Environmentally Friendly Homes - A Short Guide For Homeowners

Posted under environment by Mark Walters

There are many ways to make your home more environmentally friendly. More people all around the world are going green every day. The changes that are made in your home are not just good for the environment, but they are good for the people and pets that live there as well. Many people do not realize that the products that they use every day in their homes are not good for the environment. They may use harsh chemicals to clean, shine their floors, and to paint their walls. With so many environmentally friendly products available today, there is no reason to continue using detergents, disinfectants, and household items that end up in the ground, air, or water. The first step to making your home environmentally friendly is to know which types of products are harmful and which are green and safe for everyone.

Some homes have harsh chemicals in several rooms, including the kitchen, laundry area, and bathroom. These rooms are the best place to begin to make your home more environmentally friendly. The harmful chemicals in cleaning products evaporate and get into the air that is breathed by everyone in the home. They may be odorless or even have a good smell, but the chemicals are still in there. Cleaners with pine oil or orange oil may smell good, but breathing them can be harmful. Research has shown that most homes have inside air that is far more dangerous to breath than outdoor air. The way to remedy this is to replace the chemical based cleaners with natural products. Some of the best cleaners have lemon oil, vinegar, or other organic ingredients from plants that work as well or better than chemical solutions. Vinegar is a natural antibiotic that kills germs when it is used in a solution to clean.

Cleaning products are not the only villains in a home that are harmful. Carpeting, vinyl flooring, and paint almost always have Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) in them that are transferred into the air in a home. Even the upholstered fabric on a sofa or chairs is treated with formaldehyde, a known cancer causing chemical. Most people cannot afford to completely gut their home and replace carpeting and vinyl flooring or their furniture. If you are really determined to make your home more environmentally friendly, this is an option, and it can be done gradually. Carpeting can be replaced with green carpet, a type that contains no VOCs or toxic dyes. It should also be able to be recycled. Carpeting made of wool is sustainable, and a good choice. Another choice for replacing flooring that has VOCs is hardwood flooring. There are organic, earth friendly types of hardwood that can be purchased from companies that plant a tree for each one they cut down.

Other areas in the house can also be made more environmentally with a few changes. One of these is to stop using gasoline-powered lawn mowers and equipment that use fossil fuels. If you store gasoline for power tools, it should not be kept in an area adjacent to a home since it contains high levels of VOCs. Replace lawn tools with earth friendly models that do not use this fuel at all. Also, a home that has a gas stove or gas dryer needs to be checked for leaks which could be lethal to those living in the home. Laundry detergents that contain phosphates or harmful chemicals can easily be changed to organic ones that do the same cleaning job. In the basement, it is important to check for radon. This gas is radioactive, and it is responsible for the death of 20,000 people who develop lung cancer from breathing this gas.

There are many other ways to go green in your home. You could have a solar heating system installed to replace your gas or electric furnace. Solar panels are capable of providing enough energy for many homes, and a solar water heater should be installed as well. A way to save on the water that is used for showering is to install low-flow shower heads in bathrooms, and toilets should be replaced with those that use a very small amount of water. Usage of electricity can be reduced by installing motion sensitive lighting that goes on only when someone is nearby. Every home should have a mechanical ventilation system that recycles the air in the home through the heating and air conditioning unit as well. Good ventilation is especially important in the kitchen when cooking is done because it can produce VOCs as well. One of the cheapest forms of ventilation is to simply open windows. Even in the wintertime, a small opening is necessary to keep indoor air healthy. Even if you are not able to make all of the changes in your home that you would like to make, every small change to go green is making your home more environmentally friendly.

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