These days being environmentally friendly is all the rage and we say: it’s about time. There are lots of ways to “go green.” One of the best is to use alternative and renewable sources of energy.

The easiest way to do that is to work with a utility provider that supplements “traditional” power. Some utility companies will also have programs that you can join that send only power sourced via alternative and renewable options. You can search them out through tools like albertaenergyproviders.com.

Of course, there are other things that you can do to integrate alternative and renewable energy into your daily life. Even solar power which is something that most Alberta residents believe is a pipe-dream because of the long and dark winters that afflict this region. You might also find our previous post on Alabama solar resources helpful. Really, no matter where you live, from Alberta to Alabama and in between, learning about solar energy and how to use it in your home is important.  Still, here are things you can do:

1. Literally use the sun.

Put your furniture—particularly furniture on which you work or read—as close to your house’s windows as possible. This will help you utilize natural light for as long as possible during the day before you have to turn on lamps.

In the summertime, use the sun to help you grow a garden. Grow fruits and veggies that you can preserve (like pears, peaches, berries) or that will keep for long periods of time in cooler or dark places (like potatoes). Grow spices and herbs that you can dry in bulk. This way you’ll still be able to have home grown fruit and veggies in the winter and spice and season your food with homegrown elements. It will save you money and reduce the number of times you have to visit the store.

2. Solar Power That Is Easy to Integrate

Buy solar powered battery chargers and pay the extra money to upgrade them. Use these chargers for your phones, mp3 players and even laptops or tablet computers. This reduces the amount of “traditional” energy that you use which helps you reduce your power bills by quite a lot.

Use solar powered bulbs for your outdoor lighting. These bulbs operate sort of the same way that glow in the dark stickers work: they spend all day powering up in natural light so that they can shine in the dark. These lights will usually last all night—or, at the very least, only start to peter out as the sun is starting to rise.

3. Solar Panels: No longer the size of a skyscraper

Solar panels are famous for being large, expensive and difficult to install. Today, though, there are lots of different sizes and styles of solar panels. You can have the panels installed on your roof, which is the most space saving measure. If you can’t afford that type of work, though, there are solar panels that sit in a base outside of your home. They look kind of like tower fans.

Always have a professional install your solar panels, no matter how many or what kind you want to put in.

These are three ways to integrate solar power into your everyday life. As time goes on the number of ways you can use the sun to power up your life will only get bigger.