Five Easy Ways to Make Your Home More Eco-Friendly


Many of your friends and neighbors are regularly taking small steps to improve how environmentally-friendly their home is. You may see neighbors installing rain collection bins to their home’s gutter system or installing solar panels on their roof. There efforts as well as your own concern about the state of the environment may inspire you to focus on ways to improve how green your home is. Solar panels and rain collection systems are excellent ways to improve how eco-friendly your home is, but there are other thoughtful and relatively easy ways to go green. In fact, these are some of the easier options that you can consider.

Focus on Your HVAC System

There are many aspects of your HVAC system that can result in unnecessary energy waste. For example, if you do not have a programmable thermostat or if the settings are not programmed thoughtfully, your system may be running more than it needs to. If your air ducts are leaking, climate-controlled air may be leaking out and resulting in energy waste. These are relatively easy updates to make. For a more substantial change, consider replacing an old HVAC model with a modern option that is highly-rated for energy efficiency.

Invest in New Insulation

Hiring a contractor to update your home’s insulation can be a rather expensive project, but it also is an easy way to make your home more energy efficient. Energy loss associated with poor insulation can be expensive. Insulation can deteriorate or even slouch down in walls over time, so a periodic upgrade is beneficial. Consider using an upgraded option for the best results, such as spray-in foam insulation.

Choose Green Furnishings

You may invest in a few new pieces of furniture each year, or you may make a major remodeling overhaul less frequently. When the time comes to buy new furnishings, focus on the environmental impact of your buying decisions. A green option is to reupholster or refinish your existing pieces. You can also buy used items that need love in this way as well. If you choose to buy new furnishings, choose upholstery made out of natural materials, such as wool. In addition, look for wood furnishings that are produced with more sustainable types of wood such as bamboo. You can even invest in a natural latex mattress for comfort and eco-friendly benefits.

Replace Plumbing Features

Another aspect of a green home to focus on is water consumption. You may think that you would need to dramatically alter how you use water in your home to reduce consumption, but this is not necessarily the case. When you install low-flow faucets, toilets and showerheads, you can reduce water consumption without changing your use of these features. Other thoughtful options are to install a rain harvesting system and to change the settings on your programmable sprinkler system.

Choose Green Appliances

It is easy to overlook the water and energy consumption of your home's appliances, but these are major components that play a direct role in how green your home is. It can be expensive to replace appliances that are currently in good shape. However, if your appliances are getting older, look for appliances that use less energy and less water. You can typically conduct a thorough online review to easily get the information that you seek. You may also look for consignment appliances that have good energy and water conservation ratings.

Your home environment should be relaxing and healthy for you and your family to live in. However, you understandably do not want to enjoy comfort at the expense of the environment. Each of these home updates can help you to improve how eco-friendly your home is without the need to dramatically alter your lifestyle in any way. You can begin improving your home environment by analyzing the need for each of these updates in your home. Gradually make improvements as time and funds allow so that you can enjoy an increasingly green home.

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