A Green Home: 13 easy tips to a sustainable house

Having a green home doesn’t have to be difficult but there are so many tips and tricks out there that it can be a bit daunting.

Where do we begin?

Almost any person you ask would likely say that doing something towards helping our environment and the planet is a good idea.

The question of ‘what’ is a lot more difficult.

Let’s start small.

Often the best options are also the simplest to do and the easiest to incorporate into our daily lives. So we went through the Eco Guide and collected all the great tips for a sustainable home and put them into one place.

1. Change your light bulbs

How many carbon conscious people does it take to change a light bulb?

Two. One to change to the new bulb and one to Google a way to recycle the old one.

Sorry, that’s not much of a punch line.

But it is true.

Many of us have heard that making the switch is a good idea and that CFL (Compact Fluorescent Lights) and LED (Light Emitting Diodes) bulbs use less energy and last longer then traditional incandescent bulbs.

In one case study a Canadian home saved 476 kwh for the year by making the switch from incandescent bulbs to CFL bulbs.

Based on the above numbers from 2010, that’s about 90 kg of CO2.

They also saved about $37 for the year.

CFL and LED bulbs use 25-80% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and can last 3-25 times longer.

So not only does this mean energy savings and financial savings, it also means less waste ending up in a land-fill.

This isn’t a big project either.

It really should only take one person, though having a second person to hold the ladder for those hard to reach fixtures is helpful.

And to save you some googling, when it comes to disposal of old light bulbs, incandescent bulbs are not recyclable and should be disposed of in the garbage.

This is also true for LED lights (unless you have a local recycling program that can take them) but keep in mind the point is you’ll be disposing of them much less frequently then your traditional incandescent bulbs.

For CFL bulbs, again you’ll be getting rid of fewer of them and when you do follow local guidelines, likely you can’t throw these in the trash.

Typically you should be able to drop CFL bulbs off at a local recycling and waste management centre.

2. Take the five minute shower challenge

Access to fresh water is something we take for granted, especially in Canada, and we can all afford to pay a little more attention to how much we use.

The very simple act of being conscious of our water usage can help reduce waste.

Here’s why:

In Canada it’s actually our energy consumption that is the biggest user of water.

17 % of energy used in the average Canadian household comes from heating water.

Heating our water is a huge consumer of energy, so with is in mind how long do your showers typically last?

10-15 minutes?

The average shower can use about 100 litres of water.

So reduce your showers by just 1 ½ minutes and switch your showerhead to a low flow shower replacement (about 12 litres per minute).

How much energy will you save?

800-1000 kwh for the year, with our numbers from before that works out to about 150-190 kg of CO2 emissions reduced.

So with this in mind try the five-minute shower challenge.

This is fairly straightforward.

These days a lot of cell phones have timers built in and if it doesn’t there are plenty of apps out there that you can install.

And lets face it; a lot of us already leave our phones in the bathroom while we’re showering anyway.

You can also set an alarm clock (just make sure you can here it from the bathroom). Grab an egg timer from the kitchen or a family member or roommate who is willing to keep an eye on the time and knock on the door when your five minutes is up.

This doesn’t mean every shower will be under five minutes, if you’ve been out in the garden all day planting native plants you might need a little longer.

But for all those times you ‘just have to hop in the shower’ it’s good to keep your timer handy.

3. Use your washer and dryer less

While we’ve still got water in mind, we should address one of the biggest users of water: our laundry.

A load of laundry washed and dried every two days can create approximately 440 kg of CO2e each year.

Now most of us don’t do laundry every two days but we have the option of hand washing too and these days it doesn’t have to be a huge ordeal.

Machines such as the Wonderwash, Laundry POD, Giadora or the more recent Drumi can help you do the hand-washing with a lot less effort than traditional hand-washing and a lot less water then the traditional washing machine.

These work with either a crank or a foot pedal along with your detergent and the required amount of water, getting your clothes clean with much less effort and much less waste.

They range in price form about $40-$275 dollars but this still considerably less then a traditional washer.

Also, their all completely portable so you could take it camping.

Try doing that with your regular washing machine.

There’s also hang drying your clothes.

This can also not only help to reduce your footprint but extend the life of your clothes. The average dryer tends to be hard on our fabrics with all the heat and the tumbling.

Washing your clothes at 40°C and using a dryer can result in 2.4 kg of CO2e, washing your clothes at the same temperature and hanging them on the line results in 0.7 kg CO2e.

That’s a big difference.

Not having access to a back yard with a clothes lines doesn’t have to stop you from hang drying clothing either.

There are plenty of standing drying racks that are available for purchase and fold up for easy storage or you can get creative and hang things in the shower on their hangers or on the backs of chairs.

4. Buy less meat

You may not have the opportunity to grow your own vegetable or herb garden.

Or you may not have a lawn to reduce at all.

But one thing to consider when stocking your fridge is the impact of meat and how much of it you’ll be including in your diet.

This is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint in a big way.

Cutting down on beef in your diet can make a huge difference. It can also improve your health too. A lot of us could do with reducing the amount of meat we eat.

Many of us eat too much meat because farming practices have made it cheaper (though not necessarily better). Too much animal protein isn’t necessarily good for us either.

So how does reducing meat in our diets reduce our impact?

Beef produces twice the emissions of pork, nearly four times that of chicken and more than 13 times that of vegetable proteins such as beans, lentils and tofu.

The reasoning behind this is that raising livestock produces more green house gases then poultry because of methane.

We’ve all heard inflammatory statements about how cow farts cause global warming but that’s not exactly incorrect.

Both because of their digestive processes and their manure, livestock produce a lot of methane. Which as we know has 25 times greater an impact than CO2 over a 100-year period.

This is why cutting down on beef can make a huge difference:

According to a 2011 study by the Environmental Working Group, 39.3 kg of CO2e is generated for each kilogram of lamb consumed and 27.1 kg of CO2e is generated for each kilogram of beef consumed.

This doesn’t mean we all have to become vegetarians or vegans.

It just means eat less meat.

A quarter pound of beef is the standard amount of beef in one burger which would equal 3 kg of CO2e per burger.

What if you cut out one burger from your diet every week for one year?

Over 52 weeks that’s the equivalent of about 156 kg per year.

All this being said the protein that comes from meat is necessary for a balanced diet so you if you cut it out you’ll have to replace it with something else rich in protein.

So once a week maybe replace your burger with a bean burrito.

5. Make the switch to motion sensor lighting

When it comes to electricity and light switches we’ve all been told to turn off the lights if we leave the room.

If you want to get technical the US department of energy recommends that if you are going to leave a room for 15 minutes or more you should turn of the lights for CFL bulbs. For pretty much every other type of bulb they should be shut off if you leave the room for any amount of time.

In the Canada every kilowatt-hour of electricity generated in 2010 produced 190g of CO2. Electricity production was responsible for 12% of GHG emissions in 2012.

While this is less than other countries, that extra usage can add up.

Especially when you take into consideration how many times you’ve forgotten to turn of the lights only to walk into the room half an hour later and mentally kick yourself.

The solution:

Motion sensor lighting. It takes the responsibility out of your hands, giving to the much more reliable motion sensor light switch.

The result?

Depending on the home they can reduce energy consumption by 35-45%.

There’s also the piece of mind in knowing you will never leave the house wondering if you left the lights on.

This again may not be the option for everyone but swapping out your plain old light switch with the motion sensor variety can be fairly straightforward.

Some technical knowledge and safety steps are required if you’re going to do-it-yourself but it’s a fairly quick project that shouldn’t take more then half a day to complete.

That being said this may not be a project for everyone.

For example, if you live in an apartment building and your superintendent won’t be thrilled with you playing around with the wiring on your light switches, maybe skip this one.

Or you simply may feel you don’t have the technical know how.

6. Plant trees

It’s that simple.

Now here it’s important to remember that the reason the environmental movement is so big on green space is because plants and trees remove CO2 from the atmosphere and give off oxygen in the carbon cycle.

One tree can absorb 48 pounds of CO2 each year, with a total of one ton of CO2 sequestered within 40 years.

There’s a reason the environmental movement is ‘green’.

So plant a tree in such a way as to make both you and it happy.

When planting it’s important to make sure a tree’s roots won’t interfere with another tree, plant, or the foundation of your home but also so that it will provide some shade and protection for you.

Though it will take a long time to get there, a tree is a great way to block the sun from heating your home during summer and you can save on those AC bills.

It’s also a good idea to keep the trees native as well.

Trees when they are young do require some care and if they’re not native to the climate or the region they require a lot more.

The chances of survival go way up for a tree that could already be growing in your backyard anyway.

But more on that in a minute.

You don’t just have to plant a tree in your yard. There are so many initiatives out there trying to improve tree canopies worldwide.

Start small.

Once you’ve got your backyard covered (literally), you can get involved with planting trees in your local community.

In some places there are even groups that will come help you out.

For example LEAF an organization in Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area will help you pick the right tree for your backyard and come plant it for you costing about $150-220.

And there are tree planting initiatives all over Canada.

7. Stop using that gas powered lawn mower

Now this doesn’t have to mean pave over your grass or put in fake turf.

This can mean plant something else.

You can turn it into a garden where you can grow food or flowers that might be beneficial to your local pollinators. Or you can simply grow some low maintenance alternatives to grass.

Growing thyme or mazus are great ways to have a green lawn without the work.

Which is sort of the point.

If you don’t have to take care of it by breaking out the lawn mower it’s a win-win, for you and the environment.

But you may not be willing to entirely give up your lawn, whether it’s kids or pets, there are reasons you might still want some grass to romp in.

And at some point you’ll have to take out the mower.

But can it really have that much of an impact?

Yes, one lawn in the US mown 12 times a year with a gas mower produces about 48 kgs of CO2.

So what can you do reduce the CO2 emission while still keeping your lawn under control?

Use an electric or reel mower for your lawn instead of a gas-powered mower, this can make a huge difference.

For example:

One lawn mown 12 times a year in the US, using an electric mower, uses 18 kwh of electricity, which translates into about 18 pounds of CO2 depending on how the electricity is generated.

If you go for the reel mower (and the extra exercise) you’ll produce about 12 pounds of CO2 for those extra burned calories. This will also put you in better shape for romping.

And if you’ve already reduced the size of your lawn by replacing it with something that doesn’t require the mower you’re making even less work for yourself.

For more information and a breakdown of the numbers read about ‘green’ green lawns in the Eco Guide.

8. Keep your garden local

If you do decide to plant a garden to reduce the size of your lawn and the use of your mower, planting native, local species is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint.

Here’s how it works:

According to the US Energy Information Administration and EPA data, maintaining a typical lawn releases about 125 to 182 pounds of CO2 per year.

That being said a 1000 square foot lawn can only store about 68 pounds of CO2 per year.

Those numbers doesn’t add up.

So why native plants?

Plants that are native to the region require considerably less water because they are used to surviving on local rainfall.

This means way less watering, which can be the most carbon intensive part of maintaining a garden.

It also means less work for you.

Depending on whether the energy used by the public water utility is from natural gas or from coal the estimated CO2 emissions for watering a lawn in the United States can be anywhere between 80 and 137 pounds of CO2.

So get started here with some gardening tips for the city.

And you can find the best native plants for your garden in Canada here.

Planting local not only means less maintenance for you in terms of watering and care, it also a great way to support your local wildlife.

Attracting butterflies, and bees as well as birds not only brightens up your garden but it helps them out too.

We are extremely dependent on these pollinators; they’re the ones responsible for pollinating the crops that grow into the food that we eat.

It only seems fair that we provide plants in our own gardens that meet their needs when they’re off meeting ours.

9. Use renewable energy to power your green home

Going renewable doesn’t have to mean installing solar panels on your roof.

If you have the time and means to go that route, there are so many great benefits, including financial incentives that allow you to feed green energy back into the grid and get paid for it.

But this step isn’t for everyone, maybe you don’t have the means to do major renovations or you simply don’t own your home and rent.

But for many of us it’s still important to offset the CO2 emissions of the energy we use and in Canada there are options do this.

18.9% of energy is produced by renewable sources as of 2016.

This is where green energy providers can be a great option.

Green energy providers supply homes with renewable energy, without installing solar panels on your roof.

Here’s how this works:

These providers do not become your main service provider, they are an additional service that you purchase.

This is what they provide you with:

Every kilowatt per hour (kWh) of electricity that your home draws from the grid is matched with the equivalent electricity generated from renewable sources and input back into the grid.

For the average Canadian household this means another $250-300 for the year.

The results?

A company such as Bull Frog Power can provide a family of four in Ontario with green electricity saving 18.4 tonnes of CO2 annually.

This option also may not be for everyone but for those out there looking for a way to access renewable energy, this is a solution if your living in an apartment building, condo or a part of a house.

These providers will help you determine how much energy you use and how much you want to offset with either all or some of the equivalent energy you use being generated from renewable sources.

You can read more here about various green energy providers in the Eco Guide.

10. Avoid the coffee shop and brew at home

While we’re looking at our diets it doesn’t hurt to look at what’s in our morning cup.

That cup of coffee or tea is a huge part of our morning routines and by accounts of non-morning people everywhere, not something to be messed with.

But it is something that needs to be taken into consideration, just maybe not first thing in the morning.

Here’s why your morning cup matters:

One pound of coffee from the farm to the roastery to the coffee shop produces 10-11 pounds of CO2 emissions. More then half of that comes from after it leaves the farm.

One way to reduce:

Avoid the coffee shop and keep to brewing at home and once in a while, maybe for that afternoon pick-me-up, switch to a coffee alternative like chicory root, which you can actually grow in your own back yard.

Or you can have a cup of tea instead.

According to a 2010 study the impact of Darjeeling tea can range from 44.9 g to 51.6 of CO2e per cup depending on how it’s packaged and shipped.

This is less then coffee, which is around 114 g CO2e per cup of coffee.

So once in a while replacing your cup of coffee with a cup of tea would mean about 62.4g less of CO2e.

If you did that 3 times a week for a year it adds up to 9.7kg of CO2e not produced.

It’s also good to keep in mind that loose-leaf tea, because it has less packaging and is kept in a reusable tin, has a lower footprint then an individually wrapped tea bag.

However if like so many of us you’re a bit of a coffee addict, this is just a short list of coffee suppliers that are a part of the growing industry adhering to sustainable practices.

And here’s a place to start if you’re looking for sustainable tea brands.

11. Invest in an eco-friendly wardrobe

39% of the greenhouse gas emissions that come from a textile product’s life cycle are from the consumer phase.

After it’s left the manufacturer and is in our hands.

We know from the above tip how to reduce that, but what about the other 61%?

Today’s trend of ‘Fast Fashion’ is having a huge impact, with non-biodegradable materials like polyester ending up in landfills, taking up to 200 years to decompose.

It’s difficult to give a general number for greenhouse gas emissions for textile production but in certain cases the production of polyester is responsible for 2.8 kg of CO2e per kg of fibre.

Biodegradable materials like cotton have an impact too, with regular cotton producing 6 kg of CO2e per kg of fiber and even the more sustainable choice of organic cotton producing 2.5 kg of CO2e.

Your clothes can make a statement.

Certainly the clothes we get from the ‘fast fashion’ industry are cheaper but they’re also not made to last.

They wear out more easily and when we no longer want to wear it, we’re much less likely to be able to donate it and still have it be wearable by someone else.

A case study looked at 100% white cotton t-shirt made in Bangladesh.

This particular shirt had produced 10.75 kg of CO2e, that’s a carbon footprint 50 times its weight.

Most of this was from the spinning and dyeing process with only 3% of its total emissions coming from transportation because it happened to travel by sea freight.

It could have been a lot more if it had traveled by plane.

Buy clothing when you need it, not because you can and it’s inexpensive.

Instead of buying three of those cotton t-shirts, buy one and you could be reducing your footprint by 21.5 kg of CO2e.

Also purchasing from companies that pay attention to their supply chains and the environmental impact of making their clothes can help reduce your footprint even further.

Things like choosing clothes that will last longer helps.

This way you can easily donate or sell items of clothing when you don’t want to wear them anymore, in this way you’re actually passing on the CO2 savings. And when you buy used clothing, you’re reducing your carbon footprint as well as your costs.

You can even recycle clothes that can’t be worn again at H&M.

To find out where to purchase environmentally conscious clothes, read more here in the Eco Guide.

12. Reduce your pet’s footprint

Our pets are just as much a part of our household as the rest of our family and their impact can be reduced too.

We pay attention to our pets’ well being and how things affect them.

For example most people would leave the AC or fan on during a hot day when they’re not home so their dog or cat doesn’t over heat.

But sometimes we forget about the impact they can have. We remember to take them to the vet to get their shots so they’re not in harms way but not many of us think about how they might effect the local wildlife when their running around off leash.

When it comes to CO2 emissions, the biggest culprit is our dog or cat’s diet.

Just like us they eat a lot of meat so the best way for them to cut down on CO2 emissions is their food.

The average well-fed domestic cat requires about 1500 m² or 0.15 hectares (ha) of land for the production of their food.

In Canada figures show that beef was responsible for 119 kg CO2e/kg protein where as broiler chickens (the ones typically bred to eat) were responsible for 10.6 kg CO2e/kg protein.

Our pets eat a lot of animal protein.

Just like with our own diets, choosing to feed your dog or cat less beef and paying attention to where and how their food is produced as well as the ingredients (buy local) you can make a significant reduction in your pet’s footprint.

Something as simple as where you purchase your dog’s poop bags from can also help reduce you and your pet’s carbon footprint.

Read the breakdown of your pet’s footprint here in the Eco Guide.

You can also find resources for changing your pet’s diet, whether it’s making your own pet food or going with more sustainable pet food producers.

13. Buy less brand new books

How many books do you own?

Most of us have never actually counted.

Those things sitting on our coffee tables and shelves are easy to over look, either while dusting or when taking stock of our carbon footprint.

However the publishing industry is responsible for about 11% of freshwater consumed in industrial nations.

Not something to be overlooked.

This is where purchasing an e-reader might be an option for you, it might also free up some shelf space.

There are a variety of them on the market and you can find used or refurbished models as well.

A single e-reader (like a Kindle) has a total carbon footprint of approximately 168 kg of CO2 over its lifetime, including manufacturing. For the average book it is around 7.5 kg of CO2.

So 22-23 books in print is the equivalent to one e-reader.

If you’re an avid reader and go through new books like the publishing industry goes through fresh water, making the switch to an e-reader can be a great way to reduce your impact on the environment.

You can simply do the math.

How many brand new books do you buy because you have to get your hands on the newest release?

In many cases you’ll probably get it faster with an e-reader because you’ll be able to get it online and download it the minute it’s available.

There are also a lot of us who buy print books online and the shipping of that book, even if it’s used, adds to its carbon footprint.

If you’re going to stick to print stay local.

Visit your local used bookstore, or even better your local library, it won’t cost you anything and you know the book will be used again.

Read more about the breakdown of the numbers here in Eco Guide.

Anything We Missed?

Any tricks to having a green home that we missed?

Or maybe you have a question about one of our tips.

Either way, let us know by leaving a comment on facebook or twitter right now.