5 Top Ways to Make Your Home Greener in 2014

As evidence mounts for the increasing necessity of improved sustainable living practices, more people are wondering how they can change their living habits, purchasing choices and home to help reduce their environmental impact. Here are five excellent ways to make your home greener in 2014.

Begin With an Audit

In order to understand how you can reduce your environmental impact it is important to understand what the aspects of your consumption are and how they affect the environment. Looking to your waste is a great way to begin expanding your knowledge about becoming greener. Physical products such as tin cans, paper, plastics and packaging of consumable goods such as food, are already heavily recycled.

However, other waste products such as shower gel, shampoo and soaps that get washed down our drains also have an environmental impact. Many contain moisturisers that are harmful to the environment. Consider buying brands that state that their products are produced in a manner that is not harmful to the environment and when disposed of do not harm the environment.

All of the products that you buy should have a position on their environmental impact, both on production and disposal. By investigating each thing you buy you can be more conscious about the impact of your purchasing choices.

Consider Energy

With sharply rising energy prices and declining oil stocks, people are more conscious of their energy consumption. Reducing energy consumption, or being more efficient with the energy you use has the added benefit of reducing your living costs. Installing sustainable energy such as solar panels can be incredibly costly, however, it can pay off in the long term.

Insulation

There are also other ways you can make your home more energy efficient. Insulation efficiency is the most crucial factor to consider. Adding more insulation to the roof of a home will dramatically increase the ability of a home to retain heat and thereby require less energy to heat it. Adding insulation foil behind radiators reflects heat back into the room rather than allowing it to be absorbed into walls which will conduct the heat and, albeit slowly, leak it out of the walls. If you have a basement, under floor insulation can also be highly effective and help to reduce drafts. Smaller household items such as draft excluders can also be very effective in retaining heat.

Windows

Windows are another aspect of the home that can contribute to the loss of heat. Double glazed windows are the most effective at retaining heat. Victorian sash windows and single pane windows are particularly poor at retaining heat. By fitting new windows you will save on your heating bills.

Electrical Appliances

Electrical appliances such as computers and televisions are another aspect of the home that you can address to be greener. By leaving them on stand-by you are wasting energy. Try turning them off at the plug instead. You can even buy devices to insert between plugs and the socket, which will monitor the use of energy from a product to help you monitor the difference you are making in your energy consumption.