It’s hardly a new concept, but with more people on the planet than ever before, sustainable living has become a modern-day essential.
We do a whole lot of living between four walls, so why not kick-start your eco mission by transforming your house into an eco-friendly home of the future?
Best of all, converting your house into a sustainable home doesn’t need to break the bank and might be a whole lot easier than you think. With all that in mind, here’s a step-by-step guide to sustainably transforming your home.
1. Start outside
Your backyard is your very own slice of nature, so why not make the most of it. Growing your own food is one of the key principles of sustainability, and a beautiful backyard can help transform your home from the outside in.
You don’t need a huge backyard to get started either. Consider a vertical garden to make the most of unused spaces by hanging planters off pre-existing structures like fences.
Living walls can help build a truly unique aesthetic for your home and are a great solution for growing food, even in the smallest of backyards.
2. Modernise
Being sustainable doesn’t mean you have to renounce modern technologies.
Modern technology is one of the best weapons we have in the fight for a more sustainable future. Energy-efficient heaters, for instance, can warm your home with a fraction of the power used by a conventional heater.
If your power bills are increasing radically over the winter months, it may be time to consider a switch to energy-efficient heating.
Be sure to also think about where your home’s heat is being lost. Thermal blinds help your home trap the precious warmth you’ve made, greatly boosting your homes energy efficiency.
3. Start a Compost
It might not sound like much, but a compost bin can be a great way to make your home more sustainable.
When food scraps get sent to a landfill, they are removed from the ecosystems of nature. Without the natural organisms found in soil organic matter breaks down to produce harmful methane.
Composts do both absolute wonders for your garden and prevent the release of methane gas from your food scraps.
4. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Recycling is well known as one of the key tenets of sustainability and for good reason. Recycling is all about finding new and creative ways to reuse our resources instead of discarding them, and it isn’t limited to your recycle bin.
Get creative and consider ways of recycled materials for your home. Shipping containers, for example, can be modified and reused as home extensions.
Not only is this look trendy and a great way of adding extra floor space to your home, but it’s also a great way to recycle!
If you’re looking for materials, call around your local businesses and see what they have. For instance, wooden cable drums can make great outside tables and are often just disposed of.
5. Check Your Water Heater
It may not sound like the most glamorous part of this list, but it is a hugely important factor that often gets overlooked.
Water heating generally amounts to over a third of a homes’ total electricity usage, representing a huge amount of power over time. Solar water heaters offer a sustainable alternative that could end up saving you a lot of money in the long run.
Additionally, to avoid disaster, it’s recommended that a standard water heater be replaced every ten years. So a replacement now may also save you from a big old flooded mess and a lot of future stress.
6. Get Creative
Perhaps the most important point of all.
Start a dialogue about the importance of sustainability in your home and research creative solutions.
Making small changes early on means huge benefits long-term, so there’s no time to waste. Think outside the box and come up with your own great ideas.
About the Author
Cloe Matheson’s passion for the environment inspired her to craft articles promoting healthy habits and sustainable living. Through her work, Cloe hopes her readers will be more likely to adopt healthier sustainable lifestyles, which can make a huge difference for the environment. You can read more of Cloe’s articles on her blog.
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