Building An Eco Friendly Home

The world is running out of its resources and we human beings are responsible for this. For centuries we have been taking the nature’s gifts for us, for granted and have been misusing our resources.

Now we have reached to a point where we will soon be left with nothing. Since it’s us, who are responsible for the damage it is now our duty to conserve the resources that are now running out.

We as common people occupy a very small space on earth, but we still can play our role in saving the mother Earth. One way by which we can help the earth is to make our houses as eco friendly as possible.

By consuming energy, heat and water we can do a lot of favor to our nature. Following are some ways by you can make your house eco friendly:

Install Skylights In Your Roof


The sunlight is far better and more luminous that the energy consuming bulbs and tube lights. Most people have dark shady houses and they have to keep their bulbs and lights on even during the day which causes an excess consumption of electricity.

If you install skylights in your roof, it would allow the sunlight to fall directly in your home completely illuminating your house. By doing so you would not have to turn your lights on during the day. This would conserve a lot of energy.

We do not realize but 80% of the total energy consumption of our house is due to these bulbs and tube lights. Less use of electricity will not only conserve energy but it will also cut down your electricity bill to half.
Use Low Watt Light Bulbs


The amount of electricity a normal bulb uses depends upon its capacity. A high watt bulb has a more capacity and therefore it draws a lot of electricity. A tube light too consumes a lot of energy. It’s better to use low watt bulbs at your home during the nights.

This little action will have a large consequence. A single low watt bulb will consumes almost 40% the amount of energy a normal bulb consumes and a normal bulb consumes more than 50 watts of electricity.

Imagine the difference, how much energy you save if you replace all the bulbs with low watt energy saving bulbs! And the best part is that these bulbs will give you a much brighter and clear light.

Install Water Saving Devices


We all know how important water is. It is impossible to live without water, but unfortunately this vital resource is being misused the most.

You will be surprised to know that it is being predicted that by the end of this century countries will dry up and fight over water. Of course being a common person you can not change the fate. But you can play a small role in respecting this resource and conserving it.

You can do so by installing water saving devices under your sinks, showers and flush of the toilet. You can also install rain water saving devices on your roof. You can later recycle the rain water and use it in the flush of your toilet.

Install Solar Panels


The solar energy is much better than the conventional electricity that we use. If you install solar panels you can the sun’s energy to heat water.

The solar panels are expensive and you can use them only if you can afford. It will no doubt cost a lot, but the spending will be worth it.

The money that you will pay once for the installation will be compensated soon as later you will not have to pay the bills for using an electric heater.

And let me remind you that electric heater draws a large amount of electricity and you will save a lot of energy and money by using solar panels instead.

Use Eco Friendly Material In The Making Of Your House


You must try non toxic substances and sustainable materials in the making of you house.

You must also use more insulating substances for the making of your house.

The above stated tips can help you in building a perfect eco friendly house that will conserve energy and save the nature

Heated concrete floors are green?

Being an Earth Advantage S.T.A.R. graduate, I wanted the home I was building to be as green as possible. Flooring materials are usually hardwood or engineered hardwood. Sometime tile, carpet, or laminate can be used, however they are usually made and shipped from distances that are not as acceptable for a green home. Carpet-eliminated, I could just see the dog and kids coming in from the mud and rain, the upkeep would be a nightmare. Tile? Cleaning grout was not a fun way to spend time. Laminate or vinyl floors were eliminated due to the appearance and VOCs.

This left me with hardwood, but I decided to be adventurous and use concrete. For indoor air quality, concrete has no noticeable VOCs and it is usually produced locally eliminating wasted energy involved in manufacturing and shipping.

A little time spent researching floor coverings will save you much confusion and " surprise costs" after it is too late to make changes. Concrete is comparable in cost to white and red oak at about $3-6 a square foot. Now add a radiant heated concrete floor and you have an easy care, long lasting,toasty floor that warms toes and kids and animals love the heat! The radiant heat system will add a cost of approximately $1400 upwards, depending upon the number of temperature controls and size of home.

Color choice is wide and variable and while it is best to think about your wall, rug, and furniture colors to blend with your floors, it is also very important to think about what will be coming into the house. I chose Mesa Buff, a khaki, one color added to the concrete.This color fits my lifestyle as my home is surrounded by fir trees whose needles are constantly coming in with every person that steps through the door. Therefore choosing a color close to the fir needles Mesa Buff was a great match. There are any number of colors you can add to the concrete or it can be stained with other colors. There will be quite a bit of variations in the color itself. Just as hardwood has variations in color my floor has quite a unique pattern. This was achieved by only coloring the concrete and pouring.

What happens in the summer? Turn the heat off, and the concrete cools down. Your flooring becomes this wonderful slab of coolness in the hottest of NW weather.