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green home
By LIAM SMITH 1,677 views
HOME GARDEN

Green Home Improvements to do this Spring

The main thing you need to ask yourself when trying to improve your home is what is the main purpose of this project. Sometimes, it can be the improvement of the lifestyle within the household. Then, there are the upgrades that boost the resale value of the place or, at the very least, reduce the cost of living. When it comes to the latter, going green is probably the best idea. Now, add to this the fact that going green is the right thing to do (from a moral and ethical standpoint) and you will need no further convincing. With that in mind and without further ado, here are the top six green home improvements that you can do this spring.

Replacing windows

The first thing that you will want to do in order to make your perfect green home is to study the way in which your home loses heat (or receives it during summer). Once you figure this out, you will quickly realize that by replacing your standard single-pane windows with a double-glazing alternative might result in a scenario where you save $250 each year on this improvement alone. Not to mention that a window replacement also creates an overall boost to the exterior of your home (when it comes to the visuals of the place). 

Insulating attic

The next item on the list is insulating your attic. Now, some people prefer to hire professionals for this task but doing so on your own can save you as much as $1,000. Keep in mind that this is one of the simplest insulation projects out there, which means that there’s not much you can botch even if you have no previous experience in this field. The payoff of a successfully completed task will be incredible and the sooner you start; the sooner you start generating the ROI.

Going solar

In order to make your green home truly zero-energy, you need to start producing power of your own. So, what you need to do is to start considering solar power for your household. There are various systems that you could install, ranging from a potent version capable of running a small enterprise, all the way to panels that are there simply for your water heater. Either way, in a lot of countries, you will also have an option to sell excess power back to the grid. This way, your power source will not only save you money but also provide you with some additional revenue on its own

Wi-Fi irrigation system

One more idea worth consideration is one of installing a programmable Wi-Fi for your garden. This way you can optimize the amount of water that your plants receive, as well as avoid wasting resources. Keep in mind, however, that it’s by far the best if you can combine this with a water conservation system. This way, you get to conserve rainwater and use it to grow your plants instead of having to use clean water for this task. Sure, this may require a significant initial investment, however, considering how much money it saves you in the long run, the majority of people would agree that it’s more than worth it.

Planting a vegetable garden

Planting a vegetable garden is a simple way to put organic food on your table and save money on ingredients. Still, in order to make this really green, you need to abide by some simple gardening principles. First of all, you need to start making your own compost. The ingredients necessary can be found in food leftovers and outdoor debris (branches, leaves, etc.). Other than this, you want to start making some home-made pest repellants, instead of using toxic chemical solutions. Lastly, there are some plants that benefit from the proximity of other plant types. This is the so-called concept of companion planting and it’s definitely something that you need to explore.

Switching to LED

Another thing you want to take into consideration is the idea of switching to LED illumination within your home. Why? Well, there are several great reasons for you to do so. First of all, LED bulbs spend 4 to 8 times less energy to produce the same intensity of light. Second, these bulbs last 25-50 times longer than their counterparts, which means that they produce less waste and that you will have to replace them less frequently. The cost of a single bulb is somewhat steeper, however, compared to all these other instances where the trend actually saves you money, the ROI is always quite impressive.

In conclusion

While the above-listed six ideas are generally viable all year round, the reason why we’ve suggested doing it this spring is due to the fact that it’s the most renovation-friendly of seasons. This alone is something that you might want to take advantage of in order to prepare your home for the less hospitable part of the year.

Liam Smith
Author
LIAM SMITH

Liam Smith is a young and aspiring Australian blogger with a passion for everything related to home, design and lifestyle. He has a B.Sc. in Interior design and is an avid reader.