Clean Green Living Starts In The Home

Eco-friendliness is on the minds of many, nowadays. Year on year, the media reports more on climate change, with many in the last year declaring a climate emergency or crisis. It’s important for individuals to bear in mind that the role we have in creating this crisis is infinitesimally small compared to the big businesses that do the vast majority of the polluting and wasting. However, there’s nothing wrong with feeling like you want to do something. Your home is where most of your energy and resource usage happens so here are a few tips on how to start living a greener life there.

Batten down the hatches

A lot of the energy that we use goes towards either cooling down or heating up the home. However, the truth is that many of us are throwing more money away than we need, simply due to the fact that our older home may be harder to heat up or cool down. Check your home for insulation and get in touch with the local council to see if they can fit any that you’re missing. Consider looking at replacing the doors or the windows if they are prone to major air leaks, and don’t forget to inspect your roof once a year. If these insulating boundaries of the home fail, then heat and escape or infiltrate the home freely, meaning you spend more money on trying to heat or cool the place.

Be more efficient with your heating

Central heating might be preferred for its ability to heat up the whole home, but it’s not always the right idea to turn it on. Gas boilers create a lot of CO2 during combustion. Newer ones are more efficient, but it’s still a wasteful way of heating up the home. A lot of the heat in the water travelling through the pipes is lost before it makes it to the room as well. However, if you buy an electric radiator, you are using a 100% efficient device. None of the energy used to power a radiator is lost, it all converts to heat. It can also more quickly help to heat up a smaller space or a single room.

Live a more minimalist lifestyle

You might think that minimalist is all for the feng shui of the place, but the truth is that it has broader environmental consequences than you might think. Every product that we order online or buy in a store has a carbon footprint of its own: most notably the fuel used in transporting goods from one place to another. As such, when we order larger items, such as furniture, we make a larger carbon footprint as well. Aside from adopting the minimalist decor style, upcycling older furniture instead of replacing it can be a much greener way to live, too.

Look to the sun

The reputation that solar power had as being overly expensive, ineffective, and unfeasible is slowly diminishing. The panels aren’t cheap, by any means, but they’re getting less expensive as time goes on. Furthermore, they’re getting more efficient, able to better produce energy even if you’re not living under constant sunlight. Installing solar power in your home could provide easy access to cheap and clean energy. Even if you don’t have enough to supply the whole home, solar can be used to, for instance, heat the water of the home, meaning you’re at least relying on burning fossil fuels for one less thing in your life.

Be water conscious

Energy isn’t the only concern when it comes to how we use natural resources in our households. A lot more people are getting serious about water, since the threats of shortages have already started to make good in certain parts of the world, such as South Africa. There are a lot of ways to reduce water usage in the home, such as not keeping the tap running while washing the dishes and reusing greywater for things like flowering your plants. However, installing smart taps, toilets, and showerheads are going to have a much better impact in the long-run. These deftly control how much water is being used, ensuring you’re not being wasteful while still providing enough to meet your needs.

There may be some changes you cannot afford right now, some you cannot commit to, but any change is a step in a positive direction. Collective action is going to be essential to beat the impending climate crisis, but doing your part as an individual helps.