In today’s era of increased sensitivity to the environment in which we all depend, the very best place to start making small changes to one’s lifestyle is in the home. It’s here that we spend the majority of our time, and it’s within those four walls that we expend the majority of our energy cooking, cleaning, heating, and lighting our way through life. This article looks at how, with very small changes to your home, you can make it far more eco-friendly – and save cash in the long-run, too.
Windows
The windows in your home are delicately placed to allow lights into your home in the daytime, and to allow air to blow through your home on muggy summer days. In the winter, however, they can be one of the main reasons you lose heat from your home – you’ll only have to stand near a window in winter to feel the coolness seeping through.
The solution here is remarkably straightforward – get your windows updated with double-glazed and well-fitted new frames. Search for home window replacement ‘near me’ to book an appointment before the summer’s out to get your windows quickly changed. It will not take long for your home to conserve far more heat in the winter and as heating a home is one of the primary energy gobblers, you’ll save on energy bills, and save the planet, at the very same time.
Bins
Different councils have different routines and agendas when it comes to waste products. Some people are provided with full recycling bins, including food and garden waste and a bin for bottles. While other people are provided with just one or two bins for everything, you should petition your council to practice better waste management in the long-run, and in the short-term. This is your opportunity to build your green credentials by managing your own waste.
Set up bins in your home that collect all kinds of recycling, and also food waste. The food waste can be added to a compost bin if you’ve got a garden that will easily fit one – or otherwise, you might be able to dispose of your food waste in a local allotment or community compost. Consider setting one up if you don’t have any options for food waste. Meanwhile, it only takes one trip a week to your closest recycling bins to dispose of cardboard, plastics, papers, tins, and bottles in a responsible manner.
Solar Panels
You may live in an area in which you feel you barely get any sun, but the truth is, solar panels have become more and more effective in recent years at capturing sunlight and translating that light into energy. Whatever energy is made by your use of solar panels, you’ll be able to use to power your home – free energy instead of paid energy from the grid. Furthermore, any extra energy you produce can be sold back to the grid – which means you can actually make money from solar panels on your home.
Now, it’s a fairly expensive upfront cost to install the number of solar panels necessary to replace your fossil fuel energy supply with a source of green energy. You will have to shell out to have them installed. But as mentioned above, you’ll begin making up for that cost back on the very first day of their operation, which means after a year or so you’ll be making money from your panels, and contributing to the environment, too.
Slow Consumption
While there are lots of fancy and extravagant ways to save the environment, there’s one which simply requires you to take a different outlook on your spending and consuming. Try to bring the rate of consumption down in all that you buy. Consider:
- Buying better-made clothes less frequently
- Only purchasing the food that you know you’ll eat and not throw away
- Recycling furniture instead of throwing it away or casting it into the dump
- Finding creative ways to store and reuse older materials
By slowly adjusting yourself to a lower-consumption lifestyle, you’ll save a good deal of money, you’ll stop filling the landfill with items you really shouldn’t be throwing away, and you’ll feel ever so slightly liberated from the world of endless consumption that we can sometimes feel trapped in.
These tips are seen as the finest to help you save the world from the comfort of your home, living green in order to save the environment – and earning a little cash while you’re at it.
Article Submitted By Community Writer
