If your AC unit keeps breaking down and needing repairs, you may be starting to ask yourself if it's even worth getting it fixed. And if you decide the answer is no, you may wish to consider replacing it with a more eco-friendly unit. You may have heard that in the past, air conditioning units used a controversial type of refrigerant, and if the use of this environmentally unfriendly chemical worried you, you'll be glad to know that today's units use a more eco-friendly material instead due to EPA regulations. But if you're worried about the other environmental impacts of your heating and cooling, there's a lot more you can do to make sure that you're not killing the environment while still keeping yourself comfortable. Installing a more eco-friendly type of heating and cooling is absolutely an option. Here are three types of eco-friendly heating and cooling you can choose between if your AC system is reaching the end of its useful lifespan.

1. Energy Star heat pump

A heat pump is an HVAC unit that not only pumps the excess heat out of your home in summer, but also pumps it back in during the winter. It's a heating system and a cooling system all in one, which is much more efficient than having separate units for heating and cooling. It's also more energy-efficient than a traditional heater, because instead of burning energy to create heat in the winter, it simply collects heat from outside and moves it inside your home. And if you're careful to look for the Energy Star certification, you'll know you're getting a unit that's designed to serve with a minimum of energy waste.

2. Geothermal heat pump

Geothermal heating and cooling systems are actually heat pumps as well. Like the heat pump mentioned above, they move heat into or out of your house, depending on the setting. But instead of exchanging heat with the air around your home, these heat pumps exchange heat with the ground below your home. This makes them even more effective because the temperature of the ground doesn't fluctuate as much as the temperature of the air. It's easier to cool your house by exchanging heat with 50-60 degree soil than by exchanging heat with 95-degree air.

3. Solar-powered

No matter what type of heating and cooling system you have, you can convert it to run on solar energy or another form of renewable energy to make it even more eco-friendly. You can even go off-grid with your own solar panel installation, in which case having an efficient system that doesn't draw much energy (such as a geothermal system) is ideal.

These three types of heating and cooling can all help you help the Earth by minimizing your impact and working with the environment rather than against it.