What Can You Do Right Now To Make Your Home Eco-Friendly?

Making your home more eco-friendly doesn’t have to be an enormous, drawn-out project. It can also be something you do in stages or steps to make it more manageable. 

But what, specifically, should you be doing? 

That’s the topic of this guide. I explore the many things you could do right now or in the near future to make your home more sustainable so you become closer to living the life you want to lead to protect future generations. 

So, what options do you have? 

Switch To LEDs

The first thing you’ll want to do is to switch to LEDs. These allow you to make your lighting more efficient while using significantly less energy. 

LEDs work well because they convert electricity directly to light without having to generate heat first (which is what all other technologies do). This means that they emit less in the infrared range and more in the range that you care about, which is the visible spectrum. 

Previously, you had to buy pure white LEDs, since natural light alternatives weren’t on the market. But fortunately, that’s all changed in recent years and options that are kinder to the eyes are also available. 

Use A Programmable Thermostat

Another approach is to use a programmable thermostat. These are useful when you want to control the temperature of your home throughout the day with minimal effort. 

Programmable or smart thermostats work by setting temperatures according to your preferences. If you want it to be cooler in the evening but warmer in the morning, these systems can be useful for you. 

Reduce Water Waste

At the same time, you might want to look into ways you can reduce water waste in your home. Cutting down on the amount of wastewater has numerous environmental benefits, many of which are quite unexpected. For example, not only does it preserve freshwater in areas where it is becoming scarce, but it also reduces CO2 emissions, since less water needs to be pumped to your home. It can even improve life in local rivers and water sources by reducing the requirement for treatment or chemicals entering the water supply. 

Use A Heat Pump

If you can add air source heat pumps to your home, that’s even better. These use an almost magical technology to pull heat out of the air and pump it into your home, with minimal cost to the environment (which is why so many governments are pushing the idea at the moment). Using a heat pump is handy in numerous situations, but particularly when you live in a temperate climate. These systems can improve warming throughout the winter and spring while using dramatically less energy overall due to the way they work. 

Of course, heat pumps require a significant upfront investment, but the costs are coming down every year. Not only are governments offering support across the West. but the price of systems and installation is also falling as production becomes more efficient. 

Use Reusable Products

Another method is to use reusable products. Bringing more of these into your home reduces your consumer lifestyle significantly and encourages you to hang onto things long-term. 

For example, you might use cloth rags instead of paper towels or silicone bags rather than plastic bags which you can reuse whenever you go to the store. 

Adopting reusable products might seem like a small thing, but it can have a profound effect on how you view your life. It teaches you that everything can be re-used, even if brands offer convenient alternatives. 

Optimise Natural Light

Another low-tech approach you can adopt is to use more natural light in your home. Adding a skylight to your kitchen, for example, is often enough to avoid the use of spotlights entirely during the day, simply because of how much light shines through. 

Even just opening the curtains can have a profoundly positive effect on your electric bill, though. Usually, it is well worth trying. 

Start Composting

You can also start composting immediately to make your at-home living arrangements greener if you wanted. Getting a bin and adding grass clippings and food waste can be a great option.

Composting is actually more rewarding than you might think. Over several months, insects and worms will move into the compost and start breaking it down and eventually, you’ll get highly fertile soil that you can sprinkle on your garden. This approach reduces waste going to landfill and means you can avoid going to the garden center every five minutes for fertilizer. 

Use Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products

Switching to eco-friendly cleaning products is also something that you might want to consider. Again, these reduce your reliance on nasty chemicals and ensure that you can keep being green. 

Many cleaning products are full of harmful chemicals. But ecofriendly versions aren’t. Instead, they use more natural ingredients that won’t damage waterways or local soils when disposed of. 

Add Native Species To Your Garden

If you can add native species to your garden, that’s another way you can protect the environment and do your part for it. These don’t require as much water or maintenance, and they jive better with the local ecosystem. Birds and insects can use these species, which isn’t always the case for hard-to-maintain, non-native alternatives. 

See How Much Energy You’re Really Using

Finally, you could conduct an energy audit to see how much you’re really using. Knowing this figure is useful if you want to identify inefficient appliances that are costing you more than you realise. 

Usually, the amount of energy you’re using is quite shocking when you track it. But once you do this work, you can bring down your bills substantially. 

Many of the most energetic systems are things you’d never expect. For example, many people think that TVs use a lot of energy. But computers are actually much worse culprits because of the processors and chips that they use. At the same time, power showers are highly energy intensive because they have to heat water to the desired temperature in a split second, which involves heating metal plates.