Easy Ways To Build A Green Home From The Bottom Up

We’re all getting a lot more energy and earth conscious when it comes to how we live in our homes. It’s never too early to start planning for a more sustainable home life. In fact, when you’re preparing to build your own house might just be the best time. Here are some points you might want to consider to make your home a greener build.

The location of the home can make all the difference in your carbon footprint. Primarily, you want to make sure your home is in a location that requires as little motor travel as possible. We all have places that we need to be able to access. Whether it’s the shops, school, hospitals or work. Take all of them into consideration when you’re scouting locations for your new build. If you can walk instead of drive or use public transport, you’re already making progress towards that greener home.

As for the home you build itself, there are a lot of different materials worth consider. Wood options like timber from George Hill Timber merchants are particularly energy efficient. In fact, natural materials tend to be better at insulation, meaning you don’t need to use your HVAC systems as often. Recycled steel is another material used for energy efficient buildings. But not everyone is suited to the aesthetic of a wholly metal home. Each material has its own special requirements, so do your research on what you might have to prepare for before making your choice.

We hear so often about how bad for your footprint heating, ventilation and air conditioning appliances can be. Some will tell you you’re better off doing without them entirely. However, if you like in a place that’s particularly cold in winter or particularly hot in summer, that’s not the best idea. Instead, try to design your ventilation grates so that air flow is maximised throughout the home. Make sure you check the Energystar rating on your appliances as well. You might have to use them, but you can at least make sure you have the most efficient ones as the ready.

Homes that are smaller are more energy efficient. That’s the simple truth of the matter. Smaller homes require less time and energy to heat fully, for one. They also cost less money to run. Plus they’re easier to clean. A lot of people think of their dream home as spacious with a room for every possible purpose. Consider whether having that huge manor is more important to you than both your energy bills and energy inefficiency. There are still tons of ways to design and maximise space in smaller homes.

If you live in a place where the sun shines enough to make it economical, get into using solar power for your home. Solar panels are becoming cheaper as more sources for them pop up and it is possible to entirely power your home on them. You can even add them once the build is done if you don’t have the budget for it right now. There’s also an option for places where the sun doesn’t shine quite as strong. In these places, you can attach solar panels to your water heating instead. This keeps a supply of hot water available for us. As soon as it runs out, your water heater is put to work instead.

It’s good that you’re thinking about changes to make to your home to make it more energy efficient. But how about the build itself? If you’re in charge of how the build is being done, there are a lot of steps you can make to make the whole process a lot more earth friendly. Recycling your content is one way. Planning the construction site itself matters, too. If you can reduce as much energy movement and reduce the time it takes to travel from one task to another, you have a much more efficient site.