When we hear about great advances in green living related to homes, it all has to do with new home design and new home construction. Green materials and advanced heating, cooling and energy systems can make it easy to live a green eco-friendly life at home.
But the question is, what if you have an older home, one that you either can’t or don’t want to modernize to meet green living standards? Are you left with making the choice between living less responsibly or moving? Actually, no. There are several ways that you can preserve your older home’s integrity without going modern or paying a bunch for retrofitting.
For older homes, you can preserve original windows and still make them more efficient. There are some studies that show that properly sealed windows can perform as well as some vinyl replacement windows. Weatherstrip your windows, seal the up around the exterior trim with caulk, replace any cracked windows, fixed glazing problems and consider using insulating plastic in the winter. Vinyl windows, while they may seem green due to energy efficiency, can actually release toxins during their manufacture.
Now here is a trick for making your older home more comfortable in the summer. Paint your home a light color. Lighter colors reflect back more heat and thus, you will require less energy to cool your home. Having shade trees in your hard can also keep your home cool.
Insulation can go a long way to saving energy on heating and cooling. Insulate, insulate, insulate. Make sure the basement and attic are insulated, and don’t forget crawl spaces, electrical outlets and other little areas where 20 percent or more of your heat or cool air can escape.
One benefit of older homes is that they were built before air conditioning existed. Because of this fact, many older homes were designed with good cross ventilation in mind. During the summer, try opening all of the windows. Use ceiling fans and dehumidifiers to make things more comfortable when the humidity is too high. These devices use less energy than air conditioning systems anyway.
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