5 Ways to Improve Your Home’s Carbon Footprint

If you want to make a personal difference to CO2 emissions, you can do so easily once you know how. Future generations and the Earth will thank you, and you will have a cleaner, greener life by reducing both your carbon footprint and your energy bills.

Here are 5 of the easiest ways you can improve your home’s carbon footprint:

1. Consider Solar Panels

Solar panels are one of the easiest ways to reduce your carbon footprint and will also save you a lot of money in the long run. Solar panels can be expensive upfront, but some financial institutions offer green loans and can look into possible government rebates. Solar hot water systems are also readily available.

These days you can also buy a home battery that charges when utility rates are lower, and then powers your home throughout the evening.

2. Be conscious of the heating and cooling you use

It can be really easy to forget and keep your heating or cooling on all day – forgetting to turn it off when you leave the house or overnight. Automated home systems like those by Somfy can make sure your window coverings raise and lower at certain times of the day, or pre linked to sensors and timers to automatically respond to the outside weather conditions, meaning you have greater control of how much energy is being used in your home.

3. Check energy ratings when purchasing appliances

Prices of certain appliances might be attractive at the time, but how much will they cost you in the long run? Refrigerators which are permanently on might be impacting your carbon footprint more than you realise – and that dishwasher you run every day might be a huge energy guzzler. The star ratings on household appliances count, and should be considered if you want to reduce your carbon footprint.

4. Change your lights to LED and automate them

Many homes have made the switch to LED lighting but not all. LED lighting uses much less energy than incandescent lights and still gives you the brightness your home needs. If your family is known to ‘forget’ the lights are on when leaving the house, or keeps lights on in areas they aren’t even using, then automated lights can be a great way to combat this problem. Automatically turning particular lights on and off during certain times of the day ensures you are conserving as much energy as possible.

5. Insulate your home well

Insulation doesn’t need to be just in the walls and roof, though both of these are important. Blackout blinds, quality windows and window coverings can all reduce your need for heating and cooling by keeping your home cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.

Home automation systems are the way of the future and a perfect way to reduce your carbon footprint. Improve your home’s look, comfort and security while reducing energy emissions by installing a home automation system from Somfy.

Contact the team at Somfy for more information and guidance on the best home automation systems available.