5 Ways to Green Your Home
Today more and more Americans are focused on living greener lifestyles. One of the most important places to begin those efforts is inside your home. The five methods below are instrumental in not only doing your part for the planet, but also in helping you save money and creating a healthier environment for your family.
1) Switch to Green Cleaning Products
Believe it or not, vinegar, lemons, baking soda, and elbow grease are some of the most effective cleaning products on the market today. More importantly, they don’t cause harm to the planet. They also don’t release caustic odors that harsh chemical cleaners provide.
2) Install and Use a Whole House Fan
This step is one of the biggest you can take when it comes to overall impact. Whole house fans do all of the following for your home and your family:
- Reduce utility bills
- Draws moisture out of the home
- Brings fresh air into the home
- Cools your home efficiently (at a greatly reduced price of traditional air conditioning)
- Ventilates
- Helps with indoor air pollution
The critical element of a whole house fan is that it brings fresh, clean air into the home while getting rid of air that’s filled with VOCs, allergens, mold, and other toxins that are inside the home.
3) Consider Skylights for Daytime Lighting
New technology in the form of skylight tubes, makes it possible for homes that were previously unable to take advantage of the efficiency of skylights to do so today. This provides home with abundant, bright lighting throughout the days while eliminating the need to turn on lights. Tubes are convenient to use in kitchens, bathrooms, living areas, and even to bring bright light into interior closets.
4) Use Indoor Plants to Filter Air
Making use of natural methods to filter the air inside your home is a great way to go green and it requires no electricity to do so. When working to come up with a plan to “scrub” the space station of VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that could make astronauts breathing in the air sick,NASA came to the conclusion that “If man is to move into closed environments, on Earth or in space, he must take along nature’s life support system.” That life support system happens to be plants. If that’s the solution that the brightest minds on earth came up with for the space station, the likelihood that it will work in your home is great.
5) Purchase Energy Star Appliances
You don’t have to go all out and replace every appliance in your home in one fell swoop. As you do replace them, however, choose appliances that have been awarded the Energy Star rating as they are more energy efficient and, as a result, better for the planet.
Simple solutions, like these, when used in combination, can deliver an effective effort for making your home a greener place to live. Take one step at a time until you’ve achieved the green lifestyle you want for yourself and your family.