Tags:California, Green, Home.
Now-a-days the emphasis is to do environmentally friendly things. The best place to start on such ideas is your home. Home builders are coming up with ideas by which they can make home more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. You can see such kinds of specification come out from home builders in California, particularly with the recent emphasis on people living her to go green.
If you already own homes in California, there are many things that you can do by which you can make your home environmentally friendly. Here is a look at some useful tips of this:
• Do not leave your appliance plugged when you are not using it. Plugged appliances take up energy even when you do not use of them. Unplug to conserve energy.
• When you make use of appliances such as your washing machine or your dishwasher, ensure that they are fully loaded. Use them when you can take the maximum potential and do not run them on when you have minimal work to do with them.
• Use products that are environmentally friendly. Search for home products that specifically state this out.
• One factor that is seen to cause more use of heating and cooling system in the home is air leaks. Air leaks can be sealed off through weather-stripping and caulking in areas such as the door, windows, electrical outlets, and plumbing area and so on to stop air from seeping into the home.
• When you decide to paint your home, be sure to select no- or low-VOC paints.
• Buy energy star home appliances because such appliances include technologies that help to reduce power and water consumption by 10 to 50 percent.
• Conserve on your usage of water, by using toilets, taps and shower heads that have low-flow features.
• Buy home materials that are quality and durable because this way you don’t have to go in for a replacement every time.
Posted on 31 July '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Green, Home, Upgrades.
A green home is one that is eco-friendly and is at harmony with the environment. You can help the environment by making your home greener. Here is how you can do so by adopting a more energy-efficient and earth-friendly lifestyle.
Read the following top 10 ways to green your home.
1. Upgrade to greener appliances. Make your home energy efficient by upgrading to greener appliances. Replace old appliances with energy-efficient models that are Energy Star rated to scale down your energy bill. According to the Energy Star site, use of energy-efficient appliances in just one in 10 homes is equal to planting 1.7 million new acres of trees.
2. Temperature control. More than 50% of a home’s energy bill is from heating and cooling appliances. Moderating the thermostat according to the weather goes a long way in reducing energy consumption. Other energy saving methods include using a modern furnace, cleaning its air filter every month and the use of ceiling fans instead of air conditioners.
3. Saving water. There are hundreds of ways one can save water and reduce energy consumption. A few include fitting faucets with aerators and installing water efficient low-flow toilets.
4. Clean with green products. Buy green household cleaners that are made of natural, non-toxic substances instead of toxic ones. Carpet and window cleaners containing grain alcohol, detergents made of coconut or other plant oils etc. are bio-friendly.
5. Energy-efficient lighting. Replace incandescent bulbs with Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFLs). CFL bulbs use 66% less energy and last 10 times longer.
6. Use recycled paper. Whenever you buy paper, get 100 % post-consumer recycled paper. These consume less virgin pulp and keep waste paper from ending up in landfills. You can also save more trees by opting out of junk mail lists. Using unbleached paper is more eco-friendly as the bleached paper process results in the creation of harmful byproducts. Also, eschew paper and plastic bags and carry your own cloth bags for shopping.
7. Bamboo floors. Bamboo floors are more environmental friendly than hardwood floors. Bamboo matures in four to six years while it takes 50 to 100 years for typical hardwoods.
8. Shun plastics. Plastics are not bio-degradable. They produce harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming when processed, burned or dumped into landfills. The best way is to avoid plastics, the next best thing is to reuse and recycle them.
9. Eco-paint. Use environmentally safe paints that are organic and solvent-free to paint your home.
10. Green your garden. Avoid synthetic fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Instead use organic manure such as compost and non-chemical pest control methods.
Posted on 23 July '10 by admin, under Painting. No Comments.
Tags:Green, Historic, Home's.
From every media source we are challenged to find a way of living that will ensure the longevity and health of our environmental, economic, and social resources. We all want to do our part, but the plethora of information about “green” living, “green” technologies and “green” architecture can be overwhelming. Lucky for those of us with historic Florida homes, our houses were built with many environmentally friendly assets that help us reduce energy consumption. Prior to the introduction of air conditioning, Florida builders used techniques that “green” designers are now advocating, such as deep covered porches and wide eaves, window awnings and shutters, and operable windows. While we Floridians may not be willing to turn off our air conditioners in August, these features do allow us to make the most of Florida’s more temperate seasons while reducing our energy consumption.
Front and rear porches served dual heat-related purposes for Florida homeowners prior to the introduction of air conditioning. First, they sheltered the main building from the harsh sun, reducing heat gain and protecting interior furnishings from fading. In addition, porches provided an escape from the sweltering heat inside the home, providing a sheltered space to sit out of the sun while enjoying cooling breezes.
A series of techniques were used in conjunction with windows and doors to increase cooling effects. Awnings were historically used to protect windows from direct sunlight thus helping to keep interior rooms cool. Popular from 1870 to 1930, fabric awnings were made of canvas attached to a fixed or retractable metal frame and came in several colors and patterns to accent the home’s architecture. Metal awnings and Bahama shutters were common beginning in the 1940s and original versions are still seen shading many homes.
Windows in older homes were usually operable to allow cooling breezes to enter the home. They were almost always covered with full-height screens to prevent pesky mosquito invasions. Screen doors were also installed on all exterior doors, again allowing breezes to enter the home without inviting bugs. Doors typically had covered overhangs when not already sheltered by a porch, protecting entrants from rain as well as sheltering the house from the sun.
In many early homes, sleeping porches were constructed for relief on hot summer nights. Usually located on an upper floor, these rooms typically either had rows of casement windows or screened openings to capture as much air movement as possible. As the name implies, rows of cots were set out to provide easier sleeping conditions during hot nights.
These are only a few of the methods typically utilized in older homes that are still effective today. We have become so reliant on air conditioning and heating that we sometimes forget to take advantage of the inherent good design found in our historic homes. As the weather gets more pleasant this fall, consider taking a few steps to operate your historic house more energy efficiently, and save some money in the process.
Posted on 13 July '10 by admin, under Home Windows. No Comments.
Tags:Appliances, Green, Home, Tips.
Climate change has been the biggest issue in the world for the past three years. We have been reminded that ice in the Arctic will disappear in the near future; some cities will be flooded as deforestation is going on and so many symptoms show that our mother earth is in danger. From a home point of view home appliances play a significant part in this picture.
Maybe, now you are thinking, is it hard to save our planet? Well, actually not really. Don`t think too seriously about what the world leaders are talking about in international summit whatsoever. You can start saving the Earth from home.
How? Yes, you can start going green by purchasing eco-friendly home appliances. There are lots of green appliances you can choose. Home appliance produced in 1990s saves more energy than that manufactured in the 1980s As an example, the fridge made in 1993 is almost 100% more energy efficient than the same product manufactured in 1980. The sad news is the price of thi green home-equipment is very expensive. But think about how much money and energy you can save in the future after switching to greener products.
Now, you are at store and you want to buy eco-friendly home items. Find the products with Energy Star label. Energy Star is a sign indicating the model far exceeds the federal minimum requirement. If the product you buy has Energy Star sticker, it means that the product is energy efficient.
Then, you are going to choose a fridge. According to American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, fridges nowadays use only 25 percent of electricity, compared to that in 1970s. Think about investing in a new model that saves more energy if your fridge is more than 10 years old. Buy a side-by-side freezer/fridge instead of freezer-on-top. Or if you keep your old fridge, you can recycle it, for free or you can pay to do it. You can find information in your area about this recycling program.
Now about the washing machine, despite its expensive price, horizontal-axis washing machines saves more energy than vertical-axis washing machine, which consumes more water and detergent as well.
The clothes dryer is the second largest energy consumer after the fridge. Choose a dryer with a moisture sensor in the drum so it can shut the machine when your clothes are dry. It saves less energy than conventional timed dryers. Or why don`t you switch to the old-fashioned way? Buy a clothesline, so you don`t need to pay anything to dry your clothes.
You cook a lot? Use an oven with a second, smaller unit on top because it saves more energy.
Go green from home!
Posted on 7 July '10 by admin, under Home appliances. No Comments.
Tags:Appliances, Economic, Factor, Green, Home, Increase.
As the environment continues to change for the worse and more of us become aware of the harm that us humans are having on the environment the more energy inefficient appliances and gadgets are becoming fast out of fashion with the UK public. The government is now marking appliances that we have in our homes with ratings; these ratings show us consumers clearly how well this particular model performs and how much that model could be costing us in inefficient energy use.
The European Union even now insists all electrical home appliances bear an energy rating the rating works like an exam grading system where A is the most efficient and G being reserved for the worst performing appliances. Most appliances in our kitchen now apply to this scheme including Fridges, freezers, washing machines, ovens even light bulbs now have a mandatory energy rating.
The trouble with energy efficiency though is that we could buy all the A rated appliances we could get our hands on but if our usage habits don’t change and we continue being wasteful then not only are our energy bills going to remain higher than average but our carbon footprint will continue to be embarrassingly high.
One way to help change your attitude is to ask yourself if the appliance, lights or whatever energy using object you are finished with, does this need to stay on? Whilst putting the iron away after you’ve ironed a shirt may seem basic there are some appliances that continue to sip power even after we’ve left the room such as TV sets that don’t turn off completely but sit in a standby mode. These items should be unplugged when they aren’t being used as many of them are not going to suffer any ill effects as they often have built in batteries for remembering settings and presets.
When leaving a room make sure that you turn the light off, not only will this save energy but they will make your light bulbs last longer and not have to replace them frequently which can get pretty costly over time.
When shopping for new appliances make sure you keep an eye out for the Energy rating scale and see where the model you’re interested in stacks up in relation to the rest on show. You may find that some models are not only better suited to your needs but they could also have a better rating that can help lower your energy consumption.
Keep an eye out for energy efficient discount washing machines, refrigerators and other kitchen and home electrical to make sure your home starts being a bit greener.
Posted on 29 June '10 by admin, under Home appliances. No Comments.