Environmentally Friendly Building Options

In today’s society there is a lot more emphasis on what we can do to save our planet and have a generally more ‘greener’ lifestyle. There are more decisions available to make now, than merely taking your bike to work instead of the car. From recycling household waste to installing solar panels, the chances to become more environmentally friendly are forever growing. Home improvement markets have started to introduce environmentally friendly materials/energy efficient features that could save you a lot of money and reduce your carbon footprint.

Environmentally friendly efforts include:

Eco Paints – Eco paints are natural and therefore environmentally friendly. They can help reduce your carbon footprint especially if both the exterior and interior of your home is to be painted. Not only are they toxin and petro-chemical free, reducing risk to your health, they also provide your walls with a high performance finish that will look great for years to come.

LED Lights – LED lights are a very efficient source of light energy with many benefits; the LED light has already exceeded the values of halogen and incandescent lamps. In future their efficiency and light output will approach that of fluorescent lighting.

Sheep Wool Insulation – Sheep wool insulation provides thermal and acoustic insulation, preventing the need for additional soundproofing. Sheep wool insulation products are now frequently used by home owners, housing developers and in hotels, castles and shops.

Earth Sheltered Homes – Houses that are partially below ground level, earth sheltering housing is adaptable and takes advantage of the energy efficiency of surrounding plant life and soil. Bermed homes are built at ground level or dug into the hillside so that two sides are compacted by earth (the roof and along the rear). These houses provide natural light, cool air and insulation, saving you money and proving very environmentally friendly when saving energy.

Recycling Building Materials – This is a great way of saving you money as well as saving the planet. By recycling pieces of wood, metal and other products, be they pieces of furniture or second hand appliances, you can reduce your carbon footprint and adapt your home to  more environmentally friendly conditions. A house made up from recycled materials doesn’t have to be made up of 5 million empty drink bottles. By using second hand furniture and appliances you are keeping them out of landfill and also saving yourself money.

When designing a property renovation, it’s always a great idea to consider environmentally friendly materials and design ideas that could reduce your carbon footprint, and save you a lot of money in the future. Environmentally friendly properties don’t always have to look ultra modern and incorporate exterior features; many of our clients opting to ‘go green’ keep their efforts inside the property, using recycled flooring, eco paints and second hand furniture.