Are you intending to make your house more eco-friendly and looking for some practical green technology options for home usage?
With the rocket rising energy prices, the turbulent context of the energy supply chain, and the environmental emergency, the investment in green technologies is more worthy than ever. In many cases, you don’t need to take great measures or spend a great amount of money to make your property more sustainable. However, Some of these innovations require obviously a big budget. Whether you’re planning to build a new space or renovate your existing one, we have plenty of green technology options to inspire you and give you ideas to consider, before taking action. Some of these innovations require a big budget, and others are more of a weekend project. Whatever your goal or budget, let’s see the possible options and get inspired!
1- Solar water heater
The conventional water heater uses often gas or electricity to warm water for domestic use like dishwashing, washing clothes, hot baths, etc.. But either gas or electricity are very expensive at the moment. So each time you need to use hot water, it means extra energy costs that will be billed at the end of the month.
To avoid continuous overcontrol of your hot water use, solar water heater emerges as a top alternative for a more sustainable solution.
Solar water heaters transfer the heat accumulated from sunlight to the water used in your home. The water stays accumulated in a special insulated tank, like with a conventional water heater, until there’s hot water demand from your house. It means you don’t need to care anymore about the energy supply cost for heating the water. The sun is a free energy source and you’re protected from future fuel shortages or price fluctuations. An investment in a solar water heater will cost you a bit more than a conventional one, but your water heating bills should drop 50%–80%.
2- Solar panels for electricity
Many people think Solar panels is a new technology that supplies us with electricity. But that’s not the case! The first solar cells were available in the market for the first time in 1955. But actually, the technology has reached a mature stage that become very popular.
Solar panels supply your house with power by converting sunlight into a final form of energy: electricity. They are maybe the most practical and popular green technology solution to supply your home with power.
You can install solar panels on your own or hire a contractor to do it. But we recommend hiring a professional contractor to install it, because of the expertise required for the task not everybody has it. Some countries have solar leasing programs, where you sign up with a company that puts the panels on your roof and maintains them. They are your new power company. The panels on your roof and roofs in your area produce power, and you and others in the program buy that power from the leasing company. But we don’t recommend this option, because financially is not as worthy as buying your solar power installation.
3- Geothermal Heat Pump
Indoor heating can go up to half of your home’s energy. For example, space heating represents more than 60% from the total energy consumption of the european households [Eurostat, 2020] . That means possible green technologies that can help reduce your heating and cooling bills will have one of the quickest returns on investment.
The geothermal heat pump, also known as the ground source heat pump, is a highly efficient renewable energy technology that is gaining wide acceptance for both residential and commercial buildings. Geothermal heat pumps are used for space heating and cooling, as well as water heating. The benefit of ground source heat pumps is they concentrate naturally existing heat, rather than producing heat through the combustion of fossil fuels.
Geothermal heat pumps are equipped with a heat exchanger that can move heat from one space to another. The geothermal heat pump extracts heat from a building in the summer and transfers it to the ground for cooling. In winter, the geothermal heat pump takes natural heat from the ground and transfers it to the home or building for heating.
Installing a geothermal heat pump system can be the most cost-effective and energy-efficient home heating and cooling option. Geothermal heat pumps are an ideal solution if you are building a new home or planning a major renovation to an existing home by replacing, for example, an HVAC system.
4- Wind turbine
Many people still wonder if they can use wind energy to power their houses! The answer is YES. Wind energy is a free renewable source of energy. It’s exploitation technologies have reached a maturity stage, and small-sized wind electric systems are now available in the market. Small wind electric systems can make a significant contribution to your home energy needs.
A small wind electric system will work for you if:
– There is enough wind where you live. An average wind speed of at least 5m/s is required.
– Your local zoning codes or covenants allow wind turbines
– You have enough available space to install it
– You can determine how much electricity you need or want to produce
Most homeowners using a wind turbine as their primary source of electricity install between 5 to 15 kW of wind power capacity, meaning they can expect to pay between $15,000 and $75,000 for their small wind turbine project. These numbers do not include any state incentives.
5- Smart Power strips
Did you ever hear about vampire power? It’s also known as standby power. The term refers to all those gadgets and appliances that still absorb power even when they are switched off. Keeping the device in a standby mode still consumes power, and many people neglect it. For example, a phone charger left plugged in the whole time, or a TV in off mode.. are sources of power leaks. In average U.S. homes, 25 percent of electricity use by home electronics occurs while the products are off! In this context, smart power strips are the solution.
Traditional power strips are an affordable way to expand the number of electrical outlets in your home. But their convenience can encourage you to leave electronics plugged in all the time. Smart power strips, on the other hand, reduce power consumption by shutting down power to devices that are in standby mode.
However, you could still keep avoiding power leaking by unplugging regularly your gadgets when they’re not used.
6- Domestic energy management technology “HEMS”
For people who cares for details and looking for a rational solution for monitoring their energy use and expenses, domestic energy management technology is the right solution. According to the European Commission, domestic usage of energy constituted 26% of the final energy consumption in 2019. That represents almost one-third of the total energy consumption. So to limit that proportion, HEMS is the right technology to limit it.
A home energy management system is a combination of its hardware- and software components that work together to efficiently manage the energy usage of a home. The HEMS functions at the intersection of three different sectors within a home: home appliances, metering, and communication network.
7- Smart thermostat
Another great and practical green technology investment for your home is the smart thermostat. A smart thermostat allows you to set different indoor temperatures for different times on the same day. Smart thermostats are also connected to sensors that can control if an area is occupied or not, and therefore suspend the heating /cooling till the occupants are back. Moreover, smart thermostats allow the user a continue access from smartphones or computers via WI-FI connectivity.
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