Do you ever stop and consider how much energy you use in your own home? We leave chargers plugged in around the clock, run our air conditioners and heaters constantly, and… Thankfully, we’re recognizing as a community the importance of caring for our resources, and we’re making adjustments bit by bit. One thing we can do is to make sure that every new item that comes into our home is environmentally sound. To help you get started, we’ve made a list of eco-friendly additions for your home.
1. Insulation
It’s likely that your home already has insulation, but you may want to consider getting it reinforced. When your home is properly insulated, you use less energy to maintain the inside temperature, reducing your carbon footprint. There are a number of eco-friendly insulation options, including recycled cotton and Icynene®.
2. A Dual-Flush Toilet
Considering how often we use them, toilets take up a good portion of our water bill. Modern manufacturers are taking note of this and exploring the different ways to go about the construction of toilets. One such advancement is dual-flush toilets. These come equipped with two buttons—one for liquid waste, and another for solid waste. Which button you press determines the amount of water used per flush.
3. Wood Furniture
We recommend carefully considering the many benefits of wood furniture when furnishing your home. Those flimsy pieces of furniture are kind on your budget but not so kind on the environment—they tend to last only a couple years, requiring constant replacement and unnecessary waste. Wood furniture, on the other hand, is long-lasting, durable, and economically friendly.
4. A Programmable Thermostat
As we mentioned above, our abuse of the thermostat is a consistent waste of energy. We understand the need to run the HVAC when you’re at home, but this isn’t always necessary when you’re at work. With a programmable thermostat, you can control your home’s temperatures throughout the day, even when you’re not home.
5. A Pressure Cooker
Avoid using a substantial amount of energy with your oven by investing in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers use less energy and often decrease the amount of cooking time needed for a recipe. Additionally, by being sources of one-pot recipes, they decrease the need to use multiple stove burners when you’re making certain meals.
6. LED Lights
LED lights have several positive effects on our environment. They’re known to use 80% less energy than their predecessors; 95% of the energy used in these bulbs is converted into light, with only 5% wasted. Additionally, they reflect a large amount of light at a low wattage and can last as long as 50,000 hours before burning out.
7. A Solar Hot Water Heater
A solar hot water heater saves users a significant amount of energy and money spent on bills. As the name suggests, these heaters save energy by drawing energy directly from the sun before converting it into heat. They also greatly reduce the amount of gases released into the air when in use. Another perk of these heaters is that they have a positive impact on the resale value of your home.
