8 Tips on Making Houses Eco-Friendly for New Homeowners

One way you can start being environmentally-conscious is by how you treat your house. Here are tips for new homeowners on making houses eco-friendly.

As a new homeowner, you’re given a fresh start and a clean canvas to create and design your own dream home. You move into your new home and you begin to start decorating and making the place truly yours. You put your own personal flair into it, but there’s one thing you might need some help with and that’s making it eco-friendly.

Making houses eco-friendly consist of a few different things. There are ways that you can convert the inside and outside of your home into an eco-friendly one. Some of these eco-friendly ideas are simple changes that any homeowner can make.

Others require a bit more from you other than simply shutting the water off while you brush your teeth. To reduce the size of your carbon footprint in the environment, make a reality out of these eco-friendly tips listed below. And of course, don’t forget to use eco friendly products nz if you really want to help save the planet.

Continue reading to find out more!

An Image of A house near a grassy field

What Is an Eco-Friendly Home?

Homes designed to have a minimal impact on the environment are constructed to be as self-sufficient as feasible. Using numerous natural resources such as light, wind, and soil, sustainable homes attempt to reduce their carbon footprint and the amount of heat and electricity a homeowner consumes by a large amount.

Using earth bags, logs, stones, recyclables, bamboo, and straw for insulation, eco-friendly dwellings inflict substantially less harm to the surrounding ecosystem. Additional advantages include:

  • Reduced maintenance requirements
  • Constant temperature 
  • Better air quality (and improved health) 
  • Less waste 
  • Lower costs

Tips on Making Houses Eco – Friendly

1. Consider a Smart Meter

Installing a smart meter in your home is one way to reduce your energy bill costs and carbon footprint on the environment. Your heating and cooling unit work overtime during the winter and summer months. During these seasons, it’s easy to leave your unit running longer than what’s needed.

There are times when you leave your house and forget to turn off the heater or the air conditioning. When you get home, you realize that you’ve paid to keep an empty house comfortable all day long. To prevent this from happening, a smart meter is programmed to shut off and on during certain times of the day.

Imagine never having to wonder if you remembered to turn the unit off or not before leaving. You can also have the heater or air conditioning kick on an hour before you return home.

2. Use Solar Panel Roofing

Solar panel roofing might be costly upfront, but it’ll save you money in the long run. By installing solar panels on your roof, most of your home’s energy will come from the sun. Your HVAC system will not have to be used as much with the help of the solar panels.

Not only will you save money on your energy bill, but you might also qualify for a tax credit as well.

3. Clean Refrigerator and HVAC Coils

Both your refrigerator and HVAC have coils that accumulate dust and debris over time. If these coils aren’t cleaned regularly, both systems will have to work much harder to function properly. The harder these systems have to work, the more energy that’s being used.

Take the time to clean these coils on a regular basis to help keep your refrigerator and HVAC system running in a smooth and effortless manner.

4. Replace Paper Towels With Cloth

If you tend to go through paper towels quite quickly, you’re not alone. It’s easy to use many more paper towels than are actually needed. If you’re a parent, then you know how true this can be.

Going through paper towels so quickly isn’t healthy for the environment, however. Rather than purchasing paper towels, consider replacing them with a cloth. There are a few good house cleaning materials out there that will clean as well as the paper towel, such as microfiber.

When done, give the cloth a wash and use it again! A good tip is to start off by still purchasing paper towels and have them nearby to use until you develop a good cleaning routine with the cloth.

5. Purchase Eco-Friendly Toilet Paper

Although we can switch out our paper towels for a reusable option, the same is not true for toilet paper. There’s a good chance that you don’t want to find ways to reuse toilet paper, so instead, switch to eco-friendly toilet paper. One eco-friendly toilet paper option is bamboo toilet paper.

Bamboo toilet paper is plastic-free and naturally antibacterial. Because bamboo grows much faster than trees do, it leaves less of an impact on the environment. After making the switch, you might even realize that you like it better than regular toilet paper!

6. Install a Water Filter

Water filters are a great way to turn your home into an eco-friendly atmosphere. You can install water filters on each individual faucet in your home or, you can install a system to filter all of the water. When you install a water filter, not only will you be washing in and drinking safe water, but you’ll help the environment as well.

Now that you have safe water to drink, you can use refillable bottles rather than purchasing plastic water bottles or plastic gallons of water.

7. Work With Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs

LED lights are a good choice for energy-efficient lightbulbs. LEDs for homes can help save you money while saving the environment. Many people don’t prefer LED lights simply for the fact that they don’t give off that yellow light that we’re used to.

You can, however, find LED lights that do give off the yellow-based light rather than the blue-light based light. Take your time and shop around before purchasing some for your home.

8. Clean With All-Natural Products

If you don’t already clean with all-natural products, it’s time you give it a try. You can purchase eco-friendly cleaning products at most stores, but the best way to go about it is to make your own cleaning products at home.

You can find plenty of recipes online that create some amazing natural cleaning products. The best thing about them is that you’ll save money while keeping an eco-friendly atmosphere.

Advantages of Eco-Friendly Homes

An Image of A room with a mountain view and sunlight seeping in

1. Water and Energy Conservation

With a growing population, energy demand and prices are projected to continue to rise. Integrating energy-efficient technology throughout your home will significantly reduce your utility bills, and the initial investment will be quickly recouped through the money you save.

2. Less maintenance

While constructing an eco-house, sustainability is essential; the goal is to develop a home that is durable and has as little impact on the surrounding environment as possible. Green building materials are typically more resilient and require considerably less upkeep over time, allowing your home to appear newer for longer and saving you money on costly repairs. In addition to reducing your home’s environmental effect, the durability and low maintenance requirements of these materials can help extend its useful life.

3. Safe Indoors

The greatest advantage of having an eco-friendly home is that none of its materials contain dangerous chemicals. Typically, items in your home can be hazardous to your health or the environment, but if you decide to go completely green, everything is safe.

4. Decrease Carbon Footprint

Carbon footprint is the quantity of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere as a result of an individual’s actions and interactions. The most efficient way to reduce carbon footprints to mitigate the greenhouse effect and depletion of the ozone layer is to build eco-friendly homes.

5. Cost-efficient

Investing in an eco-friendly home may cost up to $20,000 more than a conventional home, which costs approximately $200,000. This amount of money is substantial and might be saved by investing in a green home. Even if you don’t decide to build or buy your own home, this can rescue you from the dreaded monthly rental bother.

Making Houses Eco-Friendly Is Easy!

Making houses eco-friendly is simple when you follow these tips listed above! Try out a few of these eco-friendly solutions, or try them all! The more changes that you make in your home, the more money you’ll save and the more you’ll save the environment.

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