7 green home remodel ideas you must see to believe

Incorporating green products into a home remodel or home improvement project is getting easier, as eco-friendly products are becoming more practical and simpler to find and purchase. We are not talking about composting toilets here, but rather eco-friendly versions of traditional products and services that are on every homeowner's checklist when they remodel.

As a homeowner/remodeler, how do you get started?  Below are seven must-see videos that pull together extremely practical green options for your home:

1. Eco-friendly fiber insulation

Natural fiber insulation (often called "cellulose insulation") is one of the more eco-friendly options out there today for insulation. More than 7,000,000 tons of newspaper are used each year to make this green product. But is it safe to put shredded newspaper in your attic and walls?  Watch The Big Burn to find out!

Video: The Big Burn.

2.  Green countertops

Two of the biggest decisions made in a remodel are kitchen and bathroom countertops.  There are many eco-friendly options available including compressed paper fiber, concrete, terrazzo, and a few others.

Terrazzo countertop products are made from recycled components such as glass and porcelain, and are held together with special mixtures depending on the manufacturer (usually a resin or a cement).

How are these countertops made? How are the colors mixed? How is the glass polished so that it is not sharp? Here is a fantastic video on the process, and a great overview of these beautiful products. 

Video: Making of a Terrazzo countertop 

3. High-Efficiency toilets

Water conservation via your bathroom toilet is definitely a step in the green direction. Seriously though, do these low-flow high-efficiency toilets (HET's) really flush? This little video puts the porcelain wonders to the test with golf balls, sponges, and more!

Video: Toilets that Flush

4. Make relocating green 

Moving out of your home is often part of any medium-to-largesized remodel project. In most cases your belongings are packed up and stored in the garage, in a POD, or perhaps in offsite storage. Options to get green in the move-out process are starting to emerge. Check out this innovative option!

Video: You can recycle this box 

5. Energy efficiency = better mortgage

Whether remodeling, buying, or refinancing a home, you can actually save money by securing an Energy Efficient Mortgage (EEM). EEM's provide homeowner borrowers with special benefits for installation of energy-saving improvements. With these products your lender will increase your loan amount to cover energy-saving improvements. Your overall monthly loan payment will increase slightly, but you will actually save money because your overall energy bills will be lowered.

Video: Intro to EEM's

6. Remodels are messy, stop junk mail and clean up!

100 million trees are ground up every year to make unsolicited junk mail. USPS says that on average homeowners receive 26 pieces of junk mail every week. (This sounds low to me!)

When you move out for a remodel project, your mail stacks up even higher than it does when you are living at home. It is so easy and inexpensive to stop junk mail.Do something today, and help our environment while you remodel. 

Video: Stop Junk Mail 

7. Recycled materials and your landscape

Remodeling and new landscaping often go hand-in-hand, and fortunately the backyard playground for our children is quickly becoming a place where many eco-friendly product options exist for homeowners.  From playground equipment, to soft surfaces that break your child's falls, you can get green easy. In our last video, see how recycled tires play a role.

Video: Playground surface alternative 

Yahoo! Finance Director of Product Management David Putnam is co-founder of GetWithGreen.com, an online source of eco-friendly product information and reviews for homeowners who are remodeling.