Making your home eco-friendly helps to protect the environment, but also to preserve your health. Not to mention that adopting ecological gestures also saves money. So how do you have a greener home? Here are some easy-to-apply tips and daily habits to achieve this.
1. Save water
It may seem ridiculous, but when you leave a tap running continuously, you consume an average of 12 liters of water per minute. That’s why it’s important to turn off the water while brushing your teeth or doing the dishes.
2. Reduce your heating and hot water production bill
In a house, heating is the most energy- intensive element. The temperature of an occupied room should be between 19°C and 21°C during the day and 17°C at night. For each degree less, this represents 7% energy savings. By programming your heating, you can make your home more eco-responsible.
For your water heater, it is best to set the temperature between 55°C and 60°C. This is sufficient to prevent your device from scaling up too quickly and helps to limit the development of bacteria. In addition, a regularly maintained boiler reduces your energy consumption by 8% to 12%. Don’t miss the mandatory annual appointment with a professional.
3. Limit the consumption of your electrical appliances
Use your appliances wisely
Avoid running your washing machines or dishes if they are not full is the first reflex to adopt. If you need your pan or dish clean it by hand quickly.
Favor washing in the Eco program or at low temperatures, they save 45% of electricity compared to intensive washing.
Dry the linen in the open air or in a well-ventilated room, it is preferable to limit the use of the dryer, as these devices are very energy-intensive.
Regarding the refrigerator, it is important to defrost it regularly and to clean the rear grill as well as the seals. Be careful not to put your dishes in the cold while they are still hot: the refrigerator will have to produce more cold to cool its contents. Therefore it will consume more electricity.
Do not leave devices on standby
You can save up to 10% on your electricity bill by turning off your appliances. Whether it’s your television, computer, or printer, as soon as you’re done using them, turn them off instead of leaving them on standby, especially at night while you sleep.
Replace traditional bulbs
Choose LED or low consumption bulbs to replace your traditional bulbs. In addition to lasting three times longer, they consume three times less energy. Indeed, to produce the same luminous flux, an LED bulb consumes 70 to 90% less electricity than an incandescent bulb. Same reflex for your batteries: replace them with rechargeable batteries instead of throwing them away as soon as they are used up.
4. Choose environmentally friendly household products
More and more household products carry environmental labels. Whether it is dishwashing product, detergent, fabric softener or simply all-in-one cleaning product, their use is to be preferred over other products deemed to be more “chemical”.
If a few years ago ecological products were more expensive than conventional products, now the offer is much wider and the prices are more accessible.
Also limit the use of bleach or any other detergent as much as possible. Many natural formulas are just as effective and easy to create for a healthier home and a 100% green household.
5. Ventilate your home regularly
Having good ventilation helps renew the air in your home and evacuate humidity. It is recommended that you ventilate each room in your home every day for 10-15 minutes. Beforehand of course, remember to hug your radiators.
By cleaning your air vents (VMC) at least once a quarter, you remove accumulated dirt and obtain better ambient air quality.
6. Sort and reduce the volume of your waste
To reduce your waste, two solutions are available to you:
- Consume less or better by opting to buy certain foods in bulk
- Adopting the composting of your green waste, you will reduce the weight of your waste by more than 30 kg per year and will obtain an excellent natural fertilizer for your plants.
Sorting your waste is also essential for the planet and mechanically reduces the volume of your household waste. Separate your waste between grey, green and yellow bins and glass containers.
7. Garden naturally
To garden naturally, start by using your own compost, made from recycling your green waste, or buy natural fertilizers such as Epsom salt or nettle manure.
Limit weeding and watering by mulching your plants, you will kill two birds with one stone since you will also save water with this technique.
Finally, above all, do not use pesticides: they pollute the environment considerably, impoverish the soil and are unhealthy for your health and for the little inhabitants of your garden.
8. Replace your devices if they are too old
A household appliance (refrigerator, freezer, etc.) that is too old is a device that consumes more and has a greater risk of causing a domestic accident (example: start of fire, electrocution, etc.).
When buying your home appliances, consider the energy labels. They indicate from A to D the energy class of the appliances and their energy consumption in kWh/year. Present on all appliances for almost 30 years, these labels allow you to identify those that are the most energy efficient. Reduced electricity bills for you!
9. Switch to alternative heating modes
Conventional heating consumes a lot of energy and often penalizes household budgets in winter. There are alternative solutions that are more economical in the long term, such as:
- Wood heating
- insert
- The pellet stove
The air-water heat pump (PAC) system is also more economical and can produce domestic hot water. In addition, this solution is eligible for the Energy Transition Tax Credit (CITE).
10. Benefit from aid dedicated to energy renovation
There are various aids available to help you improve the energy performance of your home. Eco-loan at zero rate, tax credit, bonus to facilitate the purchase of equipment, etc. find all the information on the website of the government’s Ministry of Ecological and Inclusive Transition.
