If you are wondering just why it is necessary for you to imbibe energy-saving strategies in our culture, the reasons are not far-fetched. The need to keep the cleaner air that we breathe in is one important one. Then also, when you save energy, you are saving money. Most families have gadgets and electrical appliances in every room that consume energy and if you hope to go green or reduce your energy consumption, you should start by reducing how much you use items that require the burning of gas or the use of electricity. Let us see some of the ways you can go green at home.
Starting green from the scratch
The best way to go green with your new home is by incorporating it during its building. Green building offers you a comprehensive set of best practices to help you construct an efficient, healthy home that will benefit both the community and your environment. There are a number of elements that should be considered in building an eco-friendly custom home. Some of them are;
- Site planning and design: You have to design your site to fit into the surrounding neighborhood and to work with natural features which will provide safe play spaces.
- Indoor air quality: Achieving a high-quality indoor environment requires careful design, material choices, and construction. Indoor air quality is a consequence of well-designed ventilation and moisture control which goes hand in hand with energy efficiency and building durability.
- Energy: Energy efficiency is key if you must call the house green, so during the building, make use of energy modeling software in the design process. You can use energy from the sun and wind to heat, light, and cool your building affordably.
You can also think green when choosing building materials and when considering water supply and usage in the house. All these considerations are better taken by the experts in the business. You will be working with home builders who will be open to your ideas and thoughts regarding your new home and together you will work towards having the house of your dreams.
Disconnect appliances overnight
Before going to bed every night, you can take some time to move around and disconnect all electrical appliances that you will not be making use of overnight. Most people leave their phones and laptops connected overnight. There is also no need for your television sets or sound systems to be plugged in when you are asleep. Shut down your laptops every night before you sleep. Apart from the fact that you get to save costs on energy consumption, this strategy also helps reduce the amount of heat deposited within your house which the air conditioner may be programmed to cool off, thereby having to work more. All these may not seem like much but they sure do add up over time.
Make use of solar energy
Harnessing the most natural source of energy available which is the sun, can be of great help in charging our electronic devices. Our laptops, cell phones, and tablets use the most electricity from our homes. So if we are able to get solar-powered chargers, they will help minimize our use of electrical energy, protecting our environment in the process.
Replace your light bulbs
A majority of people still use the 100-watt incandescent bulbs simply because they are cheaper and readily available. These bulbs deposit a lot of heat into our homes and can cause us to spend more in reality even when it looks like we are saving costs by purchasing the bulbs cheaply. Buy more compact fluorescent light bulbs which save about 70% of the energy used by incandescent bulbs. They are costlier than the former but will help you save more money than you will spend when using the cheaper option bulbs.
Consider planting a tree
When you plant trees around your home, they can provide natural shade for your property. You have to plant the tree along the southern and western sides of the house and they will protect you from the sun’s rays and help you save energy. The trees will keep your house cool in the summer even with the sun’s rays. In the winter, since the leaves would have been shed off, the tree will allow sun rays into your home and help with its warming. It also helps to break the force of too much wind against your house.
Final word
It is possible to make changes to your power consumption pattern every day no matter how little. This may not cost much but can add up to real saved energy. If you have kids at home, you can teach them some of the methods of saving energy too so that these methods grow with them and they become used to it. If we can keep the air around us clean by going green, it will keep us more healthy and happier for so many years.
Writer : Theresa McGonell