Transform Your House into an Eco House

By ecohookups.com contributor: Ellen Marie Siloy

Whether you are building a new house or planning to renovate an existing house, there are practical ways to cut down on expenses primarily on water and electricity. If you are still using filament type bulbs, you are seriously left behind. Florescent bulbs are the new wave. These are less expensive in terms of power consumption and lasts longer. These are also much safer compared to incandescent bulbs. But if you are serious on cutting down on power consumption, LED can also be your other option that is even more energy efficient than florescent bulbs.

What about internal thermal control? Summer is quite upon us so ideas on how to keep the house cool is something to deal with. Practical ways to keep the house cool is to install blinds instead of curtains. You can control the amount of sunlight entering your house while allowing the cold wind to still come through. You don’t need to use air conditioning devices unless you live in the tropics where the temperature can go insanely high.

Winter is another extreme season that must be dealt with. Keeping the warmth inside the house can be done through floor heating fixtures that are much more effective and feel better to your feet too. Certain types of blinds can work as insulators for winter so better keep an eye out on those.

When building a new house, this is the best opportunity to incorporate eco friendly designs. Take into consideration installing water-recycling mechanisms that you can use to flush your toilet or for cleaning purposes. Having such a mechanism installed at home will cut your water usage dramatically. So far we have covered power, water, and even water waste. 

Aesthetically, recycled materials can be more attractive because of the various materials that build up its components. An example of this is a mixture of concrete and porcelain to crown your bathroom sink. It uses less concrete and recycled porcelain. You may also use glass tiles to cover up your bathroom wall or serve as a backsplash for your kitchen sink.

 GLASS TILES

CONCRETE-PORCELAIN SINK