Tips on How to Build Green Real Estate

Reducing the energy usage required for building or maintaining a house can help in substantially reducing the carbon footprint. Moreover, a green or environment friendly approach ensures greater physical comfort and tranquility. Irrespective of, whether you are purchasing a new house, remodeling the existing one or planning a new construction, a green lifestyle would not only make you more considerate towards the environment but also save a great deal of your money. Given below are some useful tips on how green real estate can be built.

* Use of the recycled materials, non-toxic paint, formaldehyde-free insulation and energy-efficient construction techniques are just some of the methods to create an eco-friendly home.

* There are numerous ways in which you can harness the green energy. One popular way is installing highly energy-efficient appliances in your home.

* Passive cooling and heating techniques also make a great way to deflect or capture solar heat through intensive insulation, reflective roof or strategically placed ceiling fans. One can even opt for wind turbines to trim down the utility costs. The best part is that for people, who install wind turbines and solar panels, the government offers great support.

* Homeowners can even purchase environmentally safe products, like energy-efficient water heaters and light bulbs and flooring products made up of renewable materials, such as recycled plastic, glass, cork, bamboo etc.

* For those, who have a garden or backyard, planting vegetables and herbs in this space is a nice way to enhance your property's green credentials. As you would know how much hard work has really gone into growing the food, you would not waste even a crumb of it.

* While building earth-friendly homes, the priority should be to think about the environment safety and using as many renewable resources as possible. Materials, like lightweight concrete, timber, straw etc, should be thoroughly investigated before bringing into use.

* Besides, when it comes to styles in green homes, the choices are endless. You can go for traditional designs, rounded styles, organic designs, earthen homes and many others. Traditional home styles include contemporary, Victorian, ranch homes, bungalow and more. On the other hand, rounded homes are known for their hurricane resistant designs and are believed to keep the residents close to the environment. Earthen homes have a unique design. They are usually built either completely underground or partially in the earth.

* To make sure your family stays in a cleaner and healthier home environment, you should buy and use only safe products, which are biodegradable and non toxic. Avoid using materials that contain ozone-depleting components, dyes, formaldehyde, heavy metals, solvent-based finishes, adhesives and other items, which discharge volatile chemicals in the air. It is advisable to always check that the appliances and other products that you purchase have green-rated labels on them.

Benefits of Green Real Estate for Homeowners

In the recent couple of years, the cost of electricity, gasoline and home heating has hiked at an alarming rate. Thus, most homeowners today are turning towards the copious benefits that come along with going green. If not for the environment, they aim at building a green home either to save money or add to the value of their homes. Green or eco-friendly real estate entails use of things, like energy-efficient devices, alternative sources of energy and better insulation for conserving energy. Talking about green homes, which are known to have a skyrocketing popularity, well as the name suggests these are built using eco-friendly building materials. Sometimes, they are even such areas built inside the house which make it more energy-efficient. For instance, in order to maximize the insulating properties and conserve energy, these homes are built on the sides of hills.

Green properties are not only for the environmentally conscious people. Green real estate offers numerous practical benefits to every homeowner. For instance, if you use low-flow plumbing fittings and energy-efficient devices in your home, then you can literally save a lot on water and utility bills. Also, if you have an alternate source of energy, then you can substantially lower down your increasing energy bills. In the older homes, several appliances, which might be available since seventies or eighties, would likely be using a lot of electricity. By updating all such appliances with the modern energy-efficient ones, the homeowners can save a great deal of money. The initial costs are usually a deterrent, however as a homeowner would likely be staying in his house for several years, the costs of upgrading are outweighed by the long-term savings.

Besides, use of solar panels is also one of the various ways in which a homeowner can go green and enjoy advantages of the same. Those living in the high sun regions can benefit from numerous government programs, which subsidize your purchase and installation of the solar panels. Though the initial expenses for the solar panels may seem to be jaw-dropping, but in the long run, they can be highly gainful for you. In fact, many homeowners run their house solely with the use of solar energy and pay nothing to utility companies.

Just like the solar panels, even the wind turbines act as a great asset for homeowners, especially for those who reside in the high wind areas. For domestic use, wind turbines are quite unobtrusive, small in size and sometimes a little ornamental to match with natural surroundings. These devices do not produce equivalent energy, as the solar panels; still they can make a huge difference in what a homeowner can save by using them. Going green is not a big expense. By simply making certain changes, like switching conventional incandescent bulbs with the CFL lights, opting for wooden flooring, planting lots of trees in the garden area etc, can significantly increase your savings as a homeowner. So, go ahead and enjoy the copious benefits of green real estate.