Sustainability in your home
It has never been more important than now to incorporate sustainability into your home. Improving your home’s sustainability will not only help improve your quality of life but it will also save you money in the long run. To help you achieve this, we’re looking at 5 simple ways in which you can make your home more sustainable.
So why is sustainability so important? Well, we all need to do our bit to try and minimise our impact on our ecosystems and the environment as a whole, to ensure a better – and healthier – future for both people and our planet. When it comes to creating a sustainable home, your ultimate goal should be to try and make it as energy and water efficient as possible in order to ensure that it has as little impact on the environment as possible. Ideally, by creating a home that is sustainable you will not only lower your monthly electricity and water bills, but you will also create a healthier living environment for you and your family.
Here are 5 ways that you can make your home sustainable:
- Opt for renewable or eco-friendly energy sources
One of the most crucial aspects of creating a sustainable home is to ensure that it is as energy efficient as possible. In order to do this, you need to look at where you’re getting your energy, how you’re using your energy and how you’re saving energy – as well as the environmental impact of your energy source. Opting for alternative and environmentally friendly renewable energy sources, such as installing solar panels – which harness energy from sunlight to generate electricity – can be an excellent way to power your home in a low impact, energy efficient way. You can also look at getting gas in your home, as gas is considered a more eco-friendly option than electricity and will turn out cheaper in the long run.
- Utilise natural light
Making the most of the natural light in your home is an excellent way to ensure energy efficiency, ultimately making your home more sustainable. You can maximise your use of natural light by installing more windows (especially north-facing ones which soak up the sunlight), skylights and glass doors to ensure that your home receives as much light as possible. You can also upgrade your home’s interior to ensure that you make the most of the natural light by painting your walls in a lighter colour (which will reflect rather than absorb sunlight), hanging up more mirrors and installing glossy tiles, both of which reflect and maximise the natural light in a home.
- Choose materials and décor products from sustainably minded companies
Having a sustainable home also means that you need to take into consideration where and who you source materials and décor products from. You should try and incorporate as many locally sourced materials from eco-friendly and sustainably minded companies – such as Sonae Arauco –into your home. Choosing materials from companies that use renewable or recycled materials, sustainably harvested resources, non-toxic substances, but that also practise sustainability in their day-to day operations, plays a huge role in improving the overall sustainability of a home.
- Insulate your home
Having a well-insulated home will not only save a lot of electricity (and, in turn, a lot of money) but it is also a key part of making your home more sustainable and creating an energy efficient living environment. There are many great ways in which you can insulate a home, including installing double glazed windows, insulating the walls and ceilings and sealing up any cracks, gaps and air bypasses (especially ones around doors and windows) to ensure that your home doesn’t lose any heat.
- Water efficiency is key
As water is a scarce resource in our country, having a home which optimises its water usage is an absolute must in order to be sustainable. There are many ways in which you can achieve this, including installing a greywater recycling system which uses dish, laundry and sink water to irrigate your garden, installing low-flow showerheads, toilets and taps in your bathrooms, laundry and kitchen which will prevent wasteful water usage, filling the garden with indigenous plants which require less water to maintain and installing a JoJo tank which collects and store rainwater.
Creating a sustainable home does not have to involve massive renovations and turning everything in your home on its head, rather, you just have to start by making smaller changes towards making home as energy and water-efficient as possible. Even the smallest change towards being more sustainable will have a positive impact on the environment and, ultimately, your quality of life.