How sustainable is your home right now? Do you have eco-friendly appliances, triple glazing on the windows, and solar panels on the roof?
If not, don’t worry; you only need to know the direction of travel and put the pieces into place to build a home that has a minimal impact.
Renewable Energy
For decades our energy usage has been unsustainable.
Whether it was powering our cars, homes, or devices, the energy used was taken from carbon stored on the earth, this carbon was extracted from the atmosphere billions of years ago and replaced with oxygen – now it’s back.
If we continue to extract fuel from the earth and put it back into the atmosphere, the planet starts to return to an unlivable environment, which is why we need to switch to renewable energy in our homes.
You can do this by contacting your energy company or replacing a water heater.
Better Insulation
Heating homes – especially in the winter – require energy that needs to come from somewhere. Ideally, it would come from a renewable energy source such as solar or wind, but that isn’t always possible.
However, even when it does come from renewables, it needs to be efficient.
Better insulation is one of the best ways to ensure that the energy used to heat your home is efficient and valuable.
Nowadays, creating energy can be expensive and harmful, so protect the energy used by installing triple-glazed windows, hanging heavy curtains, and using wall foam.
Energy Efficiency
Again, it is important to get the most out of the energy we create, and to do that; we need to make our homes more efficient and sustainable.
One way to do this is by installing solar panels; another is to use adequate insulation. But we can also invest in energy-efficient appliances.
The main appliances used in the majority of homes include the kettle, the oven, the washing machine, and the refrigerator. There are also many electronic devices that need to be charged or remain on standby.
Always check the efficiency rating of appliances before you buy them.
Eco-Products
Sustainability in the home often means energy sustainability, but not always; it also includes sustainable products that would have been harmful to the environment in the past.
A decade ago, people might not have considered the impact of certain cleaning products, but now they do.
While the majority of cleaning products still contain ingredients that are harmful to the environment and made from unsustainable plastic, there has been a shift to more eco-friendly alternatives.
When you buy cleaning products, ensure they are non-toxic and fully recyclable.
Recycle and Upcycle
Until now, the world has been operating on a linear economy that creates vast amounts of harmful waste that will take hundreds of years to break down.
Thankfully, the world is changing, and a circular economy is now a possibility. In a circular economy, nothing is wasted; instead, all the products and materials are taken apart and recycled into the same type of product again.