Nowadays, the idea of a “Dream Home” isn’t limited to having a lavishly-decorated palatial house. With more and more people being concerned and vocal about the need for saving the environment and going green, the idea of “Dream Home” got expanded with its rating on the parameters of eco-friendliness. The buzz of “Go-Green” is igniting the eco-responsibility in today’s generation and awakening them to the importance of having an environment-friendly home. So here we are with some handy tips to Make Your Home Environment-Friendly.

Insulate Everything That Discharges Energy
There are many things in the house that discharge energy regularly, be it the water heater, the thermostat, or any other electronic device. Insulating all these things and sealing the energy discharge can be an effective step in making your home environment-friendly. Adding extra insulation to just the water heater alone can save up to 15% of the energy costs, imagine how much energy and cost you’ll cut if you insulate all other things.
Apart from insulating the appliances, it is also important to insulate the entire home to prevent any discharge of heat or cool air from within. Weather-stripping the doors & windows, adding insulation to walls, sealing the chimneys and dampers etc., are some option to insulate the home.

Find Green Alternatives to Energy Consumption
Energy is being consumed in different ways inside our homes. From the bulbs and air conditioners to the water heaters and every other appliance in the home, each of them consumes a lot of energy. To make the home environment-friendly, it is essential to find green alternatives to all these energy consuming appliances and gadgets.

• Install Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs

The use of incandescent light bulbs in homes should be stopped right away and its greener alternative, i.e., LEDs and CFLs must be installed. All the non-dimmable light bulbs must be replaced with the energy-efficient light bulbs. These bulbs use a quarter of the energy consumed by other bulbs and can easily fit any light fixture.

• Lower The Home Temperature Naturally

Instead of using high power-consuming air conditioners, try to lower your home’s temperature naturally during the hot season. Re-roofing the house with tiles (especially white) can work wonders in preventing the outside heat from seeping in. Consider window tinting. This not only prevents the heat to budge in but also acts as a shield to 99% of the harmful UV rays. Tinted windows along with blackout curtains can be great in preventing the room from both getting heated up in summers and cooled down in winters (they insulate the heat as well).

Pick Environment-Friendly Products
There are many regularly-used products in our homes that can actually be causing a lot of damage to both the environment and the humans. It is advisable to pick environment-friendly products instead of the harmful ones.

• Avoid Products With VOCs

The paints in our homes have a high amount of VOC aka volatile organic compound. Not just that, the new carpets, mattress, furniture, and building materials etc., also have this harmful chemical infused in them. While picking up such products, make sure that they are no-VOC products or have a negligible amount of VIC in them. These products can increase the pollutant level inside the house by up to 100 times; so make sure that you do not buy anything that has VOC in it.

• Invest In Natural Cleaners

The cleaning supplies in the home contain a lot of chemicals and toxic products. It is advisable to pick environment-friendly alternatives to these harsh chemicals. You can either buy natural non-toxic cleaners from natural grocery stores and chain stores or simply make them at homes. Look in your kitchen and you will find various items like vinegar, baking soda, citric acid, citrus fruits etc., which can be used for cleaning different things.

Other Little Things Matter Too
Many times there are several little things inside our homes that we tend to neglect but can cause a lot of energy wastage. To make your home environment-friendly, it is crucial to keep a check on all these little things.

• Fix Window Gaps

Window gaps are something that almost every house, especially the older ones, tends to have. All these little window gaps can easily add up to waste as much energy as a window left open for one whole year would waste. Adding weather-stripping on the windows can save a lot of energy, especially heat, from escaping out of the home and cut down up to10% of the cooling bill.

• Mend Leaking Taps

A great way to make the home environment-friendly is by mending all the leaking taps in the home. Dedicate a day in six months to ‘seal the leaks’ and check all the leaking toilets, faucets, pipes and even the refrigerant coolants to find the leaking area. A study even revealed that there is so much of leakage in 10% homes that it wastes around 90 gallons of water every day. So, mend all those leaks to conserve water for future uses.

Buy Detectors And Purifiers To Improve Air Quality
Invest in carbon monoxide detectors and detectors for checking the presence of radon in the air to take any preventive measures at the quickest to reduce the content of these harmful substances. Air purifiers that not only purify the air but also check for harmful gases present in them are a great choice. Avoid taking slippers inside the house to prevent the harmful toxins and pollutants from outside to enter your home.

Planting air purifying plants like Spider Plant, Nephytis, Peace Lily, English Ivy, Chinese Evergreen, and Dragon Tree etc., can also work wonders in purifying air and making it cool.

In the end, don’t forget to get an energy audit done for your home to ensure its environment-friendliness. You can either do this audit yourself or hire a professional to do the same. This would help you assess the energy use in your home and pinpoint the areas that need correction. In the end, it is in every individual’s hands to promote green, environment-friendly homes just like B2B promotes green business.

Author Bio:
Ankit Gupta heads and manages ExportersIndia.com. A look at Ankit’s surrounding and it can be deciphered that he is an ardent environment lover. His cabin is lined with different types of indoor plants and he incorporates the same mantra of going environment-friendly in his home too. He keeps pouring his insights to encourage people to go green.