More than 75% of Australians are concerned about learning to live more sustainably.
They were also willing to protect their environment by embracing a more sustainable lifestyle.
Many millennials have embraced sustainable and eco-friendly homes.
What is a sustainable house anyway? It’s a house that is environmental, socially, and economically sustainable.
It’s also effective in its uses. Sustainable homes are of different types: tiny homes, zero-carbon houses, rammed earth houses, prefabs, etc.
You can either renovate your existing house to a more sustainable design or build one.
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Ways to Make Your House More Sustainable
1. Use Non-toxic Building Materials
You should build homes using non-toxic materials to enhance the eco-friendly environment.
For instance, use eco-paints on your walls. They emit fewer toxins and are less toxic to manufacture.
You can use other materials while building including bamboo, plant-based polyurethane foam, precast concrete slabs, reclaimed steel, etc.
2. Opt for Renewable Energy Sources
Most of the renewable energy is generated from natural resources such as water, sun, and wind.
Renewable energy sources such as hydropower, bio-energy, solar PV, and wind are expected to meet approximately 70% of the global electricity generation growth by 2023.
Switching from fossil fuels is a great way to enhance sustainability and reduce dependency on fossil fuels. It’s also economically-friendly.
3. Embrace Recycling
Dumping everything after use is not the only solution. Some of your materials can be recycled and reused for other uses within your home.
Additionally, you can sell some of the waste, such as furniture, old appliances, and building materials (metal, woods, etc.) to other people who might need them at lower prices.
4. Insulate Your House
Nobody wants to live in a stuffy or extremely cold house. Therefore, a well-insulated house is essential if you’re going to live sustainably.
Consider insulating the underfloor, walls, and ceiling. It’s a smart way to save some money that you spend on running HVAC systems.
You could save an average of 10% of your annual energy bills by insulating and sealing your home.
It also enhances comfortable living in your house all year round. But, most importantly, it reduces noise pollution.
5. Buy Energy-efficient Appliances Only
Home appliances consume the most energy in a home. They use over 30% of the energy, while HVAC systems use about 46% of your energy at home.
Therefore, upgrade to energy-efficient appliances. They have an Energy Star logo.
They might be relatively expensive but cheap to operate. They can use about 10-50% less energy than non-energy efficient appliances.
Among the home appliances you should consider upgrading include cloth dryers, water heaters, refrigerators, stoves, electric car charging stations, light bulbs, freezer, washing machine, and dishwasher.
6. Install Smart Power Strips
Are you looking for a way to reduce electric usage when you’re not using appliances at home?
Then, a power strip is what you need. It evaluates your power usage and automatically disables appliances and electronics that don’t need power at that moment.
Smart power strips cost the same as regular strips but would save you significant money.
It’s estimated that they can cut down your electricity usage by at least 20%.
7. Install a Drip Irrigation System
Drip irrigation systems are among the best things you can have in a yard.
They eliminate the labour of manually watering your vegetables, trees, and flowers in your yard. But, most importantly, it minimizes environmental effects.
A drip irrigation system waters plants directly to the roots, and there is no runoff on the soil.
One study found that a properly installed drip system can save about 80% of the water used in other irrigation techniques.
8. Embrace Better Landscaping Practices
Proper landscaping can significantly contribute to a more sustainable home.
For instance, a well-designed landscape ensures trees are not blocking light and heat through the windows of your house.
Additionally, you can use your kitchen waste as compost in your garden.
Among other ideas that enhance a sustainable landscape include using reclaimed water for irrigation, growing plants in pots, minimizing the use of fertilizers & pesticides, preventing soil erosion, etc.
Get to know how much landscaping costs and consider multiple landscaper quotes for your garden.
9. Use Natural Cleaning Products
Most of the regular cleaning products have harmful chemicals and might affect your health and the environment in the long run.
On the other hand, natural cleaning products have several benefits such as:
- They’re eco-friendly
- Not sensitive to the skin
- Easy to make at home
Above are some of the ways of making your house more sustainable. There are many other tips you can utilize.
Some will require you to spend some money while others are easy at no cost.
They are small yet crucial things that bring a profound change in a home.
Home sustainability comes with a lot of benefits, such as enhanced comfort and saving energy.