Eco-friendliness is not something you achieve once and then stop working on it. Even when it comes to your home, each new year presents a new set of challenges that you need to overcome in order to proudly state that your household is sustainable. Taking care of the environment is no easy task, especially if we take into account how much technology advances each new year. In 2020, these are going to be the top ways to turn (or keep) your home as eco-friendly as possible.

A breeze inside the house is not a good thing

There are so many surfaces the house loses heat energy through. For once, every time you open a window, the heat escapes, making the heating body to work harder, wasting, rather than consuming energy. Insulation should be a top priority ion 2020 as you should stop a breeze from going through your house.

Although it feels good in the summer, an indoor draft is a sure sign that something is wrong when felt in winter. Caulking the windows should be the first thing you should do, followed by insulating the attic and the basement. Heck, you should even isolate the pipes that run through the basement so hot water doesn’t cool on its way inside your house. 

After you’re done insulating the windows and the attic, you can turn your attention to the floors. They should be either covered by hardwood flooring or there should be a carpet over them. The worst thing you can do is to leave a concrete floor unprotected. Regardless of how high you set the thermostat, heat is not going to stop escaping underneath your feet. 

The benefits of a programmable thermostat

Speaking of the thermostat, it is going to be your best weapon of sustainability in 2020. Namely, a thermostat that can be programmed to lower the room’s air temperature at night because we humans sleep better in cooler rooms. This way, you save energy but still get a chance to wake up to a warm room in the morning as the thermostat raises the temperature back up. In addition, a thermostat allows you to turn the heating completely off if you’re going away for a weekend or a holiday. 

Generating your own power

As rentable power generators are becoming more widespread, you might want to turn the tables on the energy-saving game. Namely, instead of constantly looking after your consumption, why don’t you opt to start actually producing energy! We are speaking of installing solar panels on your roof.

Of course, before you embark on this project, you should check if your house receives enough sunlight annually for this costly investment to pay off. Also, be prepared to wait at least a decade before you actually start making any profit from the solar panels. Luckily, the gear necessary to generate power is getting cheaper by the year, so a typical solar power inverter which is an integral part of a photovoltaic system is now more affordable than ever.

Going green is the right way to go

Nature and its conservation lie at the core of eco-friendliness. However, planting greenery is not only the end goal but a method for a more sustainable household as well. By growing an organic garden, for instance, you are actually helping save money you would otherwise spend on junk food. Furthermore, you are choosing to grow the vegetables in an organic fashion, without the use of pesticides and herbicides that hurt the environment.

If you plant tall trees in your backyard and let their canopies grow as large as possible, then you’ll have your own private carbon monoxide treatment plant. Easy-to-care houseplants have the same effect indoors, pumping in tons of oxygen that you breathe in every day.

Reusing rainwater

Once the rain starts falling, you probably get all gloomy and sleepy as you hear the sound of raindrops hitting the window panes. However, a rainy day might be a happy day for nature preservation. Namely, if you install a barrel in the backyard that will collect rainwater, you are helping reduce wasting water. The container would get connected to the drain and the water it collected can later be used for gardening, i.e. watering the aforementioned organic garden. 

Consider installing a bidet

In addition to planting trees, you can help prevent their chopping down. Have you ever considered how much energy is wasted in transporting the paper rolls from the forest they were cut down to your local supermarket? The waste is on a ginormous scale, especially when you consider that toilet paper is not something you cannot live with. An alternative to conventional toilet seats are modern bidets that are quite comfortable to use. Their biggest advantage is that you’ll no longer waste money on toilet paper whose production takes a huge toll on planet Earth.

The goal of home eco-friendliness is attainable in 2020 as well. Collecting rainwater, ditching toilet paper, and installing roof solar panels will help you save energy (and money) in the year to come.