10 Eco-friendly Home Construction Options for Any Budget

Home appliances, heating and cooling homes, lawns have an increasing demand for fossil fuels, which are limited. Homeowners are aware of this fact as well as the fact that the rise of fuel prices have a direct impact on their account balances via increased energy bills.

Therefore many homeowners are looking to reduce these costs by making their homes more eco-friendly, some to reduce living costs and others to help the environment.

To do this, they are taking different approaches and here are what Touchstone Builders found to be the most popular:

1. Doing a home energy audit is usually the first step and can help with further planning. It is an inspection of your home that can pinpoint the measures to be taken to reduce energy consumption.
2. Controlling the airflow is also important as an estimated 20% of the energy used for cooling and heating is lost due to poor seals under doors or on windows.
3. Upgrading to better windows can be very useful with multipane windows being the best choice.
4. Reflective insulation can be a cost-saving upgrade as it reduces the heat in your home from the sun.
5. Blown film batting and rigid sheets of insulation provide a lot of benefits. Installing insulation can vary from easy installation like unrolling fiberglass in your attic to more complicated like blowing cellulose fill between studs.
6. Growing an eco-friendly lawn can save a lot of energy. Try using native plants, using native wildflowers which will reduce the need for water and fertilizer.
7. Roofs, streets, and driveways don’t absorb water which can cause a lot of problems to the community. Using pervious pavement can solve this problem.
8. An estimated one-third of home’s energy consumption is spent on heating water. Upgrading to tankless water heaters can significantly reduce energy consumption.
9. Installing “smart” thermostats that can run appliances with more efficiency can also be a good but a rather expensive solution.
10. When buying new home appliances, you should always check their energy efficiency and try to buy appliances that match your needs.