Kitchens
Avoid pressed woods commonly found in cupboards and wood furnishings; they often contain carcinogenic formaldehyde (headache-inducing stuff that could release fumes into your home for years). There are pressed woods that are considered virtually formaldehyde-free found at Ikea and elsewhere. The Forest Stewardship Council certifies wooden products to make your purchase decisions easier, look for their label.
Choose Natural Materials
When renovating you can specify natural products and materials that will help keep your home chemical free. When insulating with a natural product, don’t hide it behind synthetic walls; lime and clay plasters are a natural, breathable and flexible alternative.
There are lots of great looking, durable and affordable eco-friendly flooring on the market made from bamboo, cork or wood certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (the FSC logo is a good indicator). You might consider marmoleum or even rubber, which can all be 100 per cent natural – but always check the supply chain.
There are environmentally friendly green carpet options, and carpeting made with high recycled content by companies including Milliken, Interface or Beaulieu. Keep your rugs and carpet clean because pollutants adhere to carpet fibres over time, and of course dirt is what wears a carpet down; vacuum often.
Send old crumbly couches, mattresses and pillows filled with dangerous fire retardants to the landfill in favour of PBDE-free stuff sold at IKEA and elsewhere for example.
Decorate and Clean with Eco-Friendly Products
Fresh paint may look good but may also be filling your home with polluting volatile organic compounds. Make sure to use low-VOC paints, available at major paint retailers like Benjamin Moore. Fortunately, there are plenty of green products available.
Most green paints are water-soluble and use plant oils and resins to form the solution, with pigments coming from minerals or plant dyes. Environmentally-friendly wood varnishes and waxes are also available, as are green options to clean and prepare walls. Sustainable wallpapers include natural coverings made from materials such as hessian, cotton and wool.
When possible, always use to use 100% eco-friendly products while cleaning and renovating your home, apartment, condo or office.
Reclaim, Recycle and Re-use Building Materials
Capturing construction and demolition materials out of the waste stream and using them in your eco- renovations is great for the environment. There are building material recyclers and re-claimers from whom you can source a wide variety of high-end materials and heritage products. Other sources include demolition sites, re-modelling projects, and salvage yards. Using reclaimed building materials can be beneficial, especially if you are restoring an era home.
Draft Proofing
No reno is complete with a building envelop that lets all that heated air in winter and chilled air in summer escape through gaps, which can be found everywhere. Draft proofing a space can lower hydro bills by a whopping 20 per cent. Weather stripping and caulking should be used to seal windows, electrical sockets, doors, baseboards, and any other place where indoors air can escape. Increasing wall, basement, crawlspace and attics insulation can have a big impact on the bottom line. When in doubt, bring in an energy auditor for an onion.
Average Household Energy Consumption by Type
HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning)
It may be time to upgrade your old furnace if it is more than 20 years old. Gas furnaces are an energy-efficient way of heating your home without creating unmanageable utility bills. The highest rates furnaces have a FUE Rating of 98.5 percent, compared to some older system rated at around 60 percent, with much of the savings in better blower systems and heat exchangers. You'll actually save money in the long run if you buy a new Energy Star model, considering about 40-60 per cent of your home's hydro bills go to running these things. Although natural gas isn’t really clean, it is cleaner and less expensive than burning oil; so it may be time to jettison the oil furnace.
There’s nothing more sustainable than taking a sustainable approach to heating. While solar is an excellent option, other innovative technologies are worth considering, such as heat pumps (which act like refrigerators in reverse) and wood-fueled biomass boilers.
Ground-source heat pumps use buried pipes to extract heat or cold from the earth for your home’s HVAC and hot water circuits. In a geothermal system, the heat pump is able to extract heat from the 50 degree well water coming up from underground, and then dump that heat inside your house.
Wood-fueled heating systems burn pellets or logs to power central heating or warm a single room. A biomass boiler can supplement or fill all your central heating and hot water needs, but requires plenty of space and a large utility room.
Upgrade Thermostats and Environment Controls
The average household consumes 60 percent of its energy on space heating and conditioning. Using smart Heating Ventilation & Air Conditioning (HVAC) control systems can reduce energy consumption for space heating by up to 35 per cent, a significant savings. Temperature regulation is the crucial; a one-degree temperature drop equates to an overall 10 percent energy reduction. HVAC controls can be used to run individual zones or rooms at different temperatures, so unused areas of the house can be heated at a lower temperature. Wireless systems and those connect to a smart phone and a network are relatively easy to install and make the operation of an HVAC system easier than ever.
Power Hungry Appliances
Time to turn-in older energy hog appliances in exchange for new Energy Star products? For example, an Energy Star certified fridge uses 40 per cent less energy than regular ones sold in 2001; although the new ones don’t seem to last as long: 10 years versus 20. Remember about 10 -20 percent of your hydro bill goes toward refrigeration; and about sever percent for commercial applications.
Energy Star Windows, Doors and Skylights
Single-glazed windows lose a lot of heat in winter and capture heat in summer. In fact, windows can leak about 25 per cent of your home's heat in winter and let in about 40 per cent of summer. Installing ENERGY STAR certified windows, doors, and skylights lowers energy bills and saves you money. Installing ENERGY STAR certified windows, doors, and skylights can shrink energy bills by an average of 12 percent nationwide, compared to non-certified products. With more efficient windows, you also use less energy, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions from power plants.
Solar Power
Solar panel system can generate electricity or make hot water or and some of the costs are offset with incentives such as FIT and microFIT programs. Photovoltaic (PV) systems convert sunlight into electricity ensure long-term sustainability of renewable resources while lowering the cost of power over the 20-year service lifetime. Some types of panels don’t need direct sunlight to work – so you can generate on a cloudy day. In Ontario a solar panel should tilt about 70 degrees due south for the best all-year-round performance.
Hot Water
About a quarter of your hydro bill goes to heating up domestic hot water. Solar powered hot water systems lower your operating bills, improve air quality, and reduce reliance on non- sustainable fossil fuels. Water-based vacuum-tube systems connected to the roof are very efficient by capturing solar radiation, even in the middle of a harsh winter. A back up boiler can be used to boost the temperature if needed.
