and power to heat the water and to dry laundry is cut by 50% to 65%.

You don't need a calculator to figure out that the extra $500 you paid up front will be more than offset by dramatically reduced operating expenses. There are a number of H-axis models on the market, with various bells and whistles. The numbers to look for are the capacity (compare with your old one), water usage per load, and spin speed (the higher the rpm, the shorter the dryer time). Maytag's Neptune model is one of the best, with the largest capacity of any residential machine and an 800 rpm spin speed.

The second best conservation investment you can make is high-efficiency, compact fluorescent lighting. If the words "fluorescent lighting" make you wince, you should know that the industry has come a long, long way since the flickering blue glare of a 70s era hospital waiting room. The new breed of compact fluorescents (CFLs) have the same pleasant color spectrum as incandescent bulbs, no noticeable flicker, and still save you about $64 per year, per bulb — even after accounting for the added up-front expense of a pricier bulb. You don't need those ugly four-foot long tube fixtures, either. CFLs screw into your existing lamps just like incandescents, and if you're in the market for hard-wired CFL fixtures, hundreds of decorator styles are available — there are even CFL torchieres that are safer and more energy-efficient than halogens. Changing light bulbs isn't as glamorous as saving baby seals, but the impact is just as real, measurable in fossil fuels not burned and energy dollars not spent.

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