Giving back is about making the planet greener by putting energy back into the grid by generating your own power or by literally greening your property with sustainable plant growth or better yet both! Here are some ideas on both.

SOLAR POWER

Solar power is well suited to most homes, whether in the city or not. The most important thing you need to generate solar power when the sun is up is a clear view of the sun. Here are the basics of what you need:

• A south facing roof slope or
• An area on your property that gets good sun all day
• No shade for most, if not all of the day
• Space of about 70 square feet for each  kilowatt of power you want to generate

HOW IT WORKS

If you're a do it yourselfer or would prefer to have a professional help you plan and install your solar panels, we have listed a number of reputable companies to choose from. The first step is to decide how much power you want to generate and how many solar panels you can afford. A basic rule of thumb is 1  kilowatt of power is about $8,000 CDN. The good news is in Ontario, the  Green Energy Act mandates that the Ontario Government will buy power from you for $0.802 per  kw/h. Put simply, if your solar array produces 1 kilowatt for a conservative 5.6 hours per day for 280 days (some days are cloudy, although the panels will generate power when it's cloudy) you will earn about $1,300 per year, meaning your panels will take about 6 years to pay themselves back. With a guaranteed 20 year contract with the government, you'll make about $18,000 per installed kilowatts on your roof. Not a bad investment!

SMALL WIND TURBINES

Small wind is good in rural environments or in areas that will allow you to erect  guy-wire supported towers to a height of about 100 feet. Small turbines range in output from 500 watts to 3kw and while handy, aren't as predictable or reliable as solar. Wind is an intermittent energy resource, and unlike solar panels, wind turbines have moving parts that need regular maintenance and eventual replacing.

GREENING YOUR PROPERTY

The key aspect of greening your property is to make it green. Beautiful lawns, ironically aren't all that green, as nice as they are to look at. Long grasses and native plant materials not only can be an aesthetic choice, but also require little maintenance and are far more prone to survival in adverse conditions. Native plant materials are also great in that they don't require the amount of water that  non-native plants do, and they also don't need non-organic fertilizers and pesticides to keep looking beautiful.