10 easy ways to green your home

Some of the smartest green ideas are decidedly low-tech. Fact is, the sustainable homes of the future look a lot like those of the past.

A very traditional home can become energy- and resource-efficient. When this house in Washington, D.C. was built in the 1950s, most of its windows got direct sun. But then it was remodeled to better suit D.C.'s steamy summers.

The new covered porch shelters east-facing windows from morning rays. When the sun moves west, the porch provides a shady, AC-free retreat.

The porch columns are not chemically treated to repel rot or harvested from some far-off rain forest. Instead, they're made from the naturally rot-resistant trunks of Eastern Red Cedar trees grown nearby.

NEXT: It's all about the eaves