30 Easy Ways to Make Your Home More Eco-Friendly

Using harmful chemicals to clean is very bad for the environment. When you wash them away you are simply putting them into the water supply. That means water will take more purification before it is safe to use again. But the good news is that in the majority of cases you really don’t need to use them. For most day-to-day cleaning tasks, natural products like vinegar, citric acid from citrus fruits and bicarbonate of soda can be used in place of caustic chemicals to great effect.

If you want to minimize the horizontal footprint of your home take advantage of building vertically. This way you keep as much land around the house as undisturbed as possible. Lofts are a popular option for smaller eco-homes to really get the maximum square footage while still minimizing the impact on the land. Straw is sustainable because it can be harvested and re-planted easily, and made into bales with very minimal environmental impact. However, modular homes built in factories close to the home installation site significantly save on emissions.

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Perhaps the biggest reason to upgrade to a smart thermostat is for the energy cost savings. Install a programmable thermostat to monitor and control your cooling and heating systems.

Consider the realistic progress you can make today, what you can add tomorrow, and what to aim for in the future. How to make your home more environmentally friendly Here’s a checklist to get you started as you tackle new projects around the house this season and beyond.

Reduce energy consumption

Recycling can be as simple as sorting your trash into different bins, or you can take it a step further by composting food scraps and other organic materials. The average American family uses 320 gallons of water per day, about 30 percent of which is devoted to outdoor uses. Even if you don’t use canvas bags, reusing plastic bags is a great way to live more eco-friendly. Making your own products cuts down on packaging waste and reduces the release of household chemicals that can contribute to air and water pollution. Turning off halogen lights when not in use can also help reduce energy bill since they use the same technology as incandescent light bulbs. Ninety percent of incandescent light bulbs’ energy use is given off as heat while only ten percent results in light. The energy you can save by turning off the lights would depend on the type of bulbs you’re using.

• If you don’t feel like pulling every lamp and charger out of the outlet when you leave the house, use a power strip instead—it’ll leave you with just a single thing to unplug.
• You lessen your dependency on fossil fuels while using less energy, which helps you save on your utility bills.
• You would be surprised how much of the food that you currently throw away can be recycled and turned into compost.
• There are many ways that fixtures for the kitchen and bath are changing to help the environment.
• I know hot water uses a ton of energy and is not ideal when doing daily laundry.
• If you do happen to own a cat, make sure it stays inside for every other animal’s sake.

When buying a new dishwasher choose an energy-star-rated one. You ALWAYS want to run your dishwasher on a full load, this is so important. Avoid the heat-dry option, rinse-hold, and pre-rinse features. Once the cycle is done, let the dishes air dry, this will save on energy. The other reason why it’s more efficient is that we tend to waste a lot of water when we do the dishes, most people leave the tap running.

Buy Energy-Efficient Appliances

Nix the dryer altogether and instead, try line drying your laundry. For more money-saving and eco-friendly laundry hacks, try these20 Ways to Do Laundry in Your Freezer.

It’s easy to waste money on things that you can easily borrow. According to EPA.gov, showering accounts for nearly 17 percent of residential indoor water use for the average family. Leaking toilets and faucets may not seem like a big deal, but they can waste a lot of water. Donate clothes and unused items, or have a garage sale rather than tossing your unwanted goods in the trash.

How Greening Your Home Can Save the Environment

Liquid soap also comes in plastic, which as we know has many implications for the planet. In addition, many toxic cleaners enter our waterways and cause all kinds of issues. Things like whitening agents & surfactants are some of the worst. The David Suzuki Foundation has this handy guide on how to choose a cleaner that’s safe for you and the planet. If you have several lights controlled by one switch you might want to change that. You can do that by simply removing the extra bulbs or using individual spotlight lights or side lamps instead of having all the lights on at once. I can hear my mother yelling at me to do this and now I find myself doing the same thing to my husband.