Green used to be a color, now it’s a code word for ecologically benign, renewable energy, land and water use and building practices.

You’d think everyone would want to be involved with environmentally noble practices. The problem is that to do the right thing, you have to put your money where your mouth is.

Doing the good thing usually comes with a higher price tag. As a people, we Americans are very good at taking the high road, but few of us want to hike up the hill to actually walk it.

Energy is a good example. Energy from renewable sources, such as wind farms, is obviously a good idea. Since we are harnessing the wind, no poisons are spewed into the atmosphere in its manufacture. Wind is always with us, and we have an inexhaustible supply.

Unfortunately, green electricity costs about 20 percent more than the old-fashioned kind, and the homeowner has to sign up for it.

I asked Larry Kaufman, DTE’s energy expert, for the figures on renewable energy participation. Some areas in Texas and California have up to 8 percent participation. Nationwide, the statistic is only 1.2 percent.

Here in Michigan, it is even worse. Kaufman says Consumers Energy has a very good sustainable energy program. Only about 5,000 of its 1.8 million customers, or less than one-third of a percent, have signed up for the program.

I won’t ask for a show of hands. I haven’t signed up for renewable energy, either.

We choose to drive too fast in large, gas-guzzling cars and trucks. Few of us carpool, and almost no one takes rapid transit or walks to the store.

We also live in too large, too energy-inefficient, too hot (winter) or too cold (summer) houses. We waste energy by not having proper insulation, and using old, energy-inefficient appliances and heating and cooling equipment. Few of us even have the furnace and air conditioner fine-tuned every year for maximum efficiency.

Going green also comes into play when it comes to building materials.

Builders are price buyers. If a material can get by code and save the builder money, he will use it. Basements are damp-proofed, not water-proofed. Windows are made to minimum standards. Furnaces are either cheap or inefficient. Air conditioning and humidification are usually nonexistent. Roofing usually is an inexpensive 25- or 35-year fiberglass shingle, rather than a 50-year or lifetime shingle that would never have to be replaced.

As homeowners, we are no better. When it comes time to replace the roof, we shop price and do not buy more-environmentally correct products.

Chris Gentile of Gentile Roofing and Sheet Metal, (248) 583-0465, has roofing companies in Florida and Michigan. In Florida, many homeowners choose a permanent or 50-year metal roof, which is not only environmentally correct but will stand up to hurricane-force winds.

Here in Michigan, Gentile offers recycled synthetic slate and metal roofs. Both are considered green because they are either made from recycled materials or last so long that they will not clog up landfills.

Unfortunately, they also cost two or three times as much as 35-year architectural fiberglass or asphalt shingles, and almost no one buys them.

Painting is one of the most popular do-it-yourself projects. It also is one of the easiest ways to contaminate the air inside your house. As the paint dries, any volatile organic chemicals (VOC) are off-gassed into the air. In the bad old days of high VOC oil-based formulations, a person would smell new paint for days. What we were really smelling was air-borne contaminants.

The state and federal government has been extremely active at getting manufacturers to lower VOCs in their paint formulations. California has the most rigid standards in the United States, and we are all benefiting from their requirements.

Water-based paints have lower VOCs than oil-based. Specially formulated low-VOC paints have very low or no VOCs. They also have little or no smell. Naturally, they are also more expensive than regular paints.

If the environment is important to you, one of the easiest things you can do is buy Earth-friendly, low VOC paints. Almost every manufacturer makes them. Some of the names to look for are: Benjamin Moore EcoSpec; Dutch Boy Clarity Interior; Olympic Zero-VOC; Olympic Premium; and Pittsburgh Paints Pure Performance.

You also can buy Earth-friendly flooring products. John Greenough from Fairway Tile and Carpet, (866) 211-5558, suggests that if you want to buy “green,” you can get linseed oil-based linoleum, bamboo and cork.

They cost about 20 percent more than competitive products but are environmentally friendly and made from sustainable materials.

There also are many “green” cleaning products. The Environmental Protection Agency has a Web site devoted to giving information on the dangers of many cleaning ingredients and offering safe alternatives at es.epa.gov/techinfo/facts/safe-fs.html. Green Seal, a 501(c) nonprofit company, has a list of certified green products at www.greenseal.org.

You can be as green as you want to be. All you need to do is take the time to learn, then put your money where your mouth is or actually walk up the hill and take the high road.

Ask Glenn If you have a question, call the Handyman Show with Glenn Haege at (866) ASK GLENN between 10 a.m. and noon Saturday. The show can be heard on more than 160 radio stations nationwide. To suggest a question for Haege’s Wednesday “Ask Glenn” column, write: Ask Glenn, Master Handyman Press, P.O. Box 1498, Royal Oak, MI 48068-1498 or e-mail ask glenn@master handyman.com.