A worker staff (1st R) shows a mutual game about water during the 2010 China Beijing International Energy Saving and Environmental Protection Exhibition in Beijing, capital of China, June 12, 2010. The 4-day exhibition, with the participation of more than 230 enterprises from home and abroad, kicked off at Beijing Exhibition Center on Saturday. The theme of the exhibition is low-carbon technology and green economy. [Xinhua]

Buying less clothes, trying vegetarian diet once in a week, using furniture made of bamboo instead of wood, and going to work by bike are all choices that can save energy and reduce carbon emissions.

An international energy saving and environmental protection exhibition held in Beijing between June 12 and June 15 shows to visitors how they can start with the trivials in their daily life to make a big difference to the environment.

In the interactive area of the exhibition, visitors can choose different ways of life by touching the screen and calculate their own carbon emissions. For instance, they can choose their ways of commuting from walking, bicycling, using tools of public transport or driving a car, and compare which is the greenest.

"The interactive area is one of the highlights of this exhibition," a guide told Xinhua. "It's so interesting and vivid that everyone wants a try."

Among the huge visiting crowd, about one fourth are aged Beijingers who are keen to live a simple and thrift life.

"Penny-pinching has become my habit not just because I want to save money but also because I hate to see anything that causes waste," Madam Ma, a visitor, told Xinhua.

"But nowadays, young people are less sensitive to wasting habits. Each day my husband and I cook as much as we eat, but my son tends to keep the shower water running when he goes to do something else," she complained.