Eco-Smart Products for Your Timber Home

Eco Kits

Developed by Eco Hatchery, these toolkits come stocked with everything you need to gain control of your utility bills. Three types of kits are available, but the Eco Starter Kit is the most comprehensive and includes essential energy-efficiency and water-conservation products for your home. An energy monitor enables you to test the efficiency of your appliances, and an online energy roadmap gives you savings recommendations specific to your household.

Plus, you’ll get an illustrated guide that shows you how much money you can save by completing the simple activities. (A typical household can cut utility bills by up to $250!) Great for gifts, the kits also include a natural soy spa candle, a premium grade stainless-steel reusable water bottle and a reusable shopping tote. Kits start at $50. (414-332-8347; ecohatchery.com)

Inspire Slate Cool Roofing

No longer reserved for cold and sleek designs, energy-efficient accessories for the home are getting a major makeover, and the Slate Cool Roofing from InSpire is no exception. Available in nine colors (think traditional hues like Granite and Evergreen to more innovative shades like Mountain Plum and Red Cedar), the roofing uses advanced pigment technology to provide high solar reflectance, which helps to lower your roof’s surface temperature by reflecting sunlight and re-radiating heat away from the roof.

This reduces the heat transferred into your home, cutting peak cooling demand by up to 15 percent. InSpire’s cool colors also feature the same sustainability advantages of traditional InSpire Slate: manufacturing with recycled content; limited lifetime warranty; reusability and lower weight, allowing for less framing material requirement and less transportation energy. Call for pricing. (800-871-4148; inspireroofing.com)

JELD-WEN Reclaimed Windows & Doors

The idea of creating a home from sustainable materials is making its way into mainstream construction, with the new Custom Reclaimed Wood line from JELD-WEN. Made from Douglas fir that was originally used for fencing, barns, houses and factories, the reclaimed materials have been brought back to life for use as stylish windows and doors for the home.

Wood options include weathered, skip-planed and planed finishes for doors, and planed finishes for windows, giving homeowners the option to mix and match window and door styles or achieve a coordinated look. “This is the type of material that has such a unique quality of style and beauty to it, all of which highlights the original character of the wood,” says Rich Abel, JELD-WEN product marketing manager. “The reclaimed wood we use makes every window and door a truly one-of-a-kind centerpiece with an interesting story to share.” Call for pricing. (800-877-9482; jeld-wen.com)

Activent Wireless System

When it comes to saving energy – and money – on your home’s heating and cooling, it’s all about efficiency. Think about it: In a typical home, a central thermostat tells the heating or cooling system to pump air throughout the home until the desired temperature is met. However, because homes are composed of large and small rooms, each with different windows and ductwork, achieving a temperature in one room may cause another room to be over-heated or over-cooled.

By installing the Activent electronically controlled air registers in your home, you’ll be relying on a system that automatically gauges the temperature in a space and wirelessly closes the vent when the desired temperature is reached. With the vent automatically closed at the desired temperature, the heating or cooling that would have been wasted in one room is automatically redirected to the remaining rooms. Depending on how many Activents are installed in a house or office, the energy savings can be as much as 40 percent. $74.99. (888-544-6682; theactivent.com)