This is how you can have a more sustainable home!

There are countless ways to reduce your ecological footprint, from transportation through shopping to nutrition. Undoubtedly, we spend most of our time in our homes, where we also use gadgets that we don’t use elsewhere, such as in the workplace. By getting rid of the jacuzzi and turning down the thermostat you can already start running a greener home!

It should be noted at the outset that fully-sustainable homes are basically newly built houses that are designed to extract as much energy as possible from their environment. They are built with locally-produced raw materials, with windows on the sunny side and heat pump heating. Due to how much this all costs, we can’t expect masses of people to invest in such properties. However it’s great to be so forward-thinking during a renovation and, if you can afford it, to sacrifice a little more for the demands of the modern age.

Let's start with thermal insulation! Of course, you cannot fully insulate all doors and windows in a house that has an open combustion chamber boiler. However, alternative heating methods - such as pellet heating - become truly energy-efficient if heat cannot escape through the doors and windows. It is advisable to install double- or triple-glazed windows, as this not only helps to keep the heat inside in winter but also protects against the summer heat, so you don't have to constantly have the air conditioner on.

What is pellet heating? It’s an environmentally-friendly process in which the boiler burns 1-5 centimetre long pressed wood chips, instead of firewood. Although like all combustion, this method also produces some pollution, the pellet is made mainly from waste, has a very high calorific value and can be dispensed accurately, i.e. you can always burn only as much combustion product as needed for a warm home. It is worth noting here that it is unnecessary to heat rooms we do not use all the time; you are already doing a lot for the planet with adjustable radiators and smart thermostats. Installing underfloor heating can also be a good solution because heat distributed over a larger area also heats our home efficiently with less warm water.

And when it comes to air conditioning, it’s worth noting that when you buy a new property, its raw materials can also save a lot of wasted energy. During the 40-degree urban summers, we cannot expect residents to give up the convenience of air conditioning just because of their energy needs. But buying modern equipment, or when moving, buying a smaller property built of brick instead of concrete blocks can greatly improve your feeling of warmth, and thus your electricity bill.

What’s more, the good news is that with efficient shading, you can do a lot to cool your home. Blinds don’t emit any harmful substances, nor do they require energy to operate. Not to mention the heat pump, which despite its considerable initial cost, is capable of heating in the winter and cooling in the summer, which therefore eliminates the need for air conditioning.

Of course, there are still electrical appliances in the kitchen and bathroom that seem to use endless amounts of energy, which not only increases your utility costs but also degrades the sustainability value of your home. Here, the energy-saving values indicated by the manufacturers are the best guidelines: the better the value of a washing machine or refrigerator, the less power it consumes. In the case of hobs and ovens, the most environmentally friendly solution is to replace gas with electricity and to obtain electricity locally, such as with solar panels – even though this will not be sufficient to run every machine in the house, it can significantly reduce the amount of coal burned for electricity.

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