Five Ways to Be Kinder to the Environment at Home
The following steps improve the eco-friendliness of your home can have a huge impact on your overall carbon footprint.
29/01/2020
With climate change and other environmental disasters receiving more and more attention around the world, it’s not a surprise that for many people today, being kind to the environment has to be an important aspect of their homes. Home, for many, is a place to spend time with family and friends, or even working and studying - and we use our homes every single day. The steps that you take to improve the eco-friendliness of your home can have a huge impact on your overall carbon footprint.
The good news is that there are so many things that you can do today to improve your home’s energy efficiency, contribution to air pollution, and so much more. From simple tasks to larger refurbishments, the sky’s the limit when it comes to turning your home into an eco-friendly paradise. If you’re serious about living an environmentally friendly lifestyle and want to reduce your carbon footprint as much as possible, then your home can set a shining example. Here are some of the best ways to make sure that your home is being kinder to the planet.
Invest in Solar Panel Installation
One of the best ways to instantly make your home a whole lot more environmentally friendly is to have solar panels installed and take advantage of renewable energy from the sun. Not only does this mean that your home will consume less energy derived from fossil fuels; you’ll also save a ton of money over time; solar panels easily pay for themselves within just a few years.
And if you’re lucky, your state may have an incentive program that allows you to claim back some or all of the cost of getting the panels installed at your home. Otherwise, reputable companies like Semper Solaris offer solar panel installation at a reasonable price, and you may be eligible for finance options. They also offer a range of related services that you may need alongside solar panels to further improve your home, like roof repair or replacement.
With solar panels, you can choose whether you’d like to simply use the electricity that you generate straight away, or have additional solar panel battery installation carried out so that you are able to store any generated electricity to use later. The latter could be the best option if you want solar panels to be the main or only source of energy for your home. In addition, storing the energy that you generate also allows you to sell it back to the grid, meaning that solar panels can become a source of income for you along with saving money. And when you sell the electricity that you generate back to the grid to be used in your area, you’re helping local homes and businesses become more environmentally friendly too.
Recycle More
If you are looking for a simple, easy and family-friendly way to instantly make your home a more eco-friendly place to be, then recycling more is a great place to start. If you don’t already have them, get separate recycling bins for each type of material and make sure that the trash is placed in each bin - plastic and glass bottles in one, cardboard and paper in another, and food waste in another, for example.
But don’t just stop here - with most recyclable materials still making their way into the world’s oceans or landfills, it’s more important than ever before to consider ways that you can reuse things before you throw them into the recycling can. Glass bottles can become storage containers, or you could even decorate them to make vases and ornaments. Cardboard boxes can be used for storage around the home. In addition, be more mindful of the materials that you are purchasing - if you can find a reusable alternative to items like wet wipes or plastic bottles, it’s definitely worth getting them.
Grow Your Own
If you want to make your home eco-friendlier, then the best place to get started is outside, in the garden. Whether you’re a green-fingered gardening lover or you’d rather pay somebody else to mow your lawn, there are plenty of outdoor activities that you can get involved in to make your home kinder to the planet, such as making your own compost and growing a vegetable patch.
Growing your own vegetables is fun, easy, tasty and much cheaper than buying them from the store. Plus, having grown them yourself, you know that they are completely organic and healthy! If you have children, this is a great activity to do together as a family as it’s a lot of fun and hugely educational too.
There’s no need to stop with a vegetable garden either. If you find that you enjoy planting and working in the garden, then growing pretty much anything can help you be better for the environment, but particularly trees. And, growing trees around your home can have many other benefits - for example, a large tree can help to protect your home from the elements. Planting a tree doesn’t just make your home more eco-friendly, but your entire neighborhood, too.
Insulate or Update Your Insulation
Many people believe that insulation is only necessary for homes in cold climates, but it can be beneficial for homes everywhere. Insulation helps keep your home more efficient at trapping in the heat, especially during the wintertime - which leads to a reduction in energy usage, using less fossil fuels and costing less money.
Loft, cavity wall and basement insulation are just some of the options available - if your home already has any of these, then it’s worth checking to see how long ago it was done as eventually, these types of insulation will need to be updated to keep your home as heat efficient as possible.
Failing that, another option is to audit your home for anywhere that hot or cold air could be escaping. Drafty windows, doors, and vents are all usually the main culprits. Resealing windows and doors can make a huge amount of difference to your home’s overall efficiency when it comes to temperature regulation. Use draft excluders at the bottom of doors and if you don’t already have it, consider updating your windows to double glazing.
Utilize Smart Technology
People love smart technology for so many reasons - not only is it really cool to use, but it can also play a key part in helping to make your home more environmentally friendly overall. Remote-controlled thermostats, for example, are ideal for controlling the temperature in your home while using as little energy as possible. Unlike timers on thermostats, which need to be set at a certain time, smart thermostats can be controlled from your smartphone or another remotely connected device - so you can switch your heating on and off, or turn the temperature up and down without being anywhere near your home.
Smart technology isn’t just for temperature, either - you can get apps that control your home’s lighting with compatible light bulbs, and other compatible devices so that each time you go out, you can remotely make sure that everything is switched off and using as little electricity as possible.
If you want to live in an eco-friendlier home and live a home life that’s kind to the planet, these are just some of the best ways to get started.