5 simple ways to make your home more sustainable in 2022

02/08/2022

Uncategorised

A green home is a happy and healthy home. It can also be more cost-effective long term.

If you’re about to start building your new home and have been wondering how you can make it more sustainable, read on.

1. Add solar panels
Adding solar panels to your home is one of the best ways to reduce your energy bill significantly.

Rather than burning fossil fuels like electricity does, solar panels run entirely off the sun’s energy, offering a cleaner alternative that can save you over $1,000 every year.

2. Ensure your home has proper insulation
Heating and cooling systems are the main contributors to a home’s energy consumption. However, by insulating correctly, you can heavily reduce the bill.

Insulation keeps your house from getting too cold in the winter and too hot in the summer. Ensure all rooms in your home will be properly insulated before building.

Tip: You could also install block-out and heat retaining curtains to limit the flow of cool and hot air around your home.

3. Add LED lights
Using up to 90 per cent less energy and lasting up to 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs, the simple switch to LED lights throughout your home is a fantastic, money-saving choice.

4. Create a space to grow your own produce
With food prices at an all-time high and spring in the air, now is the time to incorporate a garden patch into your new home.

Buying your fruit and vegetables from a chain supermarket, which are transported in from various places around Australia and beyond, contributes to carbon emissions and mass agricultural production.

However, growing your own produce can minimise food, plastic and packing waste, save money, and generally tastes way better than store-bought.

5. Buy energy-efficient appliances
Behind heating and cooling systems, appliances are the next biggest energy consumers in your house, accounting for 30% of home energy use.

So before you buy your new appliances (especially your fridge, dishwasher and washing machine), consider your needs and choose the most energy and water-efficient option.

Energy Star has a list of certified appliances to help make your choice easy and save energy.