How to make your home more eco friendly this summer

Deciding to make your home more eco friendly is one that can bring so many benefits to your family and living space that it’s hard to quantify them all.

There are financial, mental, health and many more but we’ve produced a shortlist of three things you can do, some not so obvious, that you can do to make the place where you live kinder to the environment, save you money and reduce your carbon footprint.

Use your microwave over more often

You would be surprised to learn how much more energy efficient modern microwave ovens are compared to an average conventional oven.  They use far less energy, which means they cost less to produce the same meals.

They also produce far fewer CO2 emissions than a traditional oven or grill. This is compounded when you take into account opening an oven door during cooking which most of us have. Even if it is open for a short amount of time, this heat dissipates out and it requires a significant amount of energy to get the heating back up to that level. This is not to mention the additional heat that has escaped into the house, raising the temperature and CO2.

Fit a smart meter

Heating is on of the biggest ways that you use energy in a home. During the colder autumn and winter months it can be easy to leave the heating on for far longer than you need it. This means both wasted energy and ultimately wasted money for you.

One of the best ways of staying on top of demand is to ask your energy provider to install a smart meter. As well as giving you up to the minute data on your energy use and consumption, they can be programmed to only be turned on at certain times of day or night.  If you are out during the day you could set it to begin to heat up the home just before you get in and shut off an hour before you leave.  This approach will save energy, money and reduce your home’s carbon footprint too.

Install aluminium bifold doors

There is a free source of heat and light for every home to take advantage of – the sun! Taking advantage of it is trickier but there is an ideal solution available.

A smart, secure set of aluminium bifold doors in a room will help bring natural light into any room during the day and provide adequate ventilation when the weather allows.

They also use solar control glass that is a specially coated glazing with the ability to reflect heat energy. This allows the glass to control the temperature in rooms, reducing the need for blinds and expensive air conditioning and keeping the carbon footprint of a home to a minimum.

By making these changes to the home, you will immediately begin to see lower energy bills for your heating and lighting and can relax knowing that you are doing your bit for the environment even if you are sat in your favourite chair reading a great book!