How To Make Your Home Eco-Friendlier In 2021

Taking care of our planet is a much greater task than a single individual can accomplish, but there are ways in which we can live our lives and run our homes to reduce our own impact on the environment. Ultimately, if enough people make these changes, it can have a strong impact on reducing carbon emissions and the waste of our energy and water supplies. You may be unsure where to start when it comes to making these changes to your home, so we’ve created this handy guide to provide you with some inspiration and tips to get started.

Smart Meters
These handy little devices not only help you to reduce your energy usage but will help you to save some money too. A smart meter measures the amount of energy used when certain devices are turned on in your home. For example, turning on your kettle will show a large spike in energy usage. This can help you to better understand and identify what is wasting the most power so that you can replace low efficiency appliances and reduce your usage of others. This will not only let you reduce your carbon footprint, but you can even reduce those unpleasant energy bills too.

Energy Efficient Lights
Older lightbulbs can really add up the cost of your monthly bills, especially if you leave them turned on a lot. Firstly, you should really be considering if you need every light on in your home. The easy answer here is no, in most cases. Try to switch them off when possible. To further reduce your energy usage with your lights, you should consider switching to low-energy bulbs or smart lighting. LED light bulbs provides just as much light as incandescent bulbs but greatly reduce your carbon emission contributions and your energy costs. Making the switch to smart bulbs can be a great choice too as these are often very energy efficient and can provide a much better quality of lighting, as well as being customisable.

New Boiler
Your home’s hot water is another huge contributor to carbon emissions and high monthly outgoings, making your boiler a top consideration for making some cuts. Replacing an older boiler is a great idea for many reasons, including saving money with a more efficient model, cutting down your own energy wastage, and even pre-empting a failure in your older model. It’s worth finding yourself an eco-friendlier boiler system before you’re forced to do so, as you’ll need to wait for an expert to deliver and install the new unit. The range of options at boilercentral.com include condensing boilers which lose a lot less heat than non-condensing ones and are generally much more cost efficient, helping to create a greener home.

Solar Panels
What better way of reducing your energy usage than creating your own power? Many homeowners are turning their attention to the usefulness of solar panels, which can help you to split your energy usage between your normal supplier and the power of the sun. The initial cost of installing this tech can be a bit overwhelming, but the long-term savings you make, as well as the reduced usage of unsustainable energy from fossil fuels can be great. In theory, you could even generate enough energy to completely eradicate your reliance on these energy companies too, although you may need quite a few panels.

Reduce Heating Use
The wintertime can cause our monthly energy bills to skyrocket, especially during extreme cold weather. Reduce the amount of time you need the central heating to be turned on or even reduce the temperature required by improving your home’s insulation. Installing proper double glazing on your windows and doors, sealing any gaps in walls and floors, and even installing things such as underfloor heating can all help to reduce the need for a boost in your central heating. Buying draught excluders for your doors and adding heavy curtains to your windows can also help to reduce the amount of heat escaping your home, keeping you warmer for much longer.

Greener Cleaning
There are other considerations when keeping an eco-friendly home such as the chemicals you use when cleaning. Cleaning products, whilst very helpful and positive for your household, can cause a large amount of damage to the environment. As these chemicals go down your drains and through your pipes, they eventually end up in water treatment plants for purification. Luckily, these chemicals are generally removed from the water supply, however this means that these stations require more time and power to clean it. Consider using green cleaning methods to reduce your reliance on harmful chemicals which pollute our water and have a big carbon footprint. Many modern cleaning products still use plastic containers too, which are often difficult to recycle. If you’re still using these chemicals, it might be worth buying your own containers to replenish with recyclable refill bottles.