Chapter 3: Features Of Eco-Friendly Homes

With more people preferring to live in an eco-friendly home that is in harmony with the environment, more builders and architects are offering environment-friendly designs to address the ever-growing demands for green homes. The negative effects on earth are becoming more and more visible nowadays. People are now more aware of the damages that irresponsible human activities have brought, however, it is inevitable. But there are lots of ways and methods that you can use to help introduce a green environment. And one of these is to live in an eco-friendly home.

Eco-Friendly Home Features

If you are after saving the environment, you should aim to decrease carbon emission. However, most homes aren’t eco-friendly enough that it can lessen this count. In fact, the majority of homes are emitting gases over the normal amount. If this continues, the world will become a big sauna. As a result, glaciers will melt raising the level of water. The rising level of water can actually lead to land mass disappearing. And when rain pours hard, it can cause flooding. Flooding then will cause illnesses and death. It is really a domino effect; moreover, this is only a factor of what will happen if gases keep on rising. To have an eco-friendly home equipped with environment-friendly features allow you to help contain gas emission to a minimum.

• Your eco-friendly property doesn’t have to be excessively big or small. It needs to be large enough to let everybody have their own space. It needs to be adequate enough for it to be maintained cost-effectively and efficiently.
• Consider its location. An eco-friendly home is usually situated in excellent locations. It is usually a part of one green community with homes that have eco-friendly features. The surrounding is usually filled with environment-friendly landscaping regardless if it’s a business establishment or a residential home.
• An eco-friendly home is one that is equipped with energy efficient appliances. Meaning anything that is installed inside the property consumes lesser energy as compared to old appliances. And because of this, you will be able to enjoy huge savings from utility expenses.
• Eco-friendly homes are generally made from sustainable materials. The materials used to build an eco-friendly home are highly abundant locally; they also come from all renewable resources – materials that are organic such as wood, plants, or animals. Of course, some of the materials used are synthetic but they are used minimally.
• Eco-friendly homes are equipped with the passive solar system, meaning they are being oriented to utilize and maximize benefits from using natural sunlight.
• Eco homes are well insulated. Their walls have an inert gas layer that functions to keep the air warm during winter seasons and design to maintain cool unruffled air during the summer seasons.
• Most eco-friendly homes are automated, allowing homeowners to manage and monitor essential features such as smoke detection, security, even energy consumption.
• In building eco-homes, paints that aren’t volatile are being used posing no risks to the health of the occupants.

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Chapter 2: Benefits Of Eco-Friendly Homes

More and more homeowners are becoming aware and conscious about protecting the environment and are opting to a green building principle. Because of this, designers, architects, and builders are incorporating green materials and elements in homes that are being built. With the developments and advancements in technology, and because of the emergence of various building concepts, homeowners can integrate green elements without the need to sacrifice the entire appeal and appearance of their homes.

Despite the increased interest by numerous sectors about green building concepts, lots of homeowners still don’t know and understand what constitutes green homes and how these eco-friendly homes are being built. An eco-friendly home has lots of beneficial effects and results on the overall health and well being of families and it’s also a very financially sound idea.

Benefits

Healthy Home

An eco-friendly home utilizes toxin-free building materials, ensuring that people inside the house are generally free from all harmful pollutants and elements that are usually present in a traditional home.

Cost Efficient Home

The cost of maintaining an eco-friendly home is the same or even lesser than the maintenance cost of a traditional and standard home. Yes, the initial cost is possibly high, but the future savings that you’ll be able to generate later is sufficient enough for you to offset the initial investment. You will certainly save about 40 percent from your monthly electricity bill and 50 percent from water consumption. In addition to that, eco-friendly homes are much more durable as compared to standard homes. This translates and equates to lesser maintenance and repair. Moreover, a green home value much higher compared to a standard home this is the reason why the demands for eco-friendly homes are steadily increasing.

Environment-Friendly Home

The heating and cooling of homes usually account to more or less 20 percent of the total used energy from a typical or standard household. Add to this the standard energy requirements from all the household appliances, lighting, and other electronic types of equipment and you’ll see why standard homes are being considered as a segment that uses and consumes lots of energy. On the contrary, eco-friendly home consumes less 40 percent of energy.

Nowadays, there are eco-friendly homes that have the capacity of reducing their dependence from conventional energy sources, and they have this added capability of generating their very own energy with the use of alternative energy sources like geothermal, biomass, wind, and sun.

Eco-friendly homes have highly efficient plumbing and bathing fixtures. They adopt landscaping designs that are drought tolerant. Eco-friendly homes can also make use of excellent irrigation systems equipped with beneficial water conserving features. These combined features and elements can cut water consumption for almost 50%.

Increased Security And Safety

Eco-friendly homes have much higher security and safety standards as compared to regular homes. They are basically equipped with excellent and high performing smoke detectors, gadgets that detect radon and carbon dioxide emissions, security systems, and techniques of delivering termite treatments and pesticide.

Lesser natural resources are being used in building an eco-friendly home. This alone can be considered as an excellent boost in campaigns of saving the natural resources. A huge portion of materials used to build a green home is basically recycled materials. So what do you think? Isn’t it a great option to have an eco-friendly home?

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Chapter 1 Do You Prefer To Live In Eco-friendly Homes?

Eco-living is all about living your life, as a person and as a community, such that it’s sustainable and ideal for the earth. In essence, living a greener life involves these principles:

• Conserve energy
• Conserve resources
• Reduce waste
• Reduce pollution as well as emission of hazardous substances to the environment
• Protect the ecological balance of the earth along with the other living beings.

Why Living Eco Green Is Essential?

Well, as more and more nations are becoming affluent and developed, as more and more communities are embracing a culture of ‘consumerism’, and lots of industries take action to meet the demands for various services and goods through the process of mass production, it generally becomes inevitable that energy and resources are being utilized and used at tremendously rapid rates.

In addition to that, pollutants, as well as harmful substances, are being released to the environment, more and more materials are being discarded as nothing but wastes at extremely unsustainable rates. Because of this, because of the activities such as deforestation or mining in order to extract various resources from the earth, and because of the pollution created from these processes, people have upset the earth’s ecological balance affecting the many plants and living creatures on earth.

The way that human race is living nowadays is definitely not sustainable. At the current rate that people are using the energy and different resources of the earth, they would possibly run out soon and worst, nothing would be left. And as people wiped away plant and animal species through irresponsible activities, soon there will be nothing left.

Some people would argue and claim that there’s a cost of living green. However, this is only a small cost compared to the costs that people will pay if nothing will be changed in order to protect and save the environment.

Eco-Friendly Homes

There are lots of things for you to do in order to live in an eco-friendly home and have a greener lifestyle.

Aside from adopting the ‘Reduce Reuse Recycle’ principle, you can actually adopt various energy-saving practices. There are actually lots of energy efficient appliances and practices for you to adopt in order to make your home an energy efficient, green home.

Why don’t you help by reducing the pollution? Reduce the use of hazardous substances and chemical, and use eco-friendly home cleaners as well as other environment-friendly products for your everyday needs.

Help introduce more trees and plant in your environment and motivate others to take action as well. Grow a green garden with the use of green gardening practices. There are lots of things that you can consider to help build a greener environment – start from living green and living in an eco-friendly home.

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Great Tips on Buying, Designing and Building an Eco-friendly Home

Foreword :

A lot of people want to live in an eco-friendly house; you probably are one of them too right? Why? Well, this simple consideration is enough to help the earth because they want to embark recycling efforts for a much essential cause of being able to live in great harmony with the environment – eco-living. Get all the info you need here.

Chapter 1
Do You Prefer To Live In Eco-friendly Homes?

Chapter 2
Benefits Of Eco-friendly Homes

Chapter 3
Features Of Eco-friendly Homes

Chapter 4
Considerations For Buying An Eco-friendly Home

Chapter 5
Building Your Own Eco-friendly Home

Chapter 6
Designing Tips For Eco-friendly Home

Chapter 7
Furnish Your Home With Eco-friendly Furniture

Chapter 8
The Eco-friendly Bathroom Ideas

Chapter 9
Eco-friendly Household Products In The Market

Chapter 10
Using Alternative Energy For Eco-friendly Home

Problem Solving Tips for Home and Your Health

1. Remove Broken Key From Lock.

Put some super glue on the broken off part, insert and hold a few seconds

 - will pull out rest of key.

2. Remove Broken Light Bulb.

Stick a bar of soap into jagged edges, use soap as a handle.

3. Remove Stubborn Screw.

Heat with a soldering iron for a few seconds first.

4. Protect Children From Sockets.

Keep a piece of electrical tape over them when not in use.

5. Good Glass Door Safety Tip.

Put a BIG decal on those glass and patio doors.

6. Keep Nails From Splitting Wood.

Blunt sharp end of nail before you use by hitting with a hammer.

7. Repair Small Holes In Screen.

Plug holes with clear nail polish, let dry, repeat until filled.

8. Straighten Warped Phonon Records.

Place record between two sheets of glass, set in the sun for a while.

9. Best Way To Clean Phonon Records.

Dip in the solution of detergent and water, rinse and wipe dry.

10. Make Your Own Fireplace Logs.

Roll newspapers up tightly in shape of a log. Papers are wood.

Budget Home Decorating Tips Conclusion

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Conclusion:

So if you love decorating, and want to challenge yourself, then the best way to do this is by doing it on a budget. There is nothing quite like batting against your impulses in order to purchase everything you need so that you stay within your budget.

However, saying that, decorating on a budget can be fun and if you learn to relax and keep away from the more expensive items, you should find it easy to do.

One of the biggest challenges faced by anyone when decorating on a budget is to stay within their budget constraints. So before you start the work, make a plan and stick to that plan, and this will help you with staying on budget.

But should you happen to spend more than you anticipated on one particular item, then you should remove something else from your list? This will then help to get you back on track where your budget is concerned.

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Chapter 9 – How to Decorate a Teenager’s Room When You Have Budget Constraints

If you are the parent of a teenager, sooner or later the subject of redecorating what has been a child’s room will come up.

A teenager’s room is different from a child’s room in that it should be treated more like an adult space. But, it should have a slightly fun flair to it also. It is best if you involve your teenager in coming up with a theme that will help to express who they are (and not what you want).

Also, when redecorating your teenager’s room, let them choose the colors, but provide them with some guidance. So why not let them have a look on the internet and see what they can find?

When redecorating a teen’s room, remember that they are very sensitive to color, and they are much more free with their sense of adventure. Why not go for using a bolder color on the wall behind the bed, and in this way you have a great focal point. Plus, it will save on you have to decorate the whole room. Also, it means that you can include a color in the room that they really like and want, but which will not overpower the room completely.

Another way to redecorate your teen’s room when on a tight budget is to change the window covering. Instead of curtains, why not get them blinds instead? Because they come in so many different designs, colors and materials, there is likely to be something that they will like.

Why not get hold of a small table and turn this up into a cool make up vanity by painting it to match your teenager daughter’s bedroom décor?

Also, you could get some colorful bed linens to bring all the elements of the decorating you have done together. You could even purchase extra sheets, which can be made into curtains and lampshades that will match the rest of the décor.

If you can not afford to replace a worn out carpet in your teen’s bedroom, then opt to have it taken up, and go for low maintenance painted floors with some throw rugs. Also, why not include some large cushions which they can use when their friends come round? It will provide them with a much more relaxing and friendly atmosphere for them and a place where they can get away from it all.

Rather than replacing a perfectly good bed, instead, just get a more adult-like headboard for it instead.

Plus, by rearranging your teen’s furniture in their room, you will be able to give it a whole new dramatic look. Many successful teen room makeovers can quickly and easily be accomplished just by changing the layout of a room. Also, by introducing new accessories and lighting to their room, it can help to change the look of a teen’s room dramatically.

If you want to make a teen’s room look a little funkier, then pick up some fringe or beading from a clearance table at the local craft store. You can then glue this around the bottom edge of the lampshade and the hems of curtains to provide a new look. You could even glue it around the edges of shelves.

Why not keep those free CD’s that such people as AOL put into magazines etc., and turn them over on to the reverse side and glue them to the frame of a mirror or to cover a closet door. Another great way is to glue them in an overlapping fashion and use them as a faux frame for your teen’s posters.

So, as you can see, there are many ways in which a teen’s bedroom can be redecorated and will not end up costing the parents an arm or a leg.

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