It's not easy being "green," you say?

Well, there are actually many things that you can easily do to help protect the environment, avoid waste, save the landfills, conserve energy and all those other terms that help define Earth Day, which takes place Saturday.

The kitchen is a logical place to start, since it can generate a lot of waste from food, packaging and so on.

It's also the room in the house that uses the most energy, said Kerry Case, program coordinator of the Utah House in Kaysville. The Utah House is a demonstration, state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly home run by Utah State University. If you're building or remodeling a home, it's a great place to check out ideas on eco-friendly designs, materials and energy-efficient appliances. But Case also has ideas that apply to those of us who are stuck with the kitchens we have now.

"Kitchen appliances account for about 30 percent of total household energy use," she said. "Aside from the energy used to heat and cool your home, the refrigerator tends to be the biggest single energy-using appliance."

But in the past decade, refrigerators have been designed for more efficiency, and the full-size one in the Utah House runs on less energy than a 1,000-watt light bulb. The most efficient configuration is the freezer on the bottom and the compressor at the top, so the heat can dissipate upward, Case said. But the difference is slight, so it's important to use the Energy Star label. Created by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, these labels identify the most energy-efficient appliances on the market.

To make sure cold air isn't leaking out of the fridge you already have, close the door over a dollar bill so that it's half in, half out. If you can pull the bill out easily, the seal needs replacing.

"Replacing a seal is a lot cheaper than replacing a whole refrigerator," Case said.

The Kitchen Aid dishwasher in the Utah House uses less water than your usual dishwasher, so you're also reducing the energy to heat that water. It has a built-in disposer, so you don't waste water rinsing the dishes before loading.

"But if you have to pre-rinse your dishes, use cold water instead of hot," advised Case. "It will do everything that hot water does."

The Utah House oven is located outside the primary kitchen work triangle — so the refrigerator doesn't have to work harder to cool off, and you stay cooler while you're working.

Convection ovens are more energy-efficient because they cook more quickly and at lower temperatures. Self-cleaning ovens also reduce energy because they have tighter seals and better insulation, Case said. Turn on the self-cleaning feature just after you've cooked something to take advantage of the residual heat and use less energy bringing it up to such a high temperature.