With the frequent changes in weather patterns, it’s important to lead as an example by incorporating more eco-friendly options to protect the ecosystem. Protecting our environment is a responsibility in which we must all be involved.
Your home is the best place to start incorporating more eco-friendly features and habits. Whether you’re doing a home upgrade or building a new home, this custom home builder gives a list of things to consider:
1. Home’s Size
It’s normal to want a big home, but it uses more materials and energy, thus increasing the carbon footprint. Ideally, a larger home will need more energy to heat and cool down. However, your needs and lifestyle are the major determining factors of the size of the home you need.
Some rooms in your home can be smaller than others and still serve the home’s purpose efficiently without wasting energy. At least, it strikes a balance for the bigger rooms, which may need more energy to light, heat, and regulate.
If you are building a new home, meet with your contractor and let them help you decide on the size of the rooms. This way, you also save up on more building materials.
2. Location
Your home’s location can also determine the energy sources you will use for your home. It also helps to arrange the direction your home will face to benefit fully from the available natural resources.
For example, suppose the home’s location is in a windy area or near a power company. In that case, you can incorporate technologies that use these naturally available resources right into your home.
Many new homes incorporate solar panels to ease the burden and impact of traditional electric power.
Solar panels can send energy into the water heater for bathing and other domestic uses. You can use wind turbines, a clean fuel source to pump water, or hydropower.
Lastly, geothermal systems also ease the work of the HVAC systems. They help extract heat from the ground into your home in the cold seasons. In the hot seasons, they also balance the heat in your home.
With such systems in place, escalated utility bills will be a thing of the past. Once again, your home contractor will give you the proper guidance about what fixtures to use for your home.
3. Building Materials
Do you ever notice the landfills that are left after the construction or demolition of a building? Now that you have this chance, ensure that you select building materials that will not negatively impact the environment when disposed of.
Factor in everything from the flooring, lighting, fixtures, paint, roofing, and find the best energy-efficient solution for everything. Make sure that every material used helps retain more energy in your home rather than wasting it.
Companies are becoming more environmentally conscious, and it’s easier to get more sustainable building materials, some of which have also been recycled.
4. Insulation
Insulation is a big deal when planning for an energy-efficient home. Unnoticed air leaks from your windows, doors, and ductwork may seem insignificant now, but they contribute to the amount of utility bill that you pay every month.
More eco-friendly insulating alternatives are made from sheep wool, cotton, hemp, fiberglass, and cellulose. These alternatives don’t have chemicals and additives, and most are renewable and biodegradable.
5. Home Appliances
It will not make sense to build a green home and maintain the same old gadgets that are not energy efficient. Now that you have an environmentally conscious mind, you can select gadgets more carefully, unlike your initial buy.
A device may appear very beautiful on the outside, but what makes it unique is its ability to save energy and its operating costs.
An energy-efficient gadget may cost you more on purchase, but you will not regret buying it. Most of these appliances are gadgets we are already accustomed to, like the air conditioner, computers, water heater, dishwasher, refrigerator, washing machine, and clothes dryer.
You will notice that most of these gadgets have different ratings on the gr, which is done by a standard procedure and given a rating depending on the energy efficiency.
If you already have some old appliances, you can sell them and top up the balance to buy energy-efficient upgrades. Take your time to window-shop and compare gadgets from different companies and select the choice that best works for you.
6. Water Conservation
Water is a necessity in every home, and it’s used in almost every area of your home, from the kitchen, toilet, bathroom, backyard.
So, it’s necessary to incorporate efficient plumbing ways to use it without waste and consider recycling and reuse systems. That can cut down your bills in a noticeable way.
Don’t forget that the water appliances for your home, like the water faucets and showerheads, also determine how much water you waste or conserve. So, when purchasing them, keep that in mind.
Also, consider installing rain harvesting storage points from the roof. At least, you will have alternative water sources for your backyard and toilet. Talk to your plumber to help you sail through this process and to install everything in place as required.
7. Waste Management
As we mentioned earlier, many waste materials end up in landfills after building, renovation, or demolition, which are more challenging to get rid of.
At least, if you have used environmentally sustainable products for your home, you will not have much to worry about waste disposal. After construction, the unusable materials should biodegrade when disposed of.
Waste management also extends to the removal of household waste. Find strategies to dispose of it and reclaim it for use on the farm as a natural fertilizer instead of going for the chemicalized ones.
Everyone is a beneficiary of a clean environment, and we all can reduce our carbon footprint in the ways we can. Be an environmentalist in the capacity that you can to raise a more habitable planet.
If you’re planning your green home, using those tips above is the best thing you can ever do for yourself and the environment.