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Energy Efficiency Tips Everyone wants to conserve energy these days. Get some creative ideas to help you go green the easy way. From "Today Show Tips" episode DTST-117

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Caulking around windows can save a lot of energy. This brand is easily removable, allowing you to open a window on a warm spring day. If the weather turns cold again, just re-apply it.

Weatherproof Your Doors and Windows

Do you feel a draft, even though your windows and doors are shut tight? If so, it might be time to add or replace weatherstripping to your doors and seal up the windows.

To solve the problem of a drafty door, choose vinyl or rubber weatherstripping. All you have to do is fasten it to the sides and top of the door casing with nails or staples about every six inches.

You can also use a vinyl gasket. It's durable, it's inexpensive, and at the end of the winter, you can tear it off.

There's one other part of the door that you have to worry about, and that's the bottom where it meets the threshold, and very often, that's where you have the biggest draft. The cure is a sweep that you apply to the bottom of the door. Sweeps are great if you have an irregular floor. You can buy either the kind that nails onto the door or has an adhesive that holds it in place. Either kind will seal up the door nicely.

If you live in a house with old windows, you probably have leaky windows. To fix those leaks, you can use this sealant foam at the top, bottom and middle of each window. The foam will compress, so you will still be able to lock the window.

A low-tech way to stop drafts is sometimes called snakes. They're just long fabric tubes filled with sand. They can be decorative or humorous, but they do a great job of stopping air from leaking under the door or window.

Putting film up over the window is more complicated but it's very effective. Use double-sided tape to hold the film in place while you stretch it across the window. Use a hair dryer to heat up the film and shrink it so that it's tight across the window.

A draft-stopper that has been used since the Middle Ages is heavy drapes. If you close them over the windows, you'll notice a difference right away. For even better results, look for drapes with insulating lining, or add one to existing drapes.

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Laying an attic blanket across the joists increases the R-value of the insulation in the attic significantly.

Attic Insulation

Statistics show that 85 percent of a house's heat loss is straight up through the attic space. If you have a house that was built before the energy crunch in the early '70s, you might just have a little bit of fiberglass insulation in the attic or you might have empty cavities between the joists. Either way, you're probably wasting energy — and money. Find out how much insulation you should have in your attic and get some tips about this easy upgrade.

• The amount of insulation a material provides is measured by its R-value. The higher the number in the R-value, the more effective the insulation is. Houses built before the 1970s probably have an R-value of 11 or less, but today's standards call for R-values as high as 38 or more, depending on where you live. (To find out what number you should aim for, click here.)

• Some houses may have gray material between the ceiling joists. If it's an old house, that could be mineral wool. A newer house is likely to have blown-in cellulose. Either way, you can leave it in place and add more insulation over it.

• If you're going to work with insulation, you need to wear gloves, eye protection and a good particle mask, especially if you're using fiberglass.

• In some ways, rigid foam insulation is easier to work with, but fiberglass is usually easier to get up into the attic.

• Don't worry if the fiberglass batt insulation you find at the home center seems to be too thin. When you open the package, it will expand to as much as six inches thick.

• To cut a batt to size, lay it on a piece of plywood. Then put a short length of 2 x 4 at the point where you want to cut, put your foot on the 2 x 4 and lean on it to compress the fiberglass. Once it's compressed, it's easy to cut with a utility knife.

• If you already have six inches of insulation and you want to get to the recommended R-38, add an "attic blanket." It's also made of fiberglass, but it has no paper backing. To install it, just lay it across the joists. Keep adding layers until you get to R-38.

• Look for the new no-itch poly-wrap insulation. It is much easier to work with and it's safer, so it's worth the extra cost.

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