Eco friendly home

[Anniez]

I want to try to make our new house as eco friendly as possible. The hard part is not going over our building budget but if we can do this I hope our bills will be less later. I'm not sure where to start.

[Julie-Ann]

Here are a few ideas:

Use water efficient appliances and if you have space install water tanks.

Insulation - don't skimp on this as it makes a huge difference

Add eaves over as many windows as possible, it is surprising how much this helps. Plant shrubs along west side walls and use deciduous shrubs in front of north facing windows.

Hope this helps.

[rachel]

Everything Julie-Ann has said, plus pay attention to orientation on your block and high ceilings keep the house cool.

There are some new films for windows you can get to avoid to much heat coming in. I'll take a look and see what I can find.

But - thanks - for considering the environment. It is a great thing to do.

[Sunnygal]

Solar heating for your hot water saves a lot, especially when compared to electric.
We also designed our house to have a lot of cross ventilation through windows and doors and that really helps in summer.