Post Coronavirus Home Improvements for an Eco-Friendly Home

As nearly two-thirds of the world are in some sort of lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. As people stay home longer, they start to notice what is wrong with their living quarters, from paint chipping away from the ceiling to loose floorboards on the deck outside.

Some homeowners have realized that they need to change their ways and adopt a more environmentally friendly lifestyle. The post coronavirus period is ideal for such eco-friendly home improvement, as they are ideal for preparing for another pandemic (that hopefully won’t occur any time soon).

Donate everything you take down

Before you are ready to implement a new eco-friendly solution to your household, you need to take down everything that you won’t need in your refurbished eco-friendly home. Some of the things you remove will go to the dump if they are damaged or broken but the one you remove because they don’t go with the new decor you should donate to charity or give to friends.

Eco-friendliness is not just about interior and exterior design but it’s a mindset of its own. Recycling and repurposing should be an integral part of creating an eco-friendly home so offer your old chandelier, kitchen cabinets or window panes to those who will reuse them.

Buy energy-efficient appliances

You might have noticed various types of labels on household appliances that mark their level of energy-efficiency. Each country has different laws regarding the protection of the environment so their labels vary across the globe. However, they have one thing in common and that is the manufacturer’s desire to make a device that uses as little energy as possible.

When shopping for new home appliances after the coronavirus crisis is over or when you order them online now, look for these labels, the most famous of which is the Energy Star logo. They are a confirmation that your home will not be a power guzzler in the years to come. As an additional benefit, you’ll save hundreds of dollars annually on lower utility bills.

Use solar power in your household

Speaking of saving power, if you live in a region that has a lot of sunny days throughout the year, consider installing solar panels on the roof of your house. The only thing better than saving energy is producing it.

Nowadays, reliable solar power systems are more affordable and easier to install then they were a mere decade ago. When the mini solar plant starts producing electricity you will soon have a surplus of power that you can sell back to the local power company, actually profiting from this improvement.

The only issue with solar power as a renewable energy source is the fact that modern batteries are unable to store a lot of power but as technology advances, we will see this issue fixed to the joy of thousands of homeowners worldwide.

The significance of good insulation

As far as the power you consume and pay for is concerned, you should waste it as little as possible. For this reason, good insulation is essential for any home that wants to upgrade its energy efficiency. Don’t think in terms of insulating only the walls of your home, as a significant portion of heat is lost through the floor and the roof as well.

The attic and the basement are the rooms that you should really look to insulate after the coronavirus pandemic ends. Once you make it possible to heat up the basement, you can use it for a man cave, instead of using it only as a storage area. An additional benefit of insulating the entire house is improved AC unit efficiency which won’t have to use as much energy too cool the air in summer.

Opt for a ceiling fan rather than air-conditioning

Having mentioned the AC unit, we must point out that this device is not an energy-saving appliance. In this sense, you really shouldn’t have more than one AC unit in the house and choose alternative cooling methods for other rooms.

A large ceiling fan can be a great solution for the kitchen, for instance. Not only will the fan cool the air just as efficiently as an AC unit but it will partially do the job of the kitchen hood as it circulates air in the room. Like with a mini solar plant, a ceiling fan comes with the promise of lower electricity bills.

Just because we are staying more at home, this doesn’t mean that we cannot plan ahead for the post coronavirus period. In fact, the time spent indoors can be used for thinking about all the home improvements, some of which we have listed above, that will make our homes energy-efficient. The benefactors of this sprucing up won’t be the environment and the planet in general but our home budgets as well.