Are you looking for ways to make your home more sustainable?
You’re not alone. As far back as 2015, three in five Americas had already resolved to live in more environmentally friendly homes. It’s 2020, the signs – and consequences – of climate change couldn’t be any more apparent, so it’s fairly accurate to conclude that almost everyone now wants a sustainable home.
However, what’s keeping you from achieving the desire to have an eco-friendly home? Like most people, you probably don’t know how to get started.
In this article, we’re helping you learn how to green your home. Read on!
1. Build Your Home with Sustainability in Mind
If you’re currently planning to build a house, you’re in the best possible position to have a sustainable home. It’s much easier to, for instance, build a house with lots of natural cooling than it is to rework the ventilation of an existing home.
When you’re building a sustainable home from scratch, focus on using sustainable concrete materials. For instance, you might want to avoid concrete. Even though it’s the most commonly used material, it’s not the most sustainable. Bamboo, recycled plastic, and straw bales are more eco-friendly.
There are several other factors that go into building a truly sustainable home. Hire a builder who specializes in sustainable homes to work on your project.
2. Use Renewable Energy
If you already have a home, you might be wondering what you can do to make a big impact on your sustainability effort. You surely can’t bring down the house and starting rebuilding it with sustainability as the central focus.
There are big-impact changes you can make to an existing home. For example, if you’re still using power from fossil fuels, it’s high time you switched to renewable energy.
Fossil power plants are the single biggest cause of environmental degradation. Switching to renewable energy helps reduce the demand for power from fossil fuel plants.
There are a number of reliable renewable energy options, but solar is the most widely used. Get a home solar installation company to help you switch.
3. The Little Things That Matter
You could be so focused on making big-impact changes (which, to be honest, cost a lot of money to implement) that you forget about the little efforts that can add to your home’s sustainability.
Little things, such as swapping your incandescent bulbs with LEDs, go a long way. LED bulbs consume less power and last longer.
Your HVAC system is a big consumer of energy. If you’re yet to buy a smart thermostat, that’s another change you should make. This handy device will regulate your home’s cooling and heating, ensuring high efficiency and low power usage.
Outside your house, there are more ways to go green. If you’ve got a green thumb, ensure you aren’t using toxic chemicals. Use water tanks to collect rainwater instead of letting it run off, possibly causing soil erosion downstream.
A Sustainable Home Is Good for You and the Environment
There are several benefits a sustainable home delivers. If you want to reap these benefits, you now know some of the steps you can take. From building a sustainable home from scratch to making little changes to an existing home, you’ve got several options.
Keep tabs on our blog for more sustainability tips and advice.
