Green technologies are the answer to your household expense account. It isn’t a secret that bathrooms and kitchens are the biggest energy and water wastes for any home. The electricity and water usages add up fast when you’re cooling or heating them, washing clothes, dishes, taking baths and showers, and let’s not forget the toilet!
This isn’t just for your family that lives in the house either. There are friends and guests, if you have children, there probably is a constant chaotic schedule of coming and going. Fortunately, there are options in green technologies that can make your home an energy conservation haven, even with the daily “routine” of chaos.
1. Heating and Using Water
Heating water takes a lot of energy. Today, you can use solar power to heat water or look at the tank-less water-heating system. The number one benefit is that you’re only heating water you need, when you need it, and not all the time. Sustainable for the environment. Sustainable for your bank account too!
2. Go Green for Your Energy
There are a lot of things that commercial buildings have had going on for years that have made their way into homes, and we aren’t talking about the industrial décor that’s all the rage either. It is commons for commercial buildings to have a rooftop wind generator.
Today, rooftop wind generators are manufactured for residential use, generating as much as half of the energy your home needs. They are made to size but can do the same job for a home as they do for commercial properties.
Every home has the biggest part of the electrical energy going right through the window. Double-pane windows will cut that back because they are designed to retain cool or heat as needed.
Another step for going green is updating the insulation in your roof, walls, and even underneath your house. Check the attic fans too, make sure they are working and pulling out that attic air as intended.
3. Green Floor Aren’t Just for Looks
Bamboo is the all the rage now for homes. It is a durable, moisture-resistant, renewable source. In addition, they are beautiful and go with any architecture and décor.
Composite recycled flooring is made from plastic. It provides a beautiful natural look for any home, even commercial buildings. If wood isn’t your thing, consider concrete flooring. That is an industrial and modern look that is durable and long-lasting.
4. Rooftop That Are Green
Solar panels are the standard in going green, and the ROI you get are huge, whether you live there forever or put your house on the market within the next few years. Solar panels are where it is at when it comes to drastic energy savings.
Maybe a garden rooftop is more your style? It is definitely a natural aesthetic approach too going green. It is eco-friendly roofing and not only can it be a piece of natural beauty with flowers and greenery but think about growing your own food. A garden rooftop can save you a lot of green in several ways.
5. Decorate with Sustainability
By incorporating eco-friend colors and designs, you can kick the going green notch up more. Bring the outdoor inside with natural elements like acorns, pine cones, and twigs. Not only is this creating beauty with nature, but it is free too! Those flowers you grown in your rooftop garden will make beautiful centerpieces.
6. Electronics with Smarts
Smart electronics are the robots we thought we would have one day. They turn off the lights when we aren’t in the room. They adjust the thermostat to cut off and on according to our comings and goings. Those appliances and gadgets that we don’t unplug because it’s a pain, an energy power strip makes it easy.
A power strip turn off those appliances we aren’t using after a set time frame and you’ll notice that on your electric bill each month. Technology can do the work for you and put your green efforts in motion.
7. Water the Green Way
If you love having flowers around your home, install a rainwater harvest system and recycle the water nature provides to water your plants (the garden rooftop!). Construct planters from plastic that can double as rainwater harvesting containers too. You’ll be surprised how much tap water you’ll save doing this.
Buy a large barrel and place it under a downspout by your house. Every time it rains, that barrel will fill up with what you’ll see to be liquid gold. Water the flowers and vegetable gardens with that rainwater and save that tapped water!
8. Heat Up the Green Way
Solar panels saves the environment and save you money already. So why not add a geothermal heat pump. You’ll spend a little on the initial cost, but for what it will save you over time, you’ll get your money back. Using the heat that the Earth produces is a long term heating system.
9. Flush the Green Way
The toilet wastes a lot of water, more than any other water appliance in your home. It literally is money going to the drain. Replace your toilet if it is more than 10 years old. Go with the dual low-flush toilet and you can choose how much water is needed with each flush. Sounds minimal, but you’ll save more money on the water bill than you think.
10. Help Managing Your Green Efforts
Maybe you have already tried some of these things but feel like you could do more. Check into energy-management technology, a system that provides you a monitor where you can see where the energy is being wasted in your home. Once you see that happening, you’ll know exactly where to go and what to change.
Final Word about green technologies
Some of the options discussed here are inexpensive and simple to improve green technologies. Some require equipment to be purchased and installed. Don’t let those costs be deterrent for you, and there are many green energy tax credits offered by the government that will help that that initial expense.