In the modern world, sustainable living is becoming more and more important. About 77% of people want to live sustainably.
This is because sustainable homes are designed to be environmentally friendly, so they use fewer resources and produce less waste. To create a sustainable home design for your remodel or new purchase, you can do many small things that will make a huge impact on the environment in the long run.
Here are ten easy sustainable home ideas that anyone can implement:
1. Use Sustainable Building Materials
More sustainable materials are being used to build homes nowadays. Especially when it comes to flooring and roofs, sustainable materials have an advantage over regular building materials. They require less energy to produce and maintain.
Common sustainable building products include straw bales for insulation, wooden beams, bamboo floors, and cork tiles for flooring.
2. Install a solar roof
A sustainable home design should include solar panels. They’re the most sustainable and cost-effective energy source available to homeowners today.
When you install solar panels, you can generate your own electricity, so you don’t have to rely on the electrical grid provided by your national power company.
However, make sure the solar panel installation is done properly, or the solar panels won’t produce enough electricity. Your solar panels should be installed at the proper solar angle, and solar modules need to be facing in the right direction.
You can hire this solar panel installation company in Fort Collins to do it for you.
3. Install Energy Efficient Appliances
If you’re purchasing new sustainable home appliances, such as dishwashers, washing machines and boilers, look for those that have earned the Energy Star from certified gas boiler installers. This is an official label that guarantees high energy efficiency ratings from the United States Department of Energy.
Energy Star appliances waste less energy than those which do not carry this seal of approval. They also cost less to run and may save you hundreds over their lifetime compared to regular models.
4. Install Eco-Friendly Flooring
Sustainable home design doesn’t end with the roof and appliances. Your floors should also contribute to a more environmentally friendly living space.
Hardwood, bamboo, and cork are three types of flooring that require less energy for their production than traditional materials like ceramic, tile, and stone do.
These materials also offer better insulation than other floorings. This reduces the amount of heat lost through your floors in the winter and retained during hot summer days.
5. Use Natural Paints and Wallpaper
Sustainable home design also includes wall coverings that are environmentally friendly, such as non-toxic paints and wallpaper. Regular paints are manufactured with solvents that pollute waterways when washed away by rainwater into rivers, lakes, or oceans.
Some water-based paints use vegetable oils instead of solvent-based materials to ensure a healthy ecosystem when it rains. Look for organic paint brands in your area if you want to do even more for the environment with the colors on your walls.
For sustainable wallpaper options, choose reclaimed materials with low VOCs.
5. Go Paperless and Reduce Packaging Wastage
If you’ve heard of going paperless before, it means reducing your paper consumption to reduce deforestation. In regards to self-sustaining homes, going paperless means reducing the amount of paper products that you use around your home.
For example, reduce your use of toilet tissue and hand towels by using reusable fabric or recycled paper towels instead.
6. Use Eco-Friendly Cleaners
When it comes to sustainable homes, the cleaner you are with the environment, the better. Look for eco-friendly cleaning supplies in supermarkets or online stores near you.
These are usually biodegradable cleaners that don’t contain things like chlorine bleach, which pollutes groundwater when washed away into rivers and oceans.
7. Plant Trees on Your Property
Planting trees is an integral part of a sustainable home design.
Trees provide some vital environmental benefits, such as taking in carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen back into the atmosphere. They also reduce air pollution on your property by removing toxins from the soil before they get into your water supply.
If you can’t plant trees on your property because it’s too small, join community projects to green up public areas instead. In turn, this will improve your quality of life by increasing the amount of fresh air you inhale.
8. Create a Green Roof
Many sustainable home ideas involve the exterior of your property, and green roofs are no exception.
A green roof is an extra layer of earth on top of your roof that’s filled with vegetation to absorb rainwater and filter out pollutants before they get into local waterways.
As a bonus, green roofs also help insulate buildings against heat and cold to reduce energy consumption. This reduces the amount of greenhouse gases released as a byproduct from heating and cooling systems.
9. Install a Solar Water Heating System
Sustainable home design also involves harvesting the free energy supplied by natural sources.
Harnessing solar power is one sustainable way of doing so. Installing a solar water heating system for your hot water tank means you won’t have to rely on non-renewable sources, such as gas or coal, to heat your water anymore.
This will help lower your electricity bills and reduce greenhouse gases from coal-fired power stations that produce electricity for homes in your area.
10. Save Water
Sustainable homes emphasize the conservation of natural resources. They also advocate using water sparingly to reduce your environmental impact.
Look for ways to save on your utility bills by reducing the amount of water you use at home.
This means taking shorter showers, fixing leaky faucets, not running dishwashers with a full load, and fixing dripping taps – simple things that will lower your daily water consumption more than you think. Save even more water by switching off the tap while brushing your teeth or washing dishes manually.
You can also plant native plants to reduce the need for extra watering.
Sustainable Home Ideas Your Home Remodel
Sustainable homes are the latest addition to the growing list of things people look for when buying or remodeling their homes.
With these sustainable home ideas, it’s easier than ever to create a green haven in your backyard.
We hope you have enjoyed today’s blog post. If you would like to read more informative articles, keep visiting our blog.
