4 Simple Ways to Make Your Home Eco-Friendly

Choosing to live a sustainable lifestyle is beneficial not only for the environment but your health and finances too. Making eco-friendly changes to your home and workplace reduces your carbon footprint, electricity consumption, and maintenance costs. With various advancements in green technology, making these changes has become easy and affordable. Today, Nicely Natural explores the best eco-friendly changes you can make to your home.

Install a Smart Meter

A smart meter is a device that measures your electricity consumption, voltage levels and provides clarity of usage by sharing real-time data between your electricity supplier and you.

A meter provides you insights about your usage patterns, identifies high consumption areas, allowing you to make appropriate changes towards becoming energy efficient.

Switch to an Automated Thermostat

Traditional thermostats require frequent manual intervention to regulate temperature. Additionally, they are inefficient in maintaining the ideal temperature for prolonged periods. Comparatively, automated thermostats keep temperatures constant with little to no fluctuations.

An automated thermostat reduces the load on your HVAC system, helping to extend its shelf life. It achieves this by regulating the period for which your HVAC system is active. Your thermostat instructs the system to work until the desired temperature is reached and then puts it on pause to maintain the temperature. Once the temperature drops or increases, your system restarts. The result? Lower energy bills and efficient utilization of power.

Additionally, you can also set timers to cool or warm your home before you return from work, which can be lifesavers when the weather warms and cools in summers or winters.

Use Energy Efficient Lighting

Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are known to use around 90% less energy and work for 25 times longer compared to incandescent bulbs and provide similar benefits against their CFL (Compact fluorescent lamps) counterparts. Additionally, there are more benefits of using LEDs:

●      Cost 1/4th of incandescent bulbs

●      Work efficiently in all-weather types

●      Are durable and can withstand frequent electricity fluctuations

●      Do not emit hazardous mercury vapor on breakage

●      Can be disposed with normal waste as they are biodegradable, however, can be recycled if needed

On reviewing your smart meter data if you find your overall consumption to be high, consider replacing your light fixtures with LEDs.

Invest in Eco-Friendly Landscaping

By following sustainable landscaping practices, you reduce water, air, and soil pollution in addition to creating an environment for local wildlife to thrive. Consider implementing these changes to your backyard or lawn:

●      Plant native plants as they are accustomed to the weather and require less water and fertilizers. You can use drought-resistant plants as well.

●      Install a sprinkler system to reduce water wastage.

●      Add mulch around plants to protect them from wind and heat. Mulch reduces the temperature of the soil beneath, allowing the growth of healthy roots.

●      Consider planting a tree or more, as according to research they can reduce the temperature in their vicinity.

In addition to the above-mentioned benefits, these changes also lead to an increase in your home’s valuation, which will prove useful if you are planning to move. According to research, a reduction in utility costs, efficient lighting, and indoor air quality are the top three eco-friendly features home buyers look for. In addition to these, focus on the following features when reviewing homes:

●      Eco-friendly building materials such as recycled steel, reclaimed wood, precast concrete, etc.

●      Electrical appliances with high energy efficient rating

●      Low-flush toilets and efficiently working plumbing systems

●      Rain-water harvesting system

●      Tankless water heaters

Making your home or small business eco-friendly simply requires a bit of planning, as well as a few thoughtful investments which are bound to provide you and the environment big returns in the long run. So use the tips above to get started today!

Nicely Natural started out from my curiosity about the potent compounds found in nature. Saps that heal wounds, oils that suppress inflammation, and oxides with remarkable antibacterial properties. I wanted to see if I could create products that worked for my skin and my body. And work they did! To learn more, browse our shop or call (332) 333-4644.