Tips To Save Energy And Make Home More Eco-Friendly

Cut Back On Shower Time

The shortage of water is one of the factors that threaten the economic system more than anything. In some places in the world, the issue of a lack of water has already started. Water resources are becoming more scarce. It is more than essential to start saving water. There are many ways to do that, and one of them is by using less water when taking a shower. 

Reduce your shower time and lessen the usage of water to make your home more eco-friendly. Just saving a little amount of water every day can make a significant difference. You can prevent both wasting water and time by reducing your shower time.  

Turn Off The Fans And Lights When Not In Use

Many people leave the house while keeping the lights on. This habit wastes a lot of energy. So, you should always switch off lights and fans along with other electronic devices at home when not in use. It will help in saving electricity and cutting short on your bills as well. Turning the light off in your absence not only helps you to save power, but it also helps in decreasing the release of carbon dioxide in your home.

This is one of the best ways to make your home more eco-friendly by saving electricity and reducing carbon dioxide. Light bulbs tend to get hot easily compared to other light sources in the house. Switch to LED lights instead of fluorescent ones and only buy appliances that are rated well when it comes to energy conservation. 

Don’t Use The Dryer

You might think that dryers do not use that much energy, but according to studies, a dryer uses more energy than a dishwasher and even a refrigerator. So, when talking about energy saving, do not forget to include the dryer on your list. Switch to air-drying your clothes instead of using a dryer. It will help you save energy and also dry your clothes without any hassle. 

Thus, saving the energy used in the dryer will allow you to invest the energy in other important household tasks. Apart from saving energy, there are plenty of benefits for drying your clothes in the sunlight, such as adding natural freshness to your clothes. So, if you want to save more energy in your household, you must switch to a natural alternative to a dryer.

Reuse Shopping Bags

Throwing out shopping bags is undoubtedly something you should avoid in order to protect the environment. Be it a plastic bag or paper bag, throwing them out directly without using them is harmful to the environment. Instead, use the same bag to shop for groceries. If possible, buy a quality fabric bag with much space and use it when grocery shopping. According to reports, re-using paper bags and cotton bags 130 times can reduce the usage and production of plastic bags.

The use of plastic bags in the grocery store has increased and contributed to the carbon footprint in the United States. Excessive usage of paper bags is simply a waste of resources. The best option for you would be to re-use cotton bags for shopping, as they are washable and more durable. 

Grow Green In Your Home Space

This idea is one of the distinct ways to make your home more eco-friendly. Most houses have plenty of space in the back or in the front yard. Generally, this space is used for a parking garage, a garden, or a little playground for kids. But if the majority of people start to plant small trees or houseplants in the free space, it can help the environment in many ways, along with making your home more eco-friendly.

A lack of trees and plants has become a grave concern for the environment. Planting more trees has become more critical than ever. It will also help in restoring the environmental balance. You can also add allure to your garden by planting exotic floras. So, start planting trees in your backyard to contribute towards a better environment.

Install Solar Panels

When it comes to making your home more eco-friendly, utilizing solar energy is one of the reformed ways to make a big difference. While excessive usage of electricity can mount up your bills, using solar panels can contribute to the efficient use of energy. Understanding the benefits of solar panels and intending to contribute towards a healthier environment, a majority of people are switching solar panel grids. 

Solar panels are a long term investment that you can make to turn your home eco-friendly along with contributing to a healthier environment. They are affordable and provide you with long term energy benefits.

Cook More Efficiently

When it comes to making your home eco-friendly, your kitchen is the best place to start. You can lose much energy in terms of gas while cooking. Hence, you need to adopt smart cooking methods to save energy. There are plenty of places in the kitchen where you can save energy. For instance, when you keep your oven door open for a long time during cooking, you can lose a considerable amount of heat.

Ovens release harmful carbon gases that can increase your carbon footprint. You should also find ways to save your gas by cooking with a covered lid. It is essential to look into each and every aspect of your kitchen and see where you can save energy. Your little contribution from your home can make a significant difference to the environment. 

Reduce The Use Of Microwaves

The microwave is one of the essential kitchen appliances that we use to cook and prepare our meals. As mentioned above as well, microwaves and ovens release harmful gases that can be detrimental to your health and environment. While reducing the usage of microwaves in restaurants is a hard thing to do and will take time, you can reduce the use of microwaves in your home.

The amount of carbon dioxide from a microwave in a year is so high that it is compared with carbon dioxide released from 6.8 million cars a year. Microwaves are one of the top things that release carbon dioxide in our house. But you do not have to throw out the microwave to make your home more eco-friendly; you can just minimize the usage of the microwave.

Create Compost

Waste has become a growing concern for the environment. People tend to throw their leftover food and other debris into the landfill that can lead to contaminating the environment. It is advised not to throw or burn garbage out in the air. Instead, you can think about creating your own compost. As surprising as it may sound, leftovers and other degradable wastes that you throw out can be turned into compost. You can either dig a compost area or place a compost bin anywhere outside your home and gradually fill it with the food waste.

This is one of the reformed ways to keep your home eco-friendly and contribute to the betterment of the environment as well. It doesn’t require any extensive investment you can make to the best use of the waste. You can later use it as a fantastic natural fertilizer for your garden. Not only this, it reduces the amount of waste in the landfill, but it will also help in contributing to the environment in a better way. 

Insulate Your Home

Yet another amazing way to save energy is to use as little energy as possible. It is one of the smartest energy-saving and eco-friendly tips that you can use in your home. Invest in insulation to keep your home eco-friendly. When you adopt good insulation, it will help in holding the heat better and keep your home warmer in the cold weather. With proper insulation, you would not have to burn energy every time to heat your home. There are plenty of places in your home that should be adequately insulated, like your home and roof. You can also think about glazing your windows.

Try to cover as much area as possible with insulation. Covering exposed hardwood floors is also a smart move to make. You can also cover the cracks on the floor with area rugs. It is one of the most cost-effective and stylish methods of insulating your home. Try insulation to save energy by avoiding the frequent burning of energy.

Go For Cold Water Instead Of Hot Water

Many unexplained things are very much responsible for making your home less eco-friendly. One of them is using hot water to wash clothes. This might shock you a bit, but if you use cold water in the washing machine instead of hot water, then it will reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in your home. Of the total energy used in a washing machine, 90 percent is used to produce hot water.

By using cold water to wash your clothes in the washing machine, you are using 10 percent of the total energy. It will not only save energy but can also make your home more eco-friendly by reducing the number of carbon emissions per year, estimated to be around 1,600 pounds. You should also use cold water for showers unless it is freezing outside. It will also make the showering process quick by not making you wait for the water to be heated.  

Reduce The Use Of Paper Towels

Paper towels are convenient in the washroom to dry your hands. The majority of people use paper towels in their homes, as they are affordable and easy to have on hand. But they have drawbacks, which are very much responsible for ruining the ecosystem in your house. Even hand dryers are better than using paper towels, as 70% more carbon is generated from paper towels compared to dryers. 

But don’t throw out paper towels. Instead, use them as little as you can to make your home eco-friendly. The most effortless replacement is to go old-school and dry your hands using a cotton towel. It is the most natural and most eco-friendly way to dry your hands and maintain hygiene. 

Rearrange The Bathroom

Back in time, humans didn’t think about many upcoming issues, and they made everything without thinking about preserving the environment. But times have changed. People are now aware of the consequences of environmental change and energy consumption. If you want to make your home more eco-friendly, then you need to use energy-efficient equipment in your washroom. From heaters to dryers and even toilets, you need to use equipment that makes less waste of energy and resources. 

Generally, most of the water and energy wastage comes from the washroom, but old models in the restroom contribute to a considerable part of it. So, replace the old models of sinks, bathtubs, and toilets with new eco-friendly water and energy-saving models to save both critical resources. There are many companies in the market, making low wastage models that can save up to 12,000 gallons (ca. 45 cubic meters) of water every year. Also, they will help you cut your electricity bill annually around $90. 

Build Your Own Vegetable Garden

Keeping your home as close as possible to nature is the best way to turn your home eco-friendly. You can always think about creating your own garden where you can plant all sorts of vegetables, fruits, floras, and increase the oxygen supply and contribute towards a cleaner environment. By planting vegetables, you can also cut short on your grocery bills and relish the farm-fresh vegetables of your garden. 

Carbon emission has been steadily increasing in the environment, and it has become imperative to take things seriously. While you cannot make a global contribution, your efforts within the vicinity of your home can bring a significant difference to the environment. So, start thinking about creating a garden. You can also seek assistance from garden experts to begin your endeavor. 

Do Not Keep Electronics Plugged In While Not In Use

If you want to make your home more eco-friendly, follow this little tip that can make a significant impact with minimal effort. Most people turn off the light switch to save energy and electricity, but they are not aware of the fact that they can save additional power by just unplugging their devices. While leaving the house, most of the electronic appliances stay plugged in, and they continue to use energy and electricity.

According to experts, just by unplugging devices while heading out, you can save much energy. If you find it difficult to remove every plug from your devices, then simply buy a power strip. It will help you to unplug just one strip to disconnect all the devices in the home. Buy a power strip today and start making your home more eco-friendly. 

Make One Day A Week Meatless

Now, this might not be very hard for you to follow if you want to make your home more eco-friendly. Make a day in a week meatless. Could you do this? It can be an initial stage to start building your home more eco-friendly. Many people eat meat dishes every day. Some people eat meat for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

If you are one of them, you can make this habit of skipping meat once a week, which can impact the environment. Reports say if you do not eat a chicken burger every week for a year, you will make the same impact as not driving a car for 320 miles (ca. 515 km). It seems unbelievable, but it does affect the environment a lot. You can benefit the ecosystem more if you turn full vegetarian by reducing 63 percent of greenhouse gas globally. 

Adopt LEDs

Lights that are not energy-efficient can consume more energy than you can imagine. They consume much energy and heat up very fast, contributing to other problems. Since the launch of LEDs, people have been enjoying the benefits of energy efficiency in their household. They are cheaper than the old lights, produce more light, are much more durable, and consume a lot less energy. According to experts, LEDs last 25 times longer than standard lights and use more than 75 percent less energy. 

Install LEDs in your room to save energy as well as money. Old lights are one of the main reasons you have hiked up electricity bills every year. This is not the only reason to remove the old lights. Some other ideas include old lights getting too hot if used for a long time, causing a fire hazard. Moreover, old lights contain many harmful chemicals that can have an adverse impact on health. 

Fix All The Leaks

When talking about making the home more eco-friendly, it starts with stopping the wasting of resources. Among all the wastage, wasting water just takes us a step closer to the bad days. So, you need to practice every little method that can save even a drop of water. It is advised to check your home to find any water wastage. There might be many places in your home that have small leakages. 

You might think that they will not affect things that much, but annually the number reaches gallons. So, check every corner of your home and fix all the leakage to save maximum water waste. If there are any leaks inside the pipe system, call a plumber for a check-up. It will help save a lot of water along with keeping the pipeline system of your house in a proper condition. 

Use A Programmable Thermostat

You need to find every little thing around your home that can make your household eco-friendly. It is vital to keep track of your heating and cooling system that can make a significant difference in your heating bill as well. Using a programmable thermostat is a great initiative to start saving your heat energy. The thermostat is efficient and useful for saving energy. The programmable energy can be easily customized according to your needs. So, you can set the temperature and leave it. The smart programming of the thermostat will ensure that your heating and cooling system works perfectly according to your instructions.

Bringing a programmable thermostat in your home can save 15% on your heating bill and save marginally on the energy as well. Hence, if you are looking for some reformed way to save up energy, then a programmable thermostat is a great way to bring eco-friendliness into your home.

Use Electronics For A Limited Time

Since the advancement of technology, the use of electronics has increased a lot. Thinking about a day without using electronics is certainly quite difficult. You can’t stop using them all of a sudden, but you can use them less to save more energy. This is not only about saving the charge on your smartphone or other devices. For every phone call, video download or upload, text message, or other functions, data centers help you in exchange for a bit of energy. 

It is one of the reasons why you would need to minimize the use of your phone and other applications and save much energy. Try different things to kill time, such as indoor and outdoor games, reading books, and other activities. While using electronic gadgets, try to minimize the usage and save as much energy as you can. You might not feel a difference, but your little contribution can make a significant change in global energy saving. 

Opt For The Pressure Cooker

Many small things can make a big difference while making your home more eco-friendly. When it comes to food, you do not want to know how it was cooked as long as it is tasty to eat. You can change the cooking method and save a lot of energy, and using a pressure cooker is the stepping stone. Every household has a pressure cooker, but it is used to make only special preparations.

Instead of cooking selected foods, you can use the pressure cooker for cooking all your dishes and saving energy. It will help you save a lot of energy, and the cooking process will be much faster, saving a lot of your time. A pressure cooker reduces more than 70 percent cooking time than other cooking appliances in the kitchen. Replace the majority of your cooking with the pressure cooker to enjoy your best food in less time while saving energy.  

Collect Rainwater

You are reducing shower time to prevent the wastage of water, checking for water leaks every month, and even building a garden to make your home more eco-friendly and support the environment. But to keep the trees of the garden healthy, you need to give them water. How do you manage to water your garden? You don’t have to sacrifice any of the right initiatives. 

The best way you can keep your trees healthy while saving water is by collecting rainwater. You can collect the water from rain in a large bowl, and later, use it to water your trees. You can also make a proper drainage system to store the water back from the pots. This re-use of water will help you a lot to save water and allow your trees to grow healthy. 

Buy Locally

This might feel difficult at the beginning, but it can certainly reduce your carbon footprint. Whether it is buying food, clothes, or groceries, it advised shopping locally in order to avoid excessive transportation and burning of fuel. Buying locally will not only help you shorten your time, but you can also decrease the unnecessary use of your vehicle and eventually burning of fuel. If the place is near your house, you can just leave early from home and walk to the shop.

Not driving a car for a night might not make a significant change, but if you continue this for a year, it will make a big difference and contribute to the environment. Similarly, if you feel too lazy to go outside to eat, and want to order food online, choose a restaurant that is located at a distance of fewer than 5 miles from your house. It will help you to get your food sooner, and they will have to drive a lot less.

Start Saving Energy Today

By now, you might have understood the importance of saving energy and making every household more eco-friendly. You might not feel any difference at the start, but these small steps will make a big change in the future to restore the balance of the environment. If everyone starts adopting these smart practices, together, it will be easier to prevent threats. These are the most basic steps of making the earth a better place to live again. 

Follow these tips to not only get a more eco-friendly home but also to influence others as well. It might be hard for you to follow these in the initial stage, as some of them need much practice. But with time, these tips will help you in being healthy and making the environment cleaner.   

Sources:

Architectural Digest – 29 Tiny Changes That Will Make Your Home More Eco-Friendly Today

The Art of Simple – 40 Ways to Go Greener at Home (Besides Just Recycling)

Best Life – 30 Easy Ways to Make Your Home More Eco-Friendly