A sustainable home refers to the physical shell of the house and its constriction. It can be built or retrofitted using human resources, building materials, energy and water efficiently. “The production, processing, and consumption of commodities requires the extraction and use of natural resources (wood, ore, fossil fuels, and water),” Robbins wrote. Every time you buy new clothing, you’re contributing to the release of environmental toxins and, if you’re into fast fashion, a ton of easily-avoidable waste. By buying pre-loved goods, we can stop contributing to this negative cycle.
Ditch single-use plastics
What you buy to furnish your home and backyard can also contribute to making it greener. Think sustainable products, eco paints, energy-efficient appliances and electronics, and solar-powered options. Also worth considering are geothermal heat pumps, aka ground source heat pumps.
Keep electrical products for at least seven years
Therefore, personally limiting flights is the best way to reduce emissions. This is until sustainable aviation has become a viable, mainstream alternative. As most emissions result from producing and preparing meat and dairy, consuming less meat would reduce GHG emissions. While some opt to drastically change their diets to a vegan one drastically, simply reducing your intake of meat can already have a big impact. You can make easy alterations and repairs to your clothing to keep them longer or adjust to current trends.
- And while there are some plastic products that are important and necessary, such as surgical gloves, half of the 300 million tons of plastic we produce worldwide on a yearly basis comes from single-issue products.
- “When I first started living more sustainably, I wasn’t really doing it from a save-the-planet perspective,” shares Kellogg.
- The most eco-friendly houses are those designed and built with sustainable materials, energy-efficient features, and minimal environmental impact.
- Local, seasonal produce also has higher nutritional value since it has spent less time from its source.
- Circular construction is a concept that includes reusing, sharing, and upcycling building materials.
Grow your own food
And reusable cotton bags have to be reused at least 131 times to break even with a plastic bag due to the environmental impact of their production. According to the EPA, toilets account for almost 30 percent of the average household’s indoor water usage. How to make your home more environmentally friendly One easy way to slash this number is by upgrading an older toilet model to an EPA-certified WaterSense model. Nationwide estimates that the eco-friendly models can save as much as 13,000 gallons of water per year, plus slash water bills by $90.
Creating a healthy home environment
Participating in these rapid trend cycles is creating a culture of over-consumerism. Radiator foil is a thin sheet that reduces heat loss into external walls by reflecting heat into the room. Simple Energy Advice says up to 25% of your home’s heating energy is lost in the roof. You can stop rising heat from escaping through your loft by laying down blanket loft insulation rolls that you can alter to fit between the joists in your loft. Double-glazed windows have two sheets of glass panels with a gap, and triple-glazed windows have three sheets with two gaps.
Renewable Energy for Electricity
Transporting local materials will generate fewer emissions compared to supplies that need to come from across the country or even across the world. Using pesticides can cause toxins to leak into streams, ponds, lakes, and wells, and can contaminate groundwater. Pesticides are not only dangerous to the environment and our health, but also pets and other wild animals. Alternative ways to keep critters at bay include companion planting, crop rotation, and keeping plants as healthy as possible so that they become naturally resistant to pests. A billion plastic toothbrushes are thrown away in the United States annually.
Conserve water
- According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, single-use plastics are goods made primarily from fossil fuel–based chemicals that are meant to be discarded immediately after use.
- The gas prevents heat loss since it is a poor thermal conductor, so heat cannot easily pass through it.
- Your boiler might burn more fuel to heat your home, especially as it ages.
- As the world is changing around us, people are growing more aware of the importance of sustainable living.
- For an extra environmentally-friendly touch, add sustainable blinds made from hemp or bamboo, or cotton curtains for a cozy and quiet bedroom.
- We’ve compiled a cheat sheet full of our expert advice on all these topics, to help answer your most pressing energy-saving and home sustainability questions.
“When it comes to shopping more sustainably one of the best things you can do is shop your closet,” says Kellogg. “I love to host clothing swaps with friends and look on the secondhand market.” There’s also the option to donate clothes https://ecosoberhouse.com/ to a local organization that accepts them. To start growing your own food, first consider the space you have, the amount of sun it gets and the climate you live in, as these will determine which foods will thrive in your garden.
Install Energy-Efficient Lights
There are lots of little things we can do in our homes to play our small part in reducing landfill waste, cleaning the air, and preserving the natural landscape. But we double our efforts when we get our kids involved, helping them understand the why to our what. Of course, not all prefab homes are as kind to the environment as others – check out our guide to the best eco-friendly prefab homes. These prefabs are made from sustainable materials and partially built offsite using environmentally-sound practices, and may also incorporate eco-insulation.