As a homeowner, you have a unique opportunity to positively impact the world around you, and it’s an opportunity you should take advantage of. Minimising your carbon footprint, reducing harmful emissions, and living more sustainably will contribute to a better environment and help you significantly reduce your energy costs. Making changes to your home’s design to be more sustainable will also help you to set a great example for your neighbours and others in your community to follow in your footsteps.
There are countless different ways that you can live more sustainably and make positive changes to your environmental footprint through your home’s design. However, before you start making changes, you need to ensure that you put a plan in place from the outset. Putting a plan in place for your renovations will help to ensure that you have everything you need before you get started, that you complete the work within a set timeframe and, perhaps most importantly, that you stay within budget. Updating your home to make it more sustainable can run the gauntlet when it comes to costs, so it is wise to set out a clear budget before you begin to keep your spending on track and you get the best return on your investment possible.
Let’s take a look at just a few ways that you can update your home’s design to make it more environmentally friendly.
Install Skylights
Allowing more natural light into your home is important when designing a more sustainable home. With more natural light flowing into your home, there will be less need to turn on the heating or to use the lights, especially during the winter. With skylights Melbourne homeowners can allow more natural light into their homes with ease. Instead of having to change out your existing windows for bigger models that will allow more natural light in, simply install a skylight. Skylights can easily be added to kitchens, bathrooms, hallways and other rooms of your house that are not getting as much natural light as you might like.
Add More Plants
Houseplants are very trendy and fashionable right now, but they do much more than just look good. Adding some carefully chosen houseplants to your interior will instantly improve the air quality in your home. Plants act as a natural air filter, helping to detox and clean the air that you and your family are breathing in every day. What’s more, having more plants in your home can also have a positive impact on your mental health, boosting your mood and making you feel better. Be sure to choose plants that are easy to look after and that are appropriate for where you are living.
Update Your Windows
Did you know that approximately 50% of your home’s energy is lost through your windows? Not only is this terrible for the environment, but it’s also a waste of your hard-earned money. While swapping all of your windows out for new high-performance windows is not cheap, it will pay for itself in the long run. Nowadays, there is a range of new high-performance windows that you can choose from that feature new types of double and triple glazing, nonconductive framing, special coatings and improved air-tight constructions that are better quality than ever before.
Energy-Efficient Appliances
As your old appliances begin to age and need to be replaced, be sure to buy new energy-efficient appliances for your home. These modern eco-friendly appliances use less energy and operate more efficiently than their more dated counterparts. Large appliances such as refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, water heaters, air conditioners and dryers require a lot of energy to operate. Buying more modern energy-efficient items will significantly reduce your electric bill each month while also having a serious impact on your home’s environmental impact.
Install Solar Panels
In the past solar panels were expensive to install, and, in many cases, the technology was not very advanced, meaning the yield was low. However, nowadays, this is no longer the case. In fact, solar panels have become more affordable than ever, the technology used is far superior to what it was in the past, and homeowners have, in many cases, been able to generate more power than they need, allowing them to send some of their excess power back to the main grid. Installing solar panels will allow you to massively reduce your energy costs going forward and give you the opportunity to finally move away from electricity generated by harmful fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil.
Invest In A More Sustainable Home Design And A Brighter Future
To make your home more sustainable, lower your energy bills and have a positive impact on the environment, it’s important that you start making changes now. Following the tips outlined above, you can make sure that your home’s carbon footprint is lowered significantly moving forward. As more homeowners are inspired by your efforts and follow your lead, we will all have a brighter future to look forward to.
