With so many forms of green energy and eco-friendly construction materials available in this day in age, it is now possible to build entirely eco-friendly houses. Eco-friendly houses are self-sustainable and do not harm the environment in any way. The energy savings of building a home using these materials is also quite substantial. The following article will explain what an eco-friendly house is, some of the materials that are used in eco-friendly building and how to power and convert your existing home to be more eco-friendly.
What is an Eco-Friendly House?
An eco-friendly home is a home that is designed using sustainable materials and for energy saving. An environmentally friendly home will use only renewable resources and work to conserve resources such as electricity and water to reduce the drain a home may have on the environment.
Eco-Friendly Building Materials
While these building materials may cost a bit more than regular building materials up front, by building the house correctly and using a proper sustainable power source such as wind energy, the savings will make up for the upfront costs over the course of a few years. Some eco-friendly building materials may be wood compounds composed of bamboo straw and recycled wood products.
Bamboo is easily replaceable and does not take the lengthy amount of time to regrow as a forest would. Bamboo can grow exponentially faster than the average tree making it a more renewable option for creating building materials. Recycled materials such as stones combined with concrete can work as a great building material also. Insulation can be made naturally out of sheep’s wool, or recycled paper and plants. These eco-friendly materials and more can come together to make eco-friendly houses or retrofit an existing home.
Eco-Friendly House Build by Simon Dale
This image is from Simon Dales low impact woodland home. This cosy eco-friendly home was dug into the side of a hill. Click on the image to find out more about this inspiring eco build in Wales.
Powering an Eco-Friendly Home
There are a number of sustainable sources for energy which can be used to power eco-friendly houses. Resources such as wind turbines and solar panels can be used to power homes while living off the grid which can equate to massive energy savings per year. Small wind turbines are available for purchase that will power an entire home and more, with many hydro companies allowing people to sell their electricity that they may not use to the hydro grid for use in other homes.
How to make your house Eco-Friendly/how to be Eco-Friendly
Making your own existing home eco-friendly can be done by making your home efficient and by conserving resources. By purchasing efficient appliances, efficient lighting and by conserving power you can make your home eco-friendly and lead an eco-friendly lifestyle. Conservation of water and recycling also help to create more building materials and a sustainable environment. Changes such as putting in a bidet to conserve paper use or getting a low flush toilet to conserve water will help your home to become more eco-friendly and have you living a more eco-friendly lifestyle.
Sustainable building and conservation of our earth’s valuable resources is a trend that is sure to continue. Because resources such as oil are not renewable we will need to conserve them and find new alternative forms of energy and building in order to be certain that the rest of our resources remain abundant and available to meet the demand of our ever populating world.
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Internet entrepreneur, web services, marketing consultant, WowWe video marketing rep, eco warrior with Wikaniko and now dabbling with property investing!
