We’re sure that many of you have thought at least once at how to be eco friendly at home, what solutions to adopt in order to improve the quality of your life and to reduce the negative impact on the environment. “Eco-friendly” and “going green” have certainly become buzz words in recent years and it seems that lots of people have become more and more environmentally conscious and responsible of their actions. So we think that striving to have an eco friendly living is far from being a trend nowadays, it should be a way of life for all of us because in this way we don’t sustain only the environment, but also we’ll be healthier. In today’s post, we’ll point out in general lines some important home improvements that really make a difference.
Photo: Power Haus by Josh Wynne Construction
Solutions for an eco friendly home environment:
- Starting with a different approach in designing your house: a home that embraces nature and blends indoor and outdoor living, allowing you to enjoy the best of both worlds. Eco friendly house plans should take into consideration architectural home designs with minimal environmental impact. Such kinds of designs incorporate solar energy systems, grey water management, cross ventilation to all living spaces, recycled materials and fully insulated roof and walls.
- Reduce energy costs in many ways: install solar panels that provide energy for your entire house, install solar tanks that can heat stored water, shop new energy-efficient appliances, switch traditional incandescent light bulbs to low wattage light bulbs, buy a programmable thermostat especially if your home is vacant most of the day, turn off the computer when is not used, landscaping with the right mix of trees and shrubs that blocks winter winds or the summer sun, and so on.
Photo: Guz Architects
- Your house should allow always natural airflow and sunlight illumination. For that, design your house with skylights in your roof, large open areas which let air circulate through the home, lower large windows, double glazed windows especially when the wind enters. Enjoy natural light and don’t turn on lights during the day as long as you can. Allowing natural flow, sunlight illumination and switching to eco-friendly product options will also change the indoor air quality, which it seems that is a serious problem in most of largest cities affecting the health of millions of people.
- Other ways to fresh and clean air is to add greenery using for example vertical gardens, get rid of harmful chemicals like toxic cleaning products, toxic disinfectants, furniture, carpeting, padding, paint, and replace them with biodegradable, natural and reusable substitutes. An indoor quality air has many benefits like giving a sense of well-being, improving your sleep.
- Capture rainwater and shower “gray-water” and use it to irrigate the houseplants and the garden.
- Preserving the natural landscape, unplug every time chargers and appliances, turning off the lights when you leave the room, reducing landfill waste, switching to low flow toilet mechanisms are other things from a long list which we can do in order to be environmentally friendly at home.
Photo: K2LD Architects