For anyone looking to reduce their carbon footprint without making drastic lifestyle changes, there are a number of ways you can green up your home with some environmentally friendly products – while sticking to your normal routine.
Sustainable design focuses on making your home systems work more efficiently, which offers many important benefits to homeowners. These include improved air and water quality, preservation of natural resources, reduced carbon dioxide emissions, increased home value, lower operating costs, and a greater quality of life.
EnviroAlternatives offers a wide variety of environmental products that can be easily incorporated into your home to ensure you are doing your part to help the planet.
- Water purification
There are a number of technologies available to reduce or eliminate exposure to known carcinogens in your tap water. Using a home filtration system can remove chemicals, bacteria, and minerals, including iron, sulfur, manganese, tannin, arsenic, lead, asbestos, and nitrates. Installing a water purification system ensures that the water you use is clean and safe – not just for drinking, but for cooking food, washing dishes, and cleaning your home.
- Waterless toilets
While the current requirement for toilets is a maximum of 1.5 gallons per flush, a drastic change from the original toilets which used up to eight gallons of water per flush, there are a number of toilets available that don’t use any water at all. Composting toilets, incinerating toilets, and dehydration toilets use different technologies to dispose of waste in environmentally-friendly ways. There are a number of factors to consider when investigating waterless toilet alternatives, however – installation costs and operational costs aside, it’s important to choose a toilet system that is appropriate for your home.
- Grey water
All of the water used for bathing, cleaning, and doing laundry needs to be disposed of somehow – and needs to be done in a way that is safe and healthy for both homeowners and for the environment. There are a number of green treatment systems available for grey water disposal, including some recycling systems that can help reduce indoor water consumption even more. Water is one of our most valuable natural resources, and by switching to an environmentally-friendly alternative to wastewater disposal, you can make a difference without sacrificing your quality of life.
- Solar water heaters
Water heaters are one of the most expensive appliances you’ll purchase for your home, but if you invest in a solar water heater, you can use this investment to reduce pollution and help save the environment. These are easy to install, repair, and remove, and with the money you save on utility costs, the appliance can pay for itself in just a few years. You’ll also enjoy protection from rising utility prices while taking advantage of a renewable resource that isn’t going anywhere – the sun. Your dedication to the environment will be visible by the panel on your roof, and might influence your friends and neighbours to green up their own homes, as well.
- Household products
Most cleaning products or personal hygiene products are full of harmful chemicals that can be damaging to the environment – and to your own personal health. Often, these products are also tested on animals. There are tons of green brands that are just as good as or better than the products you’re used to. Taking some time to investigate alternatives to the products you use most often can be a great and easy way to reduce your impact on the environment and leave you feeling healthier, too. You can also save yourself some money by mixing products yourself, ensuring that every ingredient is safe and environmentally-friendly.
Just a few small changes to your home can make a difference on the environment. If you can incorporate even just one or two of these small adjustments in your home, you’ll make an impact not only on your own well-being – but the well-being of the planet as a whole. Making these improvement in your home is also a great way to introduce your loved ones and your neighbours to the many benefits of living green, letting them experience first-hand how your green home functions more efficiently and saves you money – all while helping the environment and promoting global sustainability.