How to Make a House Eco-Friendly

Maintain a sustainable home by using green products and reducing waste

By Cathy McClellan

Photo by iStockphoto.com

Incorporate a mix of sustainable, recycled, organic, and energy-efficient projects into your living to make your home and lifestyle more green. You can easily make your home eco-friendly, while still enjoying the basic comforts of each room. Economical ideas are available to choose what things you can do to protect the environment as well as live a greener lifestyle.

• What You Need to Know
• Some of the basic materials you'll want to load up on when transitioning to an eco-friendly home include solar lights and panels and wood.
• Energy Star appliances, as well as low-flow faucets, can also reduce your environmental footprint and your utility bills.
• As you replace items in your home, donate old products and materials to a shelter. Throwing perfectly usable items away isn't eco-friendly, considering they can be reused.

Step 1:

Change all bedding, curtains and other materials to organic fabric such as cotton, wool or silk. These types of materials are organic and are not made with many chemicals. Various designs and styles are available.

Step 2:

Replace your furniture with bamboo, rattan or leather. Bamboo and rattan grow faster than oak or cherry trees. Bamboo and rattan woods are easier on the natural environment of the planet and reduce much of the deforestation of the larger trees. Leather is made from cattle and is also a sustainable material.

Step 3:

Recycle items for home accents. Save old material from shirts, dresses and jeans, and make a quilt. Recycle the clothes into other items such as a sack to hold plastic bags, a hanging laundry basket or patchwork wall hanging. Re-purposing items is a great way to be eco-friendly. Old jars, tubs and bottles can be used as Tupperware or as holders for tools or loose household items.

Step 4:

Install solar lighting outside in the garden area and solar panels on the roof of the home. This will greatly reduce your dependence on electricity, which in turn, reduces the burden on electrical plants. If preferable, install wind energy in the form of wind turbines. These options can come with large upfront costs but you'll save significantly over time and help the environment.

Step 5:

Use rain barrels to catch rainwater. Install the barrels at the corners of the home. This is an excellent source of water for the garden to washing vehicles and to perform other tasks. Reducing the world's dependence on the water table is necessary to sustain life for the future. You can make your own rain barrels or check with your city water department to see if they offer or lease them for free.

Step 6:

Build wooden bins for recycled products. One will be a compost bin for kitchen waste, one for plastics and one for paper products. Use the compost in the garden for an organic fertilizer. Take the plastics, and paper to a recycling plant to be made into something else. Landfills are too full of plastic and are a concern.

• Tips & Warnings
• Never underestimate the power of reusing items. If you can't reuse something, such as an old sofa, a friend or the Salvation Army might be able to.
• Hire contractors who are certified in green building. The easiest way to do this is to see if they are involved in the LEED for Homes Affiliate Program, which is offered by the U.S. Green Building Council.
• The best and easiest way to be eco-friendly at home is to stop using so many natural resources. This means reducing your water and energy use. Take shorter showers, turn your water off when brushing your teeth and unplug appliances when they're not in use.