Reducing Your Home's Carbon Footprint

The world today is experiencing high amounts of pollution and energy usage that stresses the environment. But being environmentally conscious helps to reduce the number of greenhouse gases that your home produces. Here is how to reduce your home's carbon footprint:

Hire a professional to carry out an energy audit of your home. 

This stage of the energy audit will allow you to know your house better and give you the necessary facts you need to make a decision. In this way, you will identify precisely the weak points of your home. The auditor will then propose several options to you according to your budget. 

Improve the insulation of the walls, roof, and floor of your home

Generally, the first thing to do to save energy is to prevent heat from escaping. For this, you must identify all the points where you lose cooling and try to repair or improve the insulation. 

Change your windows

Ten to 15% of the heat escapes through the windows. You have to choose your windows and install new ones with double or triple panes depending on your home. The objective is to avoid unnecessary expenses from energy being wasted.

Think about the ventilation of your home

A well-ventilated home will conserve temperature all through the day and reduce the amount of work that air conditioners do. This also reduces your energy bills and keeps the air on your own home circulating without becoming stale.

Opt for natural materials

A truly green home uses materials that have little impact on the environment and indoor air quality. These are usually natural materials (straw wood, stone, etc.). Consider using bio-based insulation – made from renewable plant or animal raw materials (wood wool, hemp wool ...). In terms of finishes, use natural paints or coatings for better indoor air quality.

For heating, have renewable energy products installed in your home

Solar heating, wood heating and heat pumps (geothermal, aerothermal), existing equipment ecological heating are efficient and reliable. The idea is to recover energy naturally present in the air, the sun, the soil or our forests to limit the use of fossil fuels. And so reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases.

Recycle waste

Don't throw away your home waste without checking for items that could be reused or recycled. Start a local recycling program in your home and do your best to make sure that the volume of waste reduces. Plastic bottles can also be re-used for other useful purposes.

Many contractors are upgrading properties to improve their green ratings, talk to your real estate agent about finding a green contractor in your area.