5 Ways to Upgrade Your Home for Greater Sustainability
It’s easy today to feel somewhat overwhelmed by the problem of climate change. The idea that an individual can make a difference in the face of rising sea levels, rising temperatures, and all the rest can seem far-fetched — and on some level it’s true that the most impactful changes have to come from government and industry leaders. But don’t let that dissuade you from doing your part. You can make a difference, and your effort can go beyond recycling and basic caution.
One way to help, for instance, is by upgrading your home for greater sustainability. Generally, modern homes account for significant energy consumption. But there is plenty you can do to make sure that consumption isn’t excessive, and that your home is contributing to a cleaner, greener environment. Here are some of our specific tips.
1. Update Your Lighting
One of the quickest ways to improve the sustainability of your home is to switch to more modern lighting that will use less energy and last longer. Indeed, we talked about replacing existing lighting in our post on ‘6 Things You Can Do Today to Be More Sustainable’.
In that piece, we noted the availability of energy-saving lightbulbs in Scandinavia today (you can simply purchase them online), and pointed out that on average, changing bulbs can make them about 80% cheaper to run. Really, there’s no reason not to make this change.
2. Set Up Smart Thermostats
Smart thermostats are beginning to work wonders for home energy efficiency. Different options in this expanding market can do different things. By and large though, these thermostats are made to learn homeowners’ preferences for heating and cooling, and then bring those preferred conditions about as efficiently as possible.
A few years ago, the U.S.-based IoT analyst Internet of Business remarked on a 67% growth in the number of homes in North America and Europe that were using smart thermostats — and that was when the technology was only just catching on. This indicates that like energy-efficient lighting, smart thermostats are fast becoming the norm. They’re generally affordable and easy to install as well, meaning that this is another fairly easy adjustment to make.
3. Replace Your Boiler
While smart thermostats can go a long way towards regulating a home’s energy consumption as relates to heating and cooling, the underlying systems still require maintenance.
If you’re updating an older home, therefore, you may want to give some thought to replacing your boiler. A few years back, This Is Money analysed the impact of a new boiler on a UK homeowner and projected potential savings of £340 — and 1,500kg of carbon monoxide — per year. This is due to the simple fact that an older gas boiler's performance can decline gradually over time; it will need to work harder to heat the home, and this will result in more costs and emissions.
A replacement, meanwhile, can operate more effectively and thus reduce gas use and expenses simultaneously. Just remember that in this case we’re talking about a fairly significant long-term investment. For that reason, the gas comparison guide by HomeServe recommends protecting your heating so that you’re insured against damages. This is not only a strategic financial decision, but also one that will make upkeep more accessible — and thus keep your boiler operating at maximum efficiency.
4. Embrace Low-Maintenance Plants
Plants may not initially seem to have much to do with home sustainability. But the truth is a lot of plants — both indoor and outdoor — demand a great deal of water. Even the most eco-friendly individuals can forget to factor this in when considering their own sustainability efforts; it’s simply second nature for some homeowners to run sprinkler systems and use gallons of water every day or two to water house plants.
Naturally then, embracing low-maintenance plants can be a clever way to cut back on water usage and improve a home’s overall sustainability. To help get you started, the all-encompassing regional guide Scandinavia Standard pointed out six plantsthat are generally low maintenance, and which can be used in European households to provide that enriching green presence without spiking water waste.
5. Install Solar Panels
Solar panels haven’t quite taken off as much as some hoped they would, at least in terms of domestic use. However, they are slowly but surely being adopted more by homeowners. Inhabitat recently made note of homes in Sweden that are being designed specifically to take advantage of solar panels. And in some other cases, solar panels can be fitted to existing homes in order to replace other energy sources. Costs for installation and operation vary, but purely from a perspective of energy consumption this is another change that can significantly improve the sustainability of your home environment.
