Eco-friendly homes can be built in any style, with any materials, and can be made as large or small as you like with builders Palmerston North. We’ve put together some tips to help you build an eco-friendly home without breaking the bank.
1. Start early
You may think that you’ll have plenty of time to think about building an eco-friendly home once you move in. But this is not the case — once you’ve signed your lease, it’s too late! You need to start planning right away so that you don’t waste money on materials or make expensive mistakes later on. The sooner your plans are in place, the easier they will be to implement and less likely they are to go wrong. If you’re thinking about building a new house, make sure that there’s room for a garden or some sort of outdoor space so that nature can be incorporated into your design plan at some point.
2. Use renewable energy sources
You can build your home with renewable energy sources such as solar panels, wind turbines or geothermal heat pumps. When you’re shopping for your new home, look for homes that have been constructed with these sustainable building techniques in mind.
3. Reduce your energy consumption
Eco-friendly homes use less electricity than non-eco ones do because they use less water and heating oil during winter months, which reduces the need for additional power consumption during those months. They also use less natural gas due to their insulated walls and roofs that help keep temperatures inside at a comfortable level year-round. Eco-friendly homes also use low-VOC paints and finishes so that no harmful toxins are released into the surrounding environment when building materials are being used on site or transported there from other locations where they were produced (such as factories).
4. Use natural materials
The first thing you can do to make your home eco-friendly is to use materials that are already in your region. For example, if you live in a place with harsh winters and hot summers, you’ll want to look for windows and doors that won’t warp in the cold or break in the heat. If you live where there is a lot of precipitation, think about using low-VOC paints and stains.
5. Turn off the water when brushing your teeth
It’s easy to forget that running water makes a huge difference when it comes to conserving water — especially if you’re not pumping any water out of your shower or kitchen sink! Just turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth can save up to 200 gallons per year, which means less energy used by your home’s heating system and cooling system (and therefore less CO2 emissions). Also consider turning off the water while washing dishes or cleaning sinks or floors — these are often big sources of leaks, so every little bit helps!
6. Install low-flow toilets
Low-flow toilets can save up to 30 percent on water use compared with standard toilets, but they also reduce greenhouse gas emissions from waste transport by up to 50 percent!