Eco-friendly houses are, in fact, the highest trend nowadays, when people realised the impact that they have on the planet is major and plays an important role in global warming. In addition, turning a house in a sustainable one or building one from scratch, not only saves the owner a great deal of money, but it also has a great benefit on health in general. Some real estate owners caught on that and turned skyscrapers into real green vertical gardens powered by partial or total sustainable energy. But why is it affordable, when some of the necessary equipment can cost a fortune? The investment can actually pay for itself in the long run and the utility bills will be lower than usual.
Sustainable homes can be created with some environment friendly additions like solar panels for electricity or hot water, economy light bulbs, good insulation and even by changing the windows and front door for a higher efficiency in keeping the energy inside. Having an eco-friendly house may be a matter of principle, but the benefits are real and they really improve the quality of life. Here are some of them detailed in order to help with decision making.
Economy
By building or upgrading a house in a sustainable manner, people help reducing the resources they use to provide energy for it. Building is somehow easier because constructors have the possibility to use recycled materials from the start and that would be cheaper that buying new unused ones. Factories produce more and more raw materials since the real estate industry is on the rise again. This also means that they rely on more energy consumption to produce them from scratch. By using only recycled raw materials to build a house, the request for factories will be lower, the consumption of energy will be less of an issue (processing recycled raw materials takes less energy) and the scraps will be taken out of the environment.
On the other hand, adding partially or totally self-sustained equipment to the home can cut off bills a great deal and even though it might seem expensive to buy and install them, they will pay for themselves in time, by reducing the costs of energy. In general, every investment done to turn a home in a sustainable one will be returned since its main purpose is economisation.
There are many ways in which old houses can be updated. The easiest one would be to change the incandescent light bulbs with LEDs as they require less electricity to function. On this subject, a long-term solution would be to install solar panels on a plain area with no shadow. They can very efficiently replace the electricity from the main provider. Also, installing wide windows, so that natural light can come in, would be another great solution in saving energy, but only during day time.
Health
Sustainable houses are usually built with more natural materials, which remove the possibility of any toxic chemicals that big factories use in order to produce conventional materials. This means that these kinds of homes are healthier. For example, houses made of wood are more efficient in keeping the place warmer during winter and colder during summer and the material breaths, which means that it is less likely to develop mould or other allergens.
Also, using recycled materials has a big effect on the environment, which is the main player in health. Scarp materials take a lot of space in nature, so the chemical components infiltrate in the soil and it affects their development. In addition, the forests contracted partially because of the fact that people need places to live and cities took a lot of wildlife to develop, partially because the rubbish, trash and scraps spread more and killed a lot of them. Building houses with recycled materials, will increase the health levels of the nature, hence of humans in general and the rest of living creatures.
Evaluation
When deciding to upgrade an old house into a somewhat sustainable one, the owner has to have it evaluated in order to have information on what to change, what to improve or what to add. EnerGuide evaluation provides accurate data on the efficiency of the house regarding energy consumption and preservation. The information that the evaluation will show will play a decisive role in home upgrading because it is very reliable and relevant for home owners. By evaluating a house in terms of energy, the deficits will come to the surface and the owners will know what to do when it comes to insulation, changing windows or doors, changing light bulbs or installing various kinds of devices that help preserve or even produce energy.
Home evaluation does not only provide information on the energy efficiency, but also on other issues. There could be some malfunctions or other problems that the inhabitants of houses are not even aware of. This way they can find out if their houses have mould, or other kind of fungus and bacteria, rats, bugs and other undesired living intruders, the efficiency of plumbing and other pipes, insulation and so on.
After a complete evaluation, the home owners will have a full report on how their house looks like from the inside and what to do to improve their living situation.
Conclusion
To sum up, turning or building a sustainable house has many benefits on many levels. It helps save on the utility and pharmacy bills, keeping the energy inside and the air and environment healthy. It is eco-friendly by using natural reusable resources for producing energy and by using recycled materials in the building process, which saves the environment by decreasing the amount of scrap materials in nature.
