Making your home more sustainable isn’t just good for the environment, but it is also good for you and your wallet. Sustainable homes use energy much more efficiently which means less impact on the world around you and savings on your bills. A more efficient home can also be beneficial to your health, providing you with cleaner air and producing less pollution. A sustainable home produces much less wastage and there are ways that you can use any waste that is produced to your advantage…
Making your house more sustainable and efficient starts with the building process, but there are also plenty of small things you can do that will certainly help!
Before you even build your home, you’ve made a sustainable choice with us! Pre-fabricated building produces much less waste, as we know exactly what materials we need and the modular nature of our homes means we can be very precise when building. A good place to start when considering efficiency is your floorplan. Open plan areas are usually more energy efficient – they can help sunlight pass through the whole home, requiring less lighting and heating, which saves energy and keeps those bills low. Tailoring your plan to suit the orientation of your land is also a great way to optimise your home – having large windows and glazed areas face north helps to make the most of the sun’s heat and light. Another easy addition to consider is water storage tanks, to capture rainfall from your roof. We can certainly help you to design an energy efficient floor plan for your new home.
When it comes to building, make the most of your energy by adding extra insulation, which will help to keep the heat in during winter and the house cool during summer. All of our homes also come with double glazed windows (you can download our full inclusions guide here) which will let in lots of that natural light and warmth and keep it locked in when needed.
There are several additions you can make to get your home running on sustainable energy or we can build a completely off-grid home. Solar panels are an easy way to capture energy from the sun and use it to power your home - here at Swanbuild we can include solar (and battery storage) on your new home. Another way we can assist you is by including water tanks as part of your build – so you can recycle rain water, which can feed your entire home or just give you extra water to use for irrigation. By reusing rain water you are less reliant on suppliers, which can help you keep costs down in hot summers by using stored water on your garden and plants.
Inside your home you can use energy efficient appliances to make your energy go further – getting the most efficient appliances you can is a great way to cut costs on your bills and by using less energy and water, you are being kinder to the environment. By using less power you will also be able to rely more on solar – so that you are only using sustainable energy.
Fridges, dishwashers and washer/dryers are all power hungry, as are heating and cooling systems. There are many different options when it comes to heating and cooling and where you’re building can have an impact on which will work best for you - check out our previous blog on ways to keep your home cool.
Even if you are already in your home, there are plenty of things you can do to help improve your energy efficiency and produce healthier air quality. Something as simple as draft proofing your doors and windows and using curtains and blinds can reduce the amount of energy you will need to heat your home and keep it warm. Another quick fix is to make the change to LED lights, which are much more efficient than conventional light bulbs, and don’t contain the same harmful chemicals. Make your kitchen waste work for you by creating a compost bin – this will help keep waste out of landfill and will create great nutrient rich food for your plants and garden. Making sure you recycle properly also helps the environment – as your recyclables can be turned into something new and kept from entering the ecosystem. You can also make your home healthier by decorating your living areas with indoor plants. They are very effective at indoor air cleaning and as a bonus they also look great!
By thinking about sustainability and efficiency every step of the way - from designing your house, to the building methods you use, to the additions you make to harness renewable energy, to how you use your interior, you can create a home that works harder for you, saves you money and is kind to the environment. What’s not to like?!
