While many people associate an ecological way of life with impractical and expensive lifestyle changes, there are several ways to make cheap and easy adjustments around the house to make living there more environmentally friendly.
Experts suggest starting off small – here are a few minor adjustments that you can start making tonight, tomorrow or over the weekend, which will make your home a greener place:
Kitchen
Use pressure cookers - this investment will not only help you save time, but also help save the environment as well. These cookers decrease the time required to prepare food by as much as 70%, which means less energy is used to prepare your favorite dishes.
If you still find it difficult to cut down on using the oven, you can try another trick - use two shelves inside at the same time to cook and heat up your food. You can also try to avoid opening the door to check the food often. Why? The temperature inside can drop to 65 °C each time you keep the door open for more than 30 seconds.
Another change you can make in the kitchen is not to rinse your dishes beforehand. If you have a dishwasher at home, energy-saving experts advise not to wash your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. It is a waste of both water and time. Instead, scrape off the remaining food and place your dishes directly in the machine.
Bathroom
One of the easiest tricks that does not require much effort is changing the habit of brushing your teeth. Just remember, the next time you brush your teeth, don't leave the tap running. This way, you can save up to 182 liters of water per week.
Another way to reduce water usage in the bathroom is to replace the showerhead with one with lower pressure. And here is an interesting fact: a family of 4 can save up to 160,000 liters of water per year with just this small change.
Living Room
Want to save the planet in seconds? Just pull the plug out. The easiest way to reduce energy consumption is to unplug the electronic devices you don't use. We realize that removing each lamp plug and charger from the socket every time you leave the house can be tedious, so we suggest using extension cords with several sockets and plugging your electronics into them. That way, when you go out, you can switch everything off using just one switch.
Bedroom
If you enjoy a pleasant fragrance wafting through the bedroom, why not try a few eco-friendly products? Instead of buying chemical and synthetic aromas to give the room a pleasant smell, why not try entirely organic essential oils or air freshener?
Another small change you can make in the bedroom is to change the sheets. Look for organic cotton ones. Why? Because organic cotton is extracted using environmentally friendly methods. It does not contain harmful chemicals and is grown without the use of pesticides.
Environment and Lifestyle
The environment we live in is at the core of a more eco-friendly way of life. The link with nature is one of our key values at River Park and that is why we chose a variety of ecological solutions in the project’s design.
One of them is the application of solar panels to all houses as part of their heating systems. The panels will be installed on the roofs of each building. Apart from being environmentally friendly, panels are also extremely energy effective, as they process solar energy and transform it into electricity, which can provide a large part of the hot water you consume in summer and spring seasons.
Another environmental solution applied to River Park is the garages. Air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions have ushered more and more people into choosing hybrid vehicles, or even entirely electric ones. To keep up with those trends, we made sure that each garage in River Park will have an electric vehicle charging station for its residents’ convenience.
Small changes can lead to big results. Even if you manage to apply just one of the tips we listed above, you will still be one step closer to living on a greener, cleaner planet.
