The campaign to live a sustainable life has led to many changes in people’s personal consumption style. For example, someone may not be willing to use plastic bags anymore as a commitment to their green lifestyle. However, this is hard to replicate in large-scale systems. Small personal changes don’t often translate to systematic changes. The good news is that it is possible for your office or home to be sustainable on a bigger scale. Whenever possible, you can try to implement some of these sustainable options in your home or office:
A solar grid
Setting up solar panels is one of the biggest ways you can ensure that your house is sustainable. They can be expensive to install, but once they are installed, they can provide all, if not much, of the electricity for your home. Most governments have options available that subsidize solar panels or incentivize solar energy use. If you produce an excess of energy, you can then sell it back to the grid. In this way, it can even be a source of income for you.
Before setting up solar panels, you should consult an expert to find out how many panels you will need for your home. You can also implement a storage mechanism if you are producing an excess of energy. In some cases, if the cost of installing solar panels by yourself is too high, you can pool your resources with neighboring homes to form a community mini-grid.
An advanced wastewater treatment system
Wastewater treatment requires chemicals that are very harsh for the environment. Using a sustainable and advanced wastewater treatment system will allow you to forego the use of these chemicals. This can be a much more energy-efficient process as it does not need the energy required for artificially aerating and treating the waste. Instead, natural aeration is used. This is not only better for the environment, but it will also help you save on electricity bills.
This type of water treatment allows for the use of natural methods to clean sewage. There is no chance of the treated water being contaminated, and it can be released safely into the environment. This type of tank also requires maintenance only once every ten years. Regular septic tanks need to be cleaned using industrial chemicals every two to three years.
Insulated walls and windows
Insulation has a big role to play in your home’s sustainability. Proper insulation can dramatically decrease your energy costs and increase the energy efficiency of your home. Always make sure that your home is constructed out of an insulated material. Your windows should be double-glazed to prevent heat loss. Make sure that they are sealed properly.
With these measures in place, your home is going to be much more sustainable and ease its impacts on the environment. Thought and care need to be put into every aspect of our living, from where we source our energy to how we treat our waste. Once established, this model of sustainable living can then be applied to much larger industrial scales.
