Going green and eco-friendly is quickly transitioning from being an option in today’s world to being a necessity for the benefits of all. With rapidly increasing rates of environmental degradation and risks of global warming, everyone needs to play their part in the conservation of this beautiful planet. Conservation isn’t just limited to water and other natural resources. It also entails using eco-friendly household appliances and technology in our homes. Adopting eco-friendly solutions will not only give you peace of mind but also help you save money. Read on to understand why you need eco-friendly household appliances.
1. Energy Conservation
Given that eco-friendly appliances are designed to perform their tasks using a minimum amount of energy, they can easily conserve energy. You can then use the conserved energy for other important tasks in your home. Before buying any appliance, determine if it’s energy-efficient. You can do this by looking at its energy star rating. Choosing rated appliances will help you lower water and energy consumption compared to non-rated ones. For instance, an energy-rated washer can help you conserve over 40 percent of water and 20 percent of energy.
2. Money Savings
By lowering energy consumption, these appliances also lower your energy bills. Investing in energy-efficient appliances, carrying out energy-conserving home improvements, and making energy-efficient habits part of your everyday life can save you lots of money. Here are a few energy-efficient improvements worth making in your home:
• Daily energy-conserving practices: Switching off lights and appliances that are not in use, hand-washing dishes, and hang-drying your clothes.
• Replace energy-intensive light bulbs: Replacing traditional incandescent bulbs with halogen incandescent bulbs, LEDs, or CFLs can help you lower your energy costs by 30 percent to 80 percent.
• Install a smart thermostat: With a smart thermostat, you can automatically switch off or regulate your heating and cooling unit when you’re away or sleeping.
• Install energy conserving windows: Windows account for a significant portion of energy waste in your home – they can increase your total heating cost by 10 to 25 percent. Installing energy-efficient windows, especially double-pane ones, can significantly minimize heat loss.
3. Safety and Health
In addition to their energy-efficient capability, eco-friendly household appliances have a high level of safety and health. The glass ceramic stove tops come with sensors that maintain safe cooking temperatures. The refrigerators feature a carbon filter for water and ice dispensers.
4. Lowers Carbon Footprint
Buying appliances that efficiently use water and energy allows you to reduce the negative impacts on the environment. In fact, using an Energy Star-certified refrigerator for 5 years can lower your carbon footprint by about 7,900 pounds. Instead of disposing of your refrigerator, having it recycled is a more environmentally friendly option. Recycling keeps insulating foam and refrigerants away from landfills.
5. Tax Incentives
In some countries, governments provide tax incentives and subsidies to individuals who purchase eco-friendly appliances. These incentives aim to increase the usage of energy-efficient devices and conserve the environment. So when you’re shopping for energy-efficient appliances, remember to enquire about incentives and subsidies.
6. Excellent Performance and Less Maintenance
Eco-friendly appliances are equipped with the latest electric motors and up-to-date computerized operating systems that enable them to deliver better performance compared to traditional ones. They complete tasks faster than conventional ones. They also require less maintenance because they are built leveraging the latest technologies and components.
Introduce Houseplants
In addition to environmentally-friendly appliances, keeping houseplants is another great way to turn your house into an eco-friendly powerhouse. Houseplants play a pivotal role in the improvement of indoor air quality. They remove toxic vapors and chemicals like formaldehyde and carbon monoxide through their leaves and roots. Being around houseplants enhances focus, memory retention, and productivity. They also improve our overall well being. Given all these benefits, it’s important to ensure your indoor plants have everything they need to grow well. And sunlight is one of the main requirements for growth. For indoor plants, you’ll need to invest in an alternative source of light. This is where an LED grow light will come in handy.
Conclusion
Using eco-friendly household appliances significantly benefits both the environment and your monthly budget. So before buying any green appliance, it is important to compare the Energy Star-rating of different devices. Remember the higher rating, the higher the efficiency, and the higher the price.
Article by Monica Gibson.