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Climate change is a reality that we need to face. To keep the perilous effects to our planet at a minimum, we must all do our part to fight it. First, we begin to address this issue by building an eco-friendly home. However, most people think an eco-friendly home is way out of their budget.
However, in this article, we’ll explore seven practical tips to build a home that’s not just environmentally friendly but relatively inexpensive, too!
If this is something you want to know more about, continue reading for some great tips on building an eco-friendly home for your family.
Steps to Building a Sustainable Eco-Friendly Home
➊ Sustainable Building Materials
Building a home is truly expensive. But you can minimize your expenses by using sustainable sourced materials for your home construction. Such sustainable materials might include bamboo, cork, and reclaimed wood.
You can even use a material called eco-bricks which are made out of 1.5-liter soda bottles that contain plastics to build your home at a fraction of the cost!
➋ Recycle & Reuse
Speaking of recycling, you can maintain a low-impact household by using fewer plastics and recycling materials than you already own. You can always find a way to use old jars and even tin cans if you use your imagination. In fact, recycling can even be a family activity where you can teach your kids the value of the practice to help save Mother Earth.
➌ Harvesting Rainwater
Harvesting rainwater is now getting more and more popular for homeowners who want to up their zero-waste game. Rainwater harvesting usually involves collecting rainwater from your roof. This falls through the gutters where it channels to a container where it remains for later use.
Rainwater harvesting was once only for farm irrigation. However, now, rainwater is in use for watering gardens, flushing toilets, refilling fish ponds, and washing cars. In some cases, it’s in use as drinking water although that requires a proper filtering system, as well.
➍ Practice Composting
Composting is a practical and eco-friendly practice that should be done at every home. This practice is not just exclusive to those with gardens and house plants because you can always donate your compost to schools and public areas that keep plants.
As someone who consumes food regularly, each household has enough sources for composting. Composting basically means keeping organic waste for a time to allow them to turn into fertilizer which converts to plant food. Composting methods include hot composting, in-ground composting, and worm farm composting.
➎ Underfloor Heating Systems
Underfloor heating systems are now getting more common in homes all around the world. That’s not surprising since these heating systems operate at a lower temperature. This is an eco-friendly option over conventional heating systems. Plus, underfloor heating systems helps save space, too!
➏ Consider Installing Roof Gardens
Roof gardens are the practical solution to insulating your homes without spending a ton of money. Not only that, Tree Science tells us that with a full roof garden, you also contribute to better air quality and less pollution in your community.
Interestingly, a lot of commercial establishments now invest in roof gardens because they provide an oasis to the otherwise concrete jungle in urban centers. Roof gardens also create a wonderful place for people to relax and reflect on life.
➐ Add Solar Power
An eco-friendly home is not complete without tapping into renewable energy. But since these are practical tips, we no longer recommend installing actual solar panels at home, (even though you can get some tax incentives). Instead, the easier way to use solar energy is by subscribing to a community solar program in your area.
What is community solar? Simple. It’s simply sharing the harvested solar energy among different people in a given location. It’s a hassle-free and installation-free way to utilize solar energy for your home. Plus, it’s less expensive, too!
No matter how tight your budget is, building an eco-friendly home certainly comes at a cost. But we all know that it’s a necessary sacrifice in order to help save our only planet.
Images Courtesy of Canva.
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About the Author: Ashley Edwards
