- Recycled toilet paper
- Shampoo with natural ingredients
- Organic deodorant
- Bamboo toothbrush
- Washcloths made of agave or hemp fibers
There are numerous things you as a homeowner can do to make your house a more environmentally friendly home, even if homes may not pollute as much as corporations do. Wherever possible, it’s necessary to modify things, and because you have authority over your home, why not do the same with it?
Eco-friendly Home Improvements
Here is a list of things you can do for an eco-friendly home, ranging from major home upgrades to modest, simple modifications that can make a tremendous difference.
1. Electricity from Renewable Energy
Solar panels are used in solar photovoltaic (PV) installations to convert solar radiation into electricity. This enables you to produce your own reliable, sustainable, and low-maintenance energy source. This renewable energy saves the typical home a ton of carbon annually.
Once solar panels are installed, they produce no noise or air pollution and no emissions over their lifetime. This has positive effects on respiratory health and can significantly enhance the local air quality.
In order to run your heating and hot water totally from renewable sources, solar panels can be paired with electric heating systems like heat pumps.
You can store energy and use it at any time of day and during power outages by installing solar battery storage alongside your solar PV system. You get total independence from the electrical grid’s reliance on oil and gas as a result.
To lower the cost of these changes, there are numerous home energy grants available. The US Department of Energy supports funding opportunities for solar panel installations.
2. Digital / Smart Thermostats
A smart thermostat is an energy-saving home improvement that is easy to implement. Any smart device can be used to remotely operate these wifi-enabled features. They can be connected to the air conditioning, boiler, and central heating systems in your home.
This constantly developing technology keeps track of your house’s heating habits and knows when to heat or cool your home based on the weather outside. They make use of presence sensing technology, which turns off your system when you leave the house and turns it back on when you are home.
This is helpful in lowering the demand for energy from fossil fuel-powered plants, which lowers your energy costs significantly. Research from users of Google’s Nest thermostat showed that homes with the smart controls used 16.5% less energy than homes without them.
3. Energy-Saving Lighting
Energy-saving light bulbs can last up to 12 times longer than conventional bulbs. These eco-friendly LED lights provide the same quality of light for less energy.
Traditional light bulbs use 80% of the energy they consume for heating, compared to LED light bulbs’ 80–90% energy efficiency. Experts claim that these energy efficient lights can cut your carbon emissions by up to 40 kg annually.
4. Replace Old Appliances with Energy Efficient Ones
It is a well-known fact that when appliances age, their energy consumption increases. This is why, in order to save money, experts advise replacing your outdated appliances with new ones.
However, we are aware that purchasing a new appliance may not be as simple as you would want. Remember you must decide carefully if you want to replace your old appliances or if they can be used for a few more years. The availability of spare parts from providers makes it much simpler to repair your broken appliances.
When time comes to replace your washing machine, refrigerator, freezer, oven, or dishwasher, new efficiency requirements have improved market standards, enabling energy-saving equipment to be easily found for a range of prices. By looking at the energy efficiency label, you may determine its level of energy efficiency.
5. Use Green Cleaning Products
The majority of commonly used cleaning solutions with detergents, preservatives, or foaming agents are created from hazardous chemicals that wash into streams and rivers, generating water pollution that harms biodiversity and enters ecosystems.
Making the switch to non-synthetic, sustainably produced items lowers the chance of coming into contact with poisonous substances that are bad for both people and the environment.
Making your own natural cleaners is very simple when you combine vinegar, lemon juice, and baking soda. This is an affordable, sustainable option that cleans up your home and reduces harmful chemicals and packaging trash.
6. Biodegradable Household Supplies
Although you have no influence over whether the items you discard are recycled or used again, you can purchase items that are biodegradable and made of non-synthetic materials to lessen the impact of this waste.
When bacteria and fungi come into touch with biodegradable goods, they break down. This implies that they won’t affect the environment if they come into contact with it because they vanish naturally.
These biodegradable products are:
Ecoly.com provides news, tips and guides for sustainable and eco-friendly lifestyle. We help you make earth-friendly choices through living, shopping, and learning.
