Perhaps you’re looking to entirely change and modernize the ground floor of your home and want to create open and more spacious interior living areas that are more in keeping with you and your family’s lifestyle? Alternatively, maybe you’re excitedly working toward building your dream home on a plot of land that you’ve bought at auction, or else have been eyeing up for a number of years?
Regardless of your current or indeed, your future plans, then read on to find out what alternatives you can bring into your eco-friendly home renovation project.
Stay Away from Common Cement
Cement is the core ingredient of concrete and obviously, therefore, the primary construction material for traditional brick-based buildings and it may well be unreasonable and simply not financially viable to have to switch away from it entirely.
This is why, rather than naturally gravitating toward common cement, you should instead look into the environmentally friendly process to decarbonise cement manufacture which essentially means that the concrete is produced with a considerably lower level of carbon, achieved by the following:
- Switching to a new fuel source (or a combination of two or three)
- Utilizing brand-new and truly innovative technology
- Blast-furnace slag
- Using calcined clay or ash
Source Reclaimed Furniture
Instead of heading out to a well-known and reputable furniture supplier or manufacturer and spending hundreds of dollars on a brand-new and bespoke three-piece suite and matching coffee table, spend a few days wandering around your local antique shops and thrift stores.
Not only will you be positively contributing to the planet and the natural environment, by ensuring that no trees were harmed in the process of renovating your home, but you’ll also be adding an additional element of character and a unique finished aesthetic to the space.
Invest in a Heat Pump
Another fantastic suggestion for consideration is to consider installing a heat pump. Heat pumps are an impressively effective, not to mention vastly eco friendlier alternative to traditional gas central heating and even though the initial outlay will set you back around $15,000, you’re likely to save a huge amount on your energy expenditure as the years go by.
Some of the advantages of a heat pump, aside from a lower personal carbon footprint and financial savings, include the fact that they can both heat and cool your home, they’re efficient all the way through the summer and the winter, and that they are exceedingly low maintenance.
Install Solar Panels on the Roof
Finally, you may well have been walking around your local neighborhood one summer’s evening and suddenly have noticed solar panels on your neighbor’s roof.
Now, as futuristic as they appear, solar panels are virtually harmless when it comes to damaging the Earth’s atmosphere and due to the significant rise in energy bills for the average homeowner (both here in the US and internationally), more and more people are turning to them.
Not only do roof solar panels work to utilize the energy from the sun to power your home, but there are now several companies who include a set of solar batteries that will store and harness the power of the sun until you need to use it.
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