If you think living an eco-friendly lifestyle will be as good for your pocketbook as it is for the planet, you may be in for a rude awakening. Although there are many ways the going green can save you money, many ‘green’ alternatives will actually cost you more money. Here are ten reasons why that is true.

1. Recycling costs – Recycling is good for the environment, and it just seems to make sense, doesn’t it? Re-using something instead of discarding it, should save money. So how come we have to pay extra to have our goods recycled? Unfortunately, the truth remains that it is often cheaper to have something made new from scratch than to make it from recycled material.
2. Shopping bags – Buying your re-usable shopping bags at the grocery store may save them money, but it costs you money. You didn’t have to pay for the plastic or paper bags, but you have to pay for a re-usable bag, or bags, to use at each store you shop at.
3. Hybrid vehicles – Again, we find green costing you more money. The vehicle cost more than the average gas powered car and the maintenance on the vehicle cost many times more than it would on the traditional gas powered vehicle.
4. Insurance – Going green often means higher insurance rates for your home and car. If you have energy saving devices like solar panels in your home, they increase the value of your home and raise your insurance rates. Your hybrid car will be expensive to replace if you’re in an accident, so its insurance premiums are going to be higher too.
5. Home energy – Most energy saving systems that you buy for your home cost plenty of dollars for the initial installation and take many years of energy savings to just break even on those costs. Even if your home’s electricity is completely generated onsite, you still will need to pay a fee to your electric company to be connected to the grid.
6. Costly home supplies – Cleaning supplies for your home that have an eco-friendly label will generally be more expensive than other brands of cleaners. This is just another area that green will cost you more of your hard earned ‘green’.
7. Appliances – Just like other types of energy efficient equipment, your appliances may cost you more initially and take time to earn back those energy savings.
8. Repairs and maintenance – Repairs and maintenance for hybrid cars, solar panels and other specialty equipment can be much more expensive and harder to obtain. They can also can require special routine maintenance that, if not followed, can lead to shorter life spans.
9. ‘Green’ clothing – If you are truly committed to living a green lifestyle, then you will want your clothing to be eco-friendly as well. You will certainly be able to find apparel that fits the bill, but your clothing ‘bill’ will be a little higher and your fashion choices a bit more limited.
10. Wind power – Wind is just air, it cost nothing, right? True, but those huge wind turbines you see set out on hills to catch that wind and turn it into energy for use in your homes are very expensive to build, install and maintain. In spite of all the wind mills on the landscape, less than 1% of our electricity is being generated by them, and the savings are not yet being fully realized.

In reality, going green should have a different motivation than economics, however, it is these same economics that hinder many people from making the step towards green living.