"Green-Up" Your Home Where do you even begin when it comes to "Greening Up" an existing home? Listed below are a few places to start. If you'd like to find out more, or if you'd like to be put in contact with a "Green" contractor or "Green Certifying Agent", please email us at Info@Eco-LogicalRealty.com or call 850-912-8244. EcoLogical Realty's Top 10 Ways to “Green-up” an Existing Home 1- Replace old, inefficient appliances with Energy Star rated appliances. While replacing every appliance in your home may not lead to a huge monetary savings right away, over time the savings can add up. You may not want to rush out and replace all your appliances at once, especially if they are still in good working condition. Instead, just replace each appliance when needed, and look for Energy Star appliances when shopping for the replacement. Energy Star appliances claim to use 10-50% less energy and water than non-Energy Star rated equivalents. Instead of dumping your old appliances in the local landfill, call a local salvage company or used appliance vendor who might be able to repair the appliance and who may haul it away for free. 2- Consider switching from Electricity to Natural Gas (or other “Green” power sources). If you are upgrading a certain appliances from electric to gas, you can usually get substantial rebates for the purchase of the new appliances from your local gas company. In Escambia County, go to http://www.espnaturalgas.com/incentives.asp to look for current rebates on gas appliances. 3- Make sure your landscaping includes mostly native plants. Native plants usually require less watering. You will also want to keep your watering requirements low by having less turf/grass, as grass requires a lot of water. You can also consider installing a rain barrel to catch rainwater runoff and reuse the water for much of your outside watering needs. For information on what plants are native to your area and tips on how to make a rain barrel, visit the County Extension websites at: Escambia County Extension Services http://escambia.ifas.ufl.edu/ (850) 475-5230 3740 Stefani Road, Cantonment, FL 32533-7792 Santa Rosa County Extension Services http://www.santarosa.fl.gov/extension/ 850-623-3868 6263 Dogwood Drive Milton, FL 32570-3500 4- When repainting, choose low VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) paints. These are paints that help improve your indoor air quality. Traditional oil-based paints, and even latex based paints have been linked to kidney and liver disease, asthma and respiratory problems, nausea, and in some cases, even cancer. To find information on what products are considered low VOC, visit http://www.greenseal.org/findaproduct/index.cfm . 5- Consider using Solar Tube lighting for rooms that are traditionally dark during the day. Haven’t heard of these before? These are similar to the old “skylights”, but are much less intrusive and more attractive (at least to me!). These tube lighting systems can allow you to leave off the electric powered lighting in whichever rooms they are installed- at least during daylight hours. These can be used in conjunction with incandescent or fluorescent lights for night-time lighting. There are several companies that offer these, but I like the information provided on Solatube’s website at http://www.solatube.com/homeowner/Introduction.php . After you view the video, click on the “Get the Facts” button on the right. 6- When replacing flooring, use Earth-friendly materials. Consider carpet made from recycled plastic bottles (Mowhawk everSTRAND http://www.mohawk-flooring.com/carpeting/everstrand/default.aspx ). Yes, it’s true- they’ve found a good use for those plastic bottles, and you’ll never know the difference between this and traditional carpet. Don’t ask me how they do it, but I’ve felt the stuff, and if they hadn’t told me what it was made from, I never would have guessed. Other Earth-friendly alternatives are floors made from renewable sources such as bamboo. Bamboo is a rapidly growing plant, unlike the trees used to make traditional wood flooring. Just make sure when you are shopping for bamboo flooring that you are buying a brand with low to zero formaldehyde resin, and make sure it is from a local source (not shipped from overseas). Why does it matter if it’s a local source? Well, if you are trying to be eco-friendly, it doesn’t make any sense to buy a product that had to be shipped a long distance, because the fuel used to transport the product negates the eco-friendliness of the product itself. I wish this was something I had known when I installed my own bamboo flooring… 7- Update your insulation & air sealing. A home’s energy efficiency depends on 4 main points: · Air Sealing- Air leakage, or infiltration, occurs when outside air enters a house uncontrollably through cracks and openings. Properly air sealing such cracks and openings in your home can significantly reduce heating and cooling costs, improve building durability, and create a healthier indoor environment. · Insulation- Properly insulating your home will not only help reduce your heating and cooling costs but also make your home more comfortable. · Ventilation - Unless properly ventilated, an airtight home can seal in indoor air pollutants. Ventilation also helps control moisture- another important consideration for a healthy, energy-efficient home. · Moisture Control - Properly controlling moisture in your home will improve the effectiveness of your air sealing and insulation efforts, and vice versa. Thus, moisture control contributes to a home's overall energy efficiency. 8- Energy Efficient windows, doors & skylights can help lower a home’s heating and cooling costs. You can either upgrade to newer, more energy efficient versions, or “renovate” what you have now by adding weather-stripping or storm doors to existing doors, or by caulking and weather-stripping existing windows and adding storm windows or using window treatments to reduce heat loss or gain. 9- Have a Home Energy audit done on your home to see what modifications or renovations would help increase your homes energy efficiency. You can perform a “Do-it-Yourself” Audit or have a “Professional Home Energy Audit” completed. You can always call your local energy provider and see if they have public service audits available in your area as well. 10- Whatever remodeling or renovating you do, make sure you do it “Green”. Make sure that you buy materials that are environmentally friendly or made from recycled materials. Also remember to try to reduce waste by recycling items that you remove from your house. If you are removing items such as cabinets or fixtures that are still usable, see if someone else can use them (I like to use The Freecycle Network to find new owners for my used items). You can also donate the items to the local Habitat for Humanity Restore or even to a local charity. |