Wish your home was more eco-friendly and energy-efficient but don’t know where to start? There are hundreds of ways you can make your household greener. And, what’s more, many of them are incredibly easy to implement.
Listed below are the top five best ways to make your home more eco-friendly and save a lot of money while doing it.
Maximize the Heat You Get From Your Wood Burner
Do you heat your home with wood fuels? Then maximising the heating efficiency of your wood burner is one of the best things you can do for yourself. This will increase the amount of heat that you get from your log burner while using the same amount of firewood. Make sure you only use high-quality kiln dried logs, have your chimney swept at least once a year, and use a stove eco fan to ensure proper air circulation.
Be Mindful of How Much Water Your Waste
This might seem obvious, but a lot can be gained by being a little bit more conscious about your water usage. There are hundreds of ways to reduce your water usage. If you have a bath at home, opt to take more showers and think of baths as a rare luxury to reserve yourself with. Your skin (and the environment) will thank you for it. Avoid leaving the tap running when brushing your teeth or shaving. And it goes without saying that you should also take the time to fix any leaks you might have that waste your water.
Upgrade to LED Light Bulbs
Making your home more eco friendly doesn’t have to be expensive. Small steps like switching your light halogen and CFL bulbs to more energy-efficient LED alternatives can make a world of difference. LED light bulbs produce virtually no waste heat and use several times less electricity than older light bulb designs. They aren’t much more expensive than older light bulbs but they also last a lot longer, making them a lot more cost-effective in the long run.
Make Sure Your Windows Are Properly Insulated
Insulating your windows is a key step in minimizing your heating energy waste. If your windows aren’t insulated properly, it’s easy for heat from the house to escape outside. As a result, your home heating system, thereby increasing the amount of energy that you need to expend to heat your home to a comfortable temperature. Ideally, you will want to double glaze your windows. Double glazing is a key step that will help make your home much more eco friendly.
Wash Your Clothes on a Colder Setting
Did you know? The energy required to heat the water in our washing machines makes a disproportionally large contribution to your overall household energy usage while (in the vast majority of cases) not making your clothes any cleaner.
Unless you’re dealing with incredibly difficult to wash stains (such as blood or red wine), there is absolutely no point in washing your clothes on a setting over 30°C. The lowest temperature setting will get your clothes just as clean while not using excessive amounts of energy. By turning the temperature down, you’ll be helping to decrease the amount of energy waste generated by your household.
