Why Opt for Eco Friendly House Designs?

by WriterArtist

You don't have to spend money necessarily to reduce your carbon footprint. Nor do you need to spend a fortune for eco friendly house designs.

It’s hard to turn on the news without being bombarded with information about how much we’re harming the environment. Endless doom-laden predictions about how much damage we do each time we turn on a light, get in a car, or have a bath are doing rounds.

With all these pessimistic prophecies it’s all too easy to give up on environmental concerns or attempts to make your lifestyle more energy efficient, to write it all off as a task too big to handle. In reality, the complete opposite is true. With forty percent of all the United Kingdom’s carbon emissions coming from its households it seems clear that, concerning the environment at least, the solution begins at home.

It is not difficult to switch to green living and have eco friendly houses by taking small steps at a time. Consider incorporating some earth friendly practices into your lifestyle daily by doing something that helps the planet and the environment.

Image Credit Author Oliver Dixon licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license

© copyright WriterArtist 2014, all rights reserved

Factors Influencing Eco-friendly House Design

Costs and logistics are main factors that influence the design of an eco-friendly house. With advancements in technology, these house designs are not exorbitant. An affordable and cost-effective house can be constructed with an approach to reduce long term wastage of energy and environment pollutants.

Top 10 Ideas and Benefits of an Eco Friendly House

Natural Topology

1. Use natural topology to synchronize with nature, avoid filling or leveling the ground if the foundation level for your house is not on the same level as other structures. Avoid cost of excessive excavation or filling the ground.

 

House Designs Using Stones

2. Eco friendly house designs use stone which saves on bricks, cement and time causing you less expenditure. Use rat-trap design technology in construction of walls, this gives good thermal insulation. Use technology to leave the brick or stone walls raw after the finish without the need of plastering and painting. This leaves to savings and is less prone to withering and the harsh weather conditions.

Using split Levels

3. Use split levels in your house; it gives a feeling of spaciousness. You can have more space as well with good air circulation.

Using Motion Sensor Light Bulbs

4. Consider using motion sensor light bulbs inside your eco friendly house design both indoors and outdoors. Even if you forget, it will ensure switching off the lights automatically and thus keep you from leaving a room without turning the lights off. In addition, they can save a lot of money outdoors on wasted electricity but will illuminate your courtyard and garden pathway to the door when needed. They come equipped with good burglar alarms, due to the fact that the sudden switching on of a light is very disconcerting when unexpected to the thieves.

Rainwater Harvesting

 5. Use rainwater harvesting by providing pipes to facilitate collection of water and ground water recharging. Use direct rain water harvesting by collecting and storing water in tanks for gardening and washing purposes. This serves as a very eco friendly measure of life time investment that goes long and pays rich dividend in terms of saving power and water bills.

Designing Large Windows

6. Eco friendly house plans make provisions for large windows to get more sunlight and cross ventilation. Provide for glass skylight on the roof for more light to pour in naturally at day time to avoid excessive use of electricity.

Solar Energy

7. Use solar energy for heating water, lighting in house. Use energy saving devices such as CFLs instead of incandescent bulbs, HDPE pipes and low energy pumps and motors. Install solar lighting using PV panels.Using low wattage light bulbs are a great way to save energy easily. They plug straight into any lighting unit and consume less energy. Some are even brighter than standard light bulbs with less consumption and costs.

Sprinkle Irrigation for Gardening

8. Use drip or sprinkle irrigation for plants. Have vermiculture and composing units designed to treat garbage and convert it into organic manure for the garden.

Natural Air-Conditioning

9. Use natural air conditioning, windows facing the garden in direction of the sun and wind flow. Roof should be paved with clay tiles. Trees also provide the cooling effect, plant large trees for shade.

Distance Considerations

10. Design the eco friendly house in such a manner that water usage points like rest-rooms, kitchen, and utility areas are closest to the pipes.

Are eco-friendly houses expensive?

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Updated: 05/11/2014, WriterArtist
 
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Is it possible to make the existing house eco-friendly?

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ologsinquito on 05/12/2014

It's clear this will be the wave of the future. Voted up and pinned.

Sheri_Oz on 05/12/2014

These are great ideas for temperate zone eco-friendly houses. In hotter arid regions, large windows would be counterproductive and we can collect gray water for irrigation because there isn't enough rain. All other suggestions are suitable for any climate, I think.

frankbeswick on 05/12/2014

For an environmentally conscious, self-reliant person this article was a great way to begin the day.


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