With global warming, rising water levels and other ecological concerns now occupying center stage in many people’s consciousness, it is becoming more and more common for home buyers and home owners to be concerned with the environmental footprint of their existing or prospective house. Here are some tips for making your house more environmentally friendly, which will not only be great for the planet but also increase the worth of your house in the eyes of potential buyers.
Switch to LED light bulbs
Light-Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs are a newer type of light bulb than halogen, incandescent or compact fluorescent light bulbs. Due to the different technology they use, LED bulbs are 80 to 90 percent more energy-efficient than other types of light bulbs, which actually waste most of their energy usage on the production of heat rather than light. As with choosing triple-glazed over double-glazed windows, buying LED light bulbs will often cost you more upfront than choosing older types. However, using LED bulbs will save you around $100 a year, so it’s another worthy investment for both the planet’s and your pocket’s sake.
Install triple-glazed windows
For nearly a century, many houses and other buildings have sported windows with two panes of glass rather than one—which is known as ‘double glazing’—in order to maximize heat retention. Recently, however, a new option has become available in the form of triple-glazed windows. Triple glazing works much like double glazing, but involves three panes of glass, which makes the windows much more effective at keeping heat inside the building. While triple-glazed windows can be more expensive than double-glazed ones, installing them will vastly improve the energy performance rating for your house, which will increase its value. Besides, losing less heat through your windows means that you won’t need to put the heating on as often, and with the price of gas and electricity these days you will soon recoup what you invested in your new windows! Here is what to know when installing triple glazing.
Install solar panels on the roof
Solar panels installed on the roof of a house are an increasingly popular choice of energy source for home owners. The electricity that solar panels produce is clean, renewable and comes at no extra cost to the home owners or tenants—once you have paid to install the panels, you will get electricity from them for free. All these are obvious incentives to install solar panels on your roof! If you have a hot water cylinder you can also install a solar thermal system to heat up your water. If you add a solar battery to your system you will be able to store the excess energy which your panels are bound to produce during a sunny day and store it for later use in the night. When choosing where to install solar panels, if you have a roof which faces north to south you should install the panels on the south-facing side.
To read more on topics like this, check out the Home & Garden category
Leave a Reply