In today’s society, sustainability, energy efficiency and carbon footprint are increasingly becoming buzzwords as more people look to the benefits of green home improvement in an effort to do their bit to help the planet.
But what exactly constitutes a green home?
Well there are plenty of things that you can do to make your property a little more environmentally-friendly, no matter how big a budget you have to spend on such work.
At one end of the scale, programmes such as Channel 4’s Grand Designs frequently show people building their dream house from scratch, with sustainability often being a key factor in the construction process.
If you are lucky enough to be in this position, you may wish to ensure you hire tradesmen who have experience in this area, as they will be able to help advise you and may even give you a few tips you had not previously considered.
When building a green property from the ground up, you have the freedom to choose the most ecological materials around for your project. These can include reclaimed wood and bricks, bamboo, compressed earth, recycled metal, wool, hempcrete and sandstone.
By doing this, you can make sure that the harmful impact the creation of your home has had on the planet and its resources is kept to an absolute minimum.
However, you may not be in the position to start from scratch – but there is nothing standing in your way if you want to make greening up your property a home improvement project.
In fact, renovating an existing building can be more environmentally-friendly in many cases than building a new one as it means you will be sourcing fewer raw materials or taking over more land, while you will be helping to elongate the life of the house for more generations to come.
No matter what your budget, you will find a green home improvement that you can invest in.
At the top end of the market, there are technologies designed to help you reduce your carbon footprint. Among these are solar panels – which use the energy of the sun to generate heating and hot water for your house, rather than having to rely on electricity from the mains. A further benefit of these fixtures is that they can generate power that you can either use for yourself or redirect to the National Grid remember, but you may need planning permission before having these installed.
An air or ground source heat pump can achieve a similar objective, this time by using the heat that is stored in the ground or atmosphere, while a biomass boiler is fuelled by wood rather than fossil fuel. Through the government’s Renewable Heat Incentive, you could even stand to make some extra cash if you invest in this technology.
While devices like these can be costly, they help you to save money on your annual energy bills and so in the long term they could end up paying for themselves.
If you don’t have the funds available to take this step right now, don’t worry – there are still plenty of great options for making your home greener.
Modernising the heating and hot water system is one of the best things you can do. If your existing boiler is old it is likely that you could be saving a significant amount of money – and reducing your carbon emissions – by having a new one fitted.
A condensing boiler is able to convert far more of the fuel it consumes into usable heat than an older appliance, making it more efficient and saving you cash. When you consider that the average boiler accounts for around 60 per cent of the carbon emissions produced by a property running on gas, you will realise this is quite a worthwhile investment.
In addition to this, you could have heating controls fitted so that you can set your heating to come on for different periods of time in each room. This means that a space that is frequently unoccupied during the day is not heated for no reason.
Make sure, if you are planning changes to your heating system, that you always contact a professional with the right qualifications and who is a member of the Gas Safe Register.
Next, you may wish to think about improving your home’s insulation. Loft, solid or cavity walls and floor insulation are all great ways of reducing the amount of heat that is leaked from your home. In line with this, double glazing could save you even more cash – as could simply laying down a draught excluder or filling in any cracks in your walls or floor.
As you can see, if you are planning a green makeover, there really has never been a better time to do it!
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