The essentials of building a green home
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by: hugatree
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Word Count: 416
What does it mean when people say that they are building a green home? Features of most green homes include utilizing the sun and land for natural heating and cooling, lessening waste produced by construction, making using of sustainable resources, and employing energy efficient fixtures and appliances. These features can be implemented in many ways both in building a green home and in updating an existing home.
So, in what way can you go about building a green home? Actually, there are some pretty simple things that you can do to improve the home that you have or that you can take into consideration when building a green home. A huge step you can take on the road to greenness is to update fixtures and appliances, most importantly, those which use water.
An essential step to take is to update your toilet. Old toilets use much more water than updated ones and can be replaced relatively easily. It is also important to check your faucets in your home. Gallons of water can be wasted each day from leaky faucets and you may not even realize it! Additionally, and I do know that this is expensive, but top-loading washers use a lot more water than front loaders. I am not saying that you should run out and buy a brand new washing machine, however, you should keep that in mind if you find that you are going to be purchasing a new washing machine.
Another thing to keep in mind for either building a green home or updating an existing structure is the type of windows and insulation that you are using. If you are building a green home, paying a little more for energy efficient windows can help cut heating costs, which is especially important with todays fuel costs. Additionally, proper insulation can help cut both heating and cooling costs.
I do know that it isnt always possible to spend a lot of money on updates for your home, but there are inexpensive updates that can make a big differences. The cheapest, easiest update that I have done to make my own home more green is to purchase a water-saving showerhead. It cost me about seven dollars, and uses half the water that a conventional showerhead does. Building a green home or updating and existing home is actually pretty simple and does not need to be expensive.
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