The way you run your home can make a considerable impact on the environment. You can choose the wrong type of appliances or furniture and find you’re adding to the harmful effects. Alternatively, you can choose sustainable products and put into practice the eco-friendliest ideas.
Anyone can make their home smarter. You don’t have to do everything all at once, but even the smallest alterations can make a difference. Fortunately, eco-friendly solutions come in all shapes and sizes, from large scale projects to the accessories you purchase for your bathroom.
Heating Your Home In An Eco-Friendly Way
The biggest challenge is replacing your traditional heating system with an eco-friendly version. Heating for warmth and a supply of hot water is a priority in every home. But the method you choose can determine the size of your home’s carbon footprint.
In the UK, new gas boiler installations are to be banned from 2025. If you are thinking of refurbishing your heating system, now’s the time to consider a much greener solution. You could opt for solar panels and supply your home with hot water and heat that’s powered through electricity generated by the sun’s energy.
When you discover how a heat pump works, you’ll realise it can also make your home eco-friendly. It uses low temperatures from the air outside your home and transforms it into a heat exchanger to provide sustainable heating. There are several versions to choose from including one that uses the warmth beneath your garden to provide inexpensive energy.
Smarter Usage of Your Lighting and Appliances
Once your brand-new systems are in place, integrating Smart Home automation should be relatively easy. Thermostats are ideal for controlling temperature levels. You’ll be able to control them remotely through your smartphone.
Wherever you happen to be, you can use an app to provide instructions to any appliance in your home. It’s a marvellous advantage if you are always forgetting to turn off the lights or you want hot water as soon as you arrive back home. With Smart technology, you can reset the status of your home’s system at any time, from any place.
Smart technology is so controllable, you can directly save energy throughout the day. You can monitor your home’s energy output in real-time. It helps you find out where you can make improvements for an eco-friendlier home.
Choosing Eco-Friendly Furniture
A few decades ago, the most fashionable furniture was made from tropical hardwoods such as teak and mahogany. But you no longer have to plunder the rainforests to make your home look stylish. Alternatives such as bamboo and rattan provide sustainable furniture that adds a cosy and modern look to your interior design.
Nearly everyone has lightweight, plastic garden chairs, tables and low footstools. But you can help the environment by choosing alternatives such as bamboo. It’s ideal for garden furniture as it has a natural resistance to moist, rainy weather.
Environmentally-Friendly Gardens
Beautifying your garden with lots of colourful, native wildflowers is a great way to help the environment. Sadly, in the last eighty years, 97% of the United Kingdom’s meadows have been destroyed. Your garden could be the last refuge for the local bumblebees that play such an important role in pollination.
Wildflowers often tolerate dry conditions, but conserving water is still an important priority in your garden. Connect a water butt or two to the down water pipes of your home to save using fresh water from the tap. Another important step is to install Smart technology to regulate your watering schedule.
A Smart irrigation system for your garden includes sensors you place in the soil. They analyse in real-time the ground’s water content and the atmospheric conditions to determine how much water your garden needs. It’s an automated system that helps prevent wasting water.
Sustainable Accessories for Your Home
Accessories for your home can be practical and sustainable. There are many bamboo products you can use such as toothbrushes and chopping boards. They are much kinder to the environment than plastic versions.
When you want to enjoy a picnic in your garden or further afield, use eco-friendly tableware. There are paper plates and cups that are much lighter to carry than plastic. Sturdy cutlery sets and drinking straws are made of sustainable bamboo.
However, the most important advantage is that if you lose them or the wind blows them out of reach, they won’t harm the environment. They are natural substances that will gradually decompose and add nutrients to the environment rather than pollutants.
Conclusion
Eco-friendly Smart homes are a combination of technology, sustainable products and common sense. Solar panels and air-based heat pumps use nature to provide heat and energy. With Smart control, they are more environmentally friendly.
It’s common sense to combine your garden’s resources with water-economising Smart technology to help local wildlife survive. Choose sustainable products throughout your home and garden. Furniture and plastic items can be replaced by bamboo.
Your home can easily become more eco-friendly. Including Smart technology saves energy and money while helping the environment.
Author Bio:
Aaron Donovan is the owner of AD Services. They help homeowners achieve their smart homes goals when building new house extensions and kitchen extensions by installing smart homes systems such as heating and lighting.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay.