The Power of Green: 3 Major Benefits of Sustainable Homes
How sustainable is your home?
If you’re anything like 60 percent of U.S. homeowners, your home is anything but sustainable. It’s likely running on electricity generated from coal, natural gas, oil, or other fossil fuels.
Perhaps you don’t find anything wrong with that. Your electricity is reliable and meets all your power consumption needs. Why fix something that isn’t broken?
Well, here’s the problem. Fossil fuels have greatly contributed to global warming and climate change, and you can see the devastating consequences. Sustainable homes can help change this, and you can start transforming your home by switching to solar power.
Continue reading to learn how green homes are good for not just the environment, but also your wallet.
1. Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
Your carbon footprint is the amount of greenhouse gases you generate from your own activities. If you’re a homeowner, your home is one of the biggest sources of your carbon footprint.
If you want to significantly reduce your carbon emissions, start by building a sustainable home. You could, for example, switch to solar power, which is clean and renewable. Check out these expert solar services to get started.
There are other energy-efficient upgrades you could make, such as using LED bulbs and installing a programable thermostat to control your home heating and cooling.
The average person in the U.S. produces a whopping 16 tons of carbon and other greenhouse gases per year.
2. Save Money on Power Bills
If you’re spending more than you’d like on electricity, or if you don’t like how your bill fluctuates from month to month, you need an eco-friendly property with home solar.
When you use solar panels to meet all your home’s power needs, nobody will send you a power bill at the end of the month. Of course, the upfront cost of switching to solar is high, but it will pay for itself eventually.
Even if you’re not ready to go solar, there are some home improvements you can make to reduce power consumption, such as switching to LED bulbs and installing a smart HVAC thermostat.
3. Greater Property Value
Most Americans care about sustainability and they’re willing to spend more money on eco-friendly products. This includes those who’re in the market for homes.
So, if you’re a proud owner of an energy-efficient home, there’s a strong chance it will command a greater value should you decide to sell it. A recent study established that the value of a solar-powered home increases by $20 for every $1 saved in electricity bills.
Even if you’re not interested in selling, increasing property value is good for your equity. You can use it to secure a homeowner’s equity line of credit.
Sustainable Homes Are the Future
Sustainable homes are becoming more common across America, and there are good reasons for that. They are good for the environment, are more valuable than homes of comparable sizes that aren’t sustainable, and give homeowners an opportunity to save money on energy bills.
Start building your green home today, and keep reading our blog for more informative articles.
