Guest Post: How To Make Your House Greener

February 9, 2012 by Brenda
Filed under Featured Posts, Green Living, Guest Posts

It’s always a happy coincidence when green living combines with ways to reduce domestic bills, and there is no shortage of measures that will help your carbon footprint. From water to and insulation, to food and recycling, the home now seems to be at the centre of environmental consciousness.

When equipping a home, it is important to choose appliances wisely. European Energy Labels help consumers decide which products to buy according to their energy efficiency; these are rated from dark green (most efficient) to red (least efficient). They apply to everything from white goods to televisions and air conditioners, and shopping around could save you money in energy costs over the lifetime of the product.

Energy saving lamps can reduce your electricity bills; amazingly, 25% of a typical household budget is spent on lighting inefficient household bulbs, and an old-fashioned bulb will cost 5 to 10 times its own cost in electricity during its lifetime. Compare this with a modern energy saving bulb, which will save over 500kWh during its lifetime, and will ease the strain on power stations and pockets alike.

Water is a precious resource, and efficiency can be helped by the addition of a flow regulator to your shower head, which reduces the amount of water by about 30% for no loss of water pressure. The greatest circulation of water is through the toilet, which can make up a third of household usage. This can be reduced by applying a water saving bag to the cistern, reducing the amount flushed away.

Water heating costs can be further helped by the installation of a solar heating unit. Although this requires a high initial investment the savings can mean that they pay for themselves over the medium term.

Environmentally, heating methods such as biomass boilers can be beneficial as they burn wood pellets as opposed to coal, and produce no more carbon dioxide than the wood absorbed during the time it was growing. These are available in different sizes for all types of property.

Geothermal technology in the form of a Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) uses the earth surrounding a property to provide heating, but smaller properties will not be able to install it as excavation is required. The technology relies on the fairly constant temperature of the earth’s surface to generate heat within the home. A word of advice – don’t plan to plant trees over the network of pipes that will need to be buried to provide the induction coil. Traditional solar power, on the other hand, is not restricted by geography and depends only on having good exposure to sunlight – and a sturdy roof.

The compactness and affordability of solar technology has advanced rapidly over the past few years, to the point where a workable charge for a personal computer can be generated from a panel assembly no bigger than a suitcase.

Solar Contact provides up-to-date information to homeowners looking to install solar energy technology in their home. Visit their website for more information on generating energy from renewable sources in the home.

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