We all have a responsibility to take steps that reduce our carbon footprint. Until we get serious about making our homes low carbon, we aren’t getting serious about reducing emissions. Here are three simple steps that any homeowner can take to reduce their carbon footprint and save some money at the same time.
Switch To Solar
This is by far the most cost-effective way to reduce the carbon footprint of your home. It gives you multiple wins with one installation. The biggest win is the reduction in your energy bills. Both gas and electricity prices are soaring, so there has never been a better time to invest in solar.
Home solar panel installations are much easier and quicker than you may think when performed by a professional team. You can install one yourself, but this will require some roof work and the help of a vetted electrician. When you are looking for vetted electricians in London you should search on MyBuilder. Their website provides reviews of all kinds of tradesmen from verified customers, so you can find an electrician that has experience with solar panel installations to help you.
Create A Smart Home
There is now a huge range of smart-enabled devices that you can buy for your home and many of them can help you reduce your energy use and save you money. Using a digital assistant and smartphone apps to control the systems inside your home is becoming far more common and more useful.
Adding a smart thermostat to your heating system is a great money saver and carbon cutter. Small adjustments to timings and temperatures can have an enormous effect on your heating bills. This smart tech also gives you the ability to turn your heating on and off from anywhere, so if you leave the home without turning off the heating you can tap an app and switch it off.
Smart controls over home lighting are also a handy tool. You can switch the lights on and off from anywhere, which is useful for home security and for cutting energy use. Smart light bulbs are also energy-efficient bulbs, so even when they are on they are reducing your home’s carbon footprint.
Invest In A Heat Pump
The problems of the 21st Century require 21st Century solutions. Heat pumps are the home heating solution that is going to make huge reductions to national and global carbon emissions, and save people huge amounts on their energy bills.
These smart home heating systems use a heat exchanger to warm air and a pump to distribute it around your home. This is a much more efficient way of heating a house than burning natural gas to boil water, which is then pumped to radiators.
Because they use electricity you can eliminate the final reason to have a gas supply to your home and strike this bill from your budget forever. Paired with home solar and battery storage, you can use the sunlight from the daytime to heat your home at night.
Any one of these three low-carbon solutions for the home can have a big impact on the size of your carbon footprint and your energy bills. Put them all together and you will well be on your way to financial freedom from energy bills and a low-carbon home.
