One way to become environmentally friendly is to make minor energy saving changes in your home. Having a home energy audit can help to pinpoint areas where you are being wasteful and give you suggestions on what you can change.

The first thing they'll do is interview home owner to get demographics of the home. What appliances do you have and how often do you use them? The technicians will then do a walk through of your home to see where you may need to make changes.

There are behavioral changes, like changing your thermostat settings. Experts say if you run your thermostat at 75 and turn it down to 72 you can save 9-10% on your bill.

And there are mechanical changes which can be as simple as changing the type of lightbulbs you use to a compact florescent light bulbs or CFL's. The rule of thumb is to use 1/4-th the wattage of what you're replacing. You can also try a low flow shower head. Many heads pump 3-4 gallons per minute a low flow pumps 2 1/2. This can alleviate the stress on your hot water heater and save you some money.

These changes are easy to make and only take a few minutes. while they may only save you a few cents here and there...they're worth it. Daniel Schulenburg a Home Audit Technician says "Every extra kilowatt used is pollution. If it's not coming from your home it's generated at the power plant. It's obvious the less killowattage you use the less pollution you generate."

There are other not so visible things to check like air leaks at the doors, windows and your heating and air conditioning system. Schulenburg recommends taping the seams along your furnace (if it's in the garage) because it could be sucking cold air from the garage and making it work harder.

Changing the filters in your cold air return vents on a monthly basis can help ease the load on your heating system too. But if you have pets you may want to change it more often. The problem is when these vents get clogged the blower has to work harder and that means more energy is used.

Your water heater also uses a lot of power. The recommended temperature is 120 degrees but did you know insulating it could help cut costs and waste? Schulenburg says "You could have 30 to 40 feet of pipe exposed, but by insulating it, it doesn't have to work as hard to heat the water."

Many people are wasting energy in the attic and they don't even know it. In the house we audited the hatch to the attic wasn't insulated so the cold air coming in the attic was seeping out.

Kentucky Utilities is doing it's part to make a difference by being the first company in the nation to give customers their carbon footprint on their monthly bill.