NATIONAL REPORT—For good reason, becoming more environmentally friendly is now a priority among many property owners worldwide. With the threat of a looming climate crisis, it makes sense that those who can adjust to become more eco-conscious and environmentally friendly do so.
As such, this article will be looking into small changes that don’t require heavy expenditure or lots of man hours to put into place that can be done either by yourself or with the help of a professional. We’ve been sure to weigh up the environmental cost of each change to make sure the fix isn’t as harmful as the problem, so let’s get started.
Keep Cool with Shade
In the summertime one of the biggest drains of electricity is from trying to keep cool with fans or air-conditioning units. In fact in the United States alone the use of air-conditioning makes up 6% of the country’s residential electricity use and releases about 100 million tons of carbon dioxide each year.
So there must be a more efficient way to keep cool when it’s hot out. There is, simply by installing blinds or curtains in your property and making sure they remain closed. Closing your blinds and curtains during the day time can reduce heat gain by 45%.
By simply just having your window furnishings closed you can reduce your environmental impact and keep your guestrooms nice and cool in the summertime.
Pull the Plug on Bath Tubs
Bathtubs have long been the standard when it comes to bathrooms (after all they are called BATH-rooms). But washing in a bathtub wastes a lot of water as well as power needed to heat that water, for a bath with water heated by electric heating has a carbon footprint of 2.6kg CO2e, whereas an average length shower with a typical electric shower will only have a footprint of 500g CO2e.
This is compounded when you take into account water usage. A 5 minute shower using a standard electric shower will use around 45 litres of water, comparatively an average bath will use around 80 litres of water, so simply switching from bathtubs to shower cubicles can save 35 litres of water per wash. For a family of 4, showering every other day rather than having a bath amounts to a water saving of 25,550 litres of water a year.
Insulate Windows
Uninsulated windows are a nightmare for any eco-conscious property owner. Without proper double glazed or insulated windows, this can amount to untold levels of wasted energy from heating.
The options for insulating windows are to either replace your existing windows with double glazed windows or buy thermal lined insulating blinds from a retailer like DotcomBlinds.com. Either option will massively increase the energy efficiency of a space and reduce heat loss through windows.
As a note, using thermal insulated blinds will be a cheaper and quicker solution to the issue of uninsulated windows compared to replacing existing windows, but it’s recommended to implement double glazed windows and blinds to maximize energy efficiency and over time the investment will pay itself off in energy savings.
