Thursday 30 May 2013

How To Make Your Home Eco Friendly

By Rena Hudson


Global warming remains a big topic all over the world. Many countries have moved to arrest this potentially dangerous development by reducing the effects that are believed to contribute to environmental degradation. The manner in which buildings are designed and constructed is one of the areas that have witnessed a major shift. If you are living in a house that was built way before this campaign was kicked off, you have a chance to contribute to this noble course. We shall consider some ways on how to make your home eco friendly.

One of the options that may wish to consider is the use of energy efficient appliances. These are appliances that are designed to convert all the energy they receive to useful energy and have very minimal wastage. Energy saving bulbs, for example, are about five times more efficient than the ordinary bulbs. They convert almost all the electrical energy they receive to light energy.

There is need to minimize the loss of heat from your home. This helps cutting down on the associated costs. Close to half of the heat supplied to your house is lost through the roof and the walls. Insulation of these areas significantly cuts down on unnecessary losses. There are a number of materials that will help reduce losses through conduction, convention and evaporation. The main ones include glass wool, perlite, cement, wood fibre, animal fibre and polystyrene among others.

Instead of relying one external sources of energy, you may consider harnessing the non-renewable sources. Solar and wind energy are both easy to obtain as long as one is capable of installing a turbine or solar panels. Not only are these sources clean but are also way cheaper than the petroleum ones. Excesses in production can always be sold to utility companies.

The air conditioner is one of the appliances that use a lot of energy in the house. For this reason, it is important that its use is limited only to the necessary times. Alternative ways of cooling should be considered. These include the use of double glazing, ceiling fans and cross ventilation. Planting lots of trees around the house is also very helpful as is the installation of a geothermal cooling system underground.

The temptation to throw away a used plastic jar is huge. This is because many people just get lazy when thy think of washing them. This should not be the case as it increases the chances of polluting the environment. Scrap them lightly and fill them with hot, soapy water for a few minutes. A simple rinse after this makes them recycle ready.

Paper towels are frequently overused and you will need to cut down on this. You can have several cloth towels so that you do not have to wash them all the time. At the same time, you need to use the towels only for gross clean-ups and avoid them when they are not necessary. Microfiber towels are recommended for everyday use. Old T-shirts may help in household cleaning.

These are many other ways of how to make your home eco friendly. The most important thing that you need to remember is to cut down on unnecessary uses. Inviting an energy or environmental expert to your home to make an assessment would be a good idea.




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