How Can You Make Your Home More Eco-Friendly?
Living a green lifestyle has become high on most homeowner’s priority list due to renewed interest in the environment and the way that your home can impact global warming. This has especially been the case since there has recently been a surge in methods to reduce your energy usage. Reducing your carbon footprint starts at home, and if you want to help to stop climate change, there are many steps that you can take to make your house more environmentally friendly for a long time to come.
- Invest in a Composite Door
Although you might think that simply replacing your door is unable to reduce your carbon footprint by much, this is not the case. A lot of heat is lost around your door, especially if it is ill-fitted, and this can cause a draught to pour straight into your hallway. Not only this but certain types of material, such as wood, struggle to keep heat within your home, meaning that you have to use more finite resources to stay cosy within your four walls. Then, rather than opting for wooden doors, you should instead consider choosing to invest in a composite door. Composite doors are made from sustainable materials and are energy efficient, which can help to trap heat within your home. Not only does this help to save the environment, but it can also allow you to save money on your heating bills. Therefore, if you believe that composite doors are the right option for you, you should visit Double Glazing Funding to find out more.
- Double Glaze Your Windows
Many homeowners are now looking at replacing the glass in their windows and exchanging this for a more energy-efficient alternative. In the past, many homes have relied on single glazed windows to trap heat and to separate them from the elements. However, it is now more common to choose double or triple glazed windows, which are more impenetrable to the weather outside and can help your home to be more energy-efficient throughout the year, even in winter. They can even stop noise pollution from entering your home from outside. Many households that still have single glazed windows can apply for energy grants and schemes from the government, with some of these operating on a local level, which can cover the costs of this installation.
- Use a Smart Thermostat
Smart technology has taken over homes all over the world, with many people using devices such as smart lighting and smart ovens to make running their home that bit easier. However, smart technology can also be used to reduce the amount of energy that you are using throughout the winter months through the use of a smart thermostat. Smart thermostats can prevent you from ever accidentally leaving your heating on when you leave the house as they can allow you to control your heating on a remote level, wherever you are. Not only this, but they have a timer on that can ensure that you only heat your house when it needs to be warmed. Also, some smart thermostats can even track your behaviour and can adapt their settings to ensure that your home always gets the level of heat that you desire at certain times of the day.
- Install Solar Panels
However, if you do not want to worry about the amount of energy that you are using within your home every day, you should consider investing in solar panels. Solar panels use photovoltaic cells to harness energy from the sun and convert this into electricity rather than using up finite resources to heat and light your home. Although most houses can reap the benefits of solar panels to some extent, your roof should be south-facing to gather the most energy possible, as south-facing roofs see the most sunlight throughout the day. However, because the average UK household uses 4,800 Wh of electricity a year and most of this energy is produced during the daytime and the summer months, you may still have to supplement this with finite electricity produced by your energy supplier. There are many different types of solar panels to choose from though, and solar technology is changing year on year, meaning that even if you are unable to stop using electricity completely, solar panels will still make a difference to the overall carbon footprint of your home.
- Consider LED Bulbs
Even the most environmentally conscious people need to see once it gets dark outside, though, and this means that every home needs lightbulbs that can transmit the electricity that you are using. However, not every lightbulb is made the same, and some can be much more eco-friendly than others. In the past, every house used incandescent bulbs or halogen bulbs. These are problematic as they have a high wattage, meaning that they use a lot of energy whenever your light switches are turned on. However, now there is no need to opt for incandescent or halogen options since there is a much wider range of bulbs on the market. This includes CFL and LED alternatives. LED options are the best for your home, as they can produce the same bright effect for a fraction of the wattage. However, when you are using electric lighting within your home, whatever bulbs you have, you should always make sure that you remember to switch these off when you leave the room.
- Replace the Insulation
Many homes, especially older ones, suffer from poor insulation, and this can mean that your heating system has to use more energy to sustain a comfortable temperature within your home. If your home has poor insulation, you will often find that the temperature drops quickly once you turn the heating off, that your room takes longer to heat when you turn the heating on, that your walls are often incredibly cold, and that your heating bills are disastrously expensive. Then, if your house is showing any of the symptoms of poor insulation, you should consider replacing the cavity wall and loft insulation within your home to prevent heat from escaping in the future. Although you might think that you have to call in a professional to install cavity wall or loft insulation, it is also possible to install this DIY.
- Use a Low Flow Shower
Another way to help save the planet and make your home more eco-friendly is to install a low-flow shower that can reduce the amount of water that you use when you are washing. Power showers, although helping you to get clean quicker and more easily, can have a damaging effect on the environment due to the large volume of water that comes out of them at once. However, low-flow showerheads change this by allowing you to enjoy a refreshing shower without worrying about the volume of water that you are using.
- Repair Broken Plumbing
As your house becomes older and you become more comfortable within it, aspects of your home are more likely to go wrong, and you are less likely to fix them immediately. Many people do not have the required capital to be able to fix these repairs or want to avoid major disruption to their homes and ways of life. There are many unexpected issues that could occur within your home, and some of these can lead to your home becoming less eco-friendly. For instance, broken plumbing can lead to dripping taps and leaks that could leave you using more water than you should and having a significant amount of wasted water to your name. Therefore, you should always diagnose your plumbing issues before they become major problems for both your home and the environment, and make sure that you realise that small signs, such as dripping taps, could be indicators of much larger issues.
- Check Energy Rating of Appliances
One of the top ways that you can reduce the carbon footprint of your home, though, is to make sure that you are always using energy-efficient appliances within your home, especially in terms of dishwashers, fridges, and even television sets, which are often used daily. To make sure that your appliances are energy-efficient, you should check their energy rating before you buy, with most white goods having these displayed on them in a traffic light system in stores. You should also conduct online research to check that you are making the right decision. There are many websites that could direct you to the best options for your sustainable home.
Making your home more eco-friendly is now easier than ever, with there being an extremely large number of ways that you can cut the number of fossil fuels and finite resources that you use daily. Whether you decide to conduct a large home renovation, such as replacing your wooden door with a composite door, or choose to have a positive impact on the environment in a smaller way, such as investing in energy-efficient appliances, there is an option for every household to become more sustainable in 2021 once they find the right solution for them.
