When living in a home owners association not all green ideas are allowed. I focused on things that I could do to improve my townhouse. I have installed new .055" vinyl siding with a rain drop system and 2" fit insulation behind the vinyl siding. The builders had nothing but junk vinyl siding attached to the exterior particle board. I then replaced the steel entry door with an energy star fiberglass entry door. I then had new energy star vinyl windows installed including slider for the entire house. The soffit was replaced with vinyl soffit along with new gutter for the house. Next project with replacing the 20 year old roof with new CertainTeed Landmark Pro shingles as part of the roofing system. The roofing system included the starter, WinterGuard, DiamondDeck and ShingleVent II hip and ridge. The projects continued and then I put 15"-18" of blown insulation in the attic with a solar panel to run an attic fan. All the appliances were upgraded to Energy Star including the HVAC. All the lighting in the house was changed to CFL lighting over time. When this was done the power company actually called and requested and inspection of the property due to the savings within one year. They could not believe the amount of savings that occurred within the first year. So it does take some money and time to correct inadequate builders materials. In the big picture the power companies will adjust the pricing to keep up with all the new materials being used to conserve energy. Just set small project goals and knock them out one at a time.