Choosing a New Design for Your Home and Garden

When it's time to upgrade your home's heating or if you're building a new home, you may want to take the opportunity to think about energy-efficient  and eco-friendly choices. The cost of heating a home can be one of the largest expenses a homeowner faces, and not all choices are good for the environment. Note a few considerations below.

1. Fireplaces and wood-burning stoves

Fireplaces and wood-burning stoves can be an inexpensive way to heat a room, as most cities will have some type of wood for fireplaces readily available. However, these are also very unfriendly to the environment because of the smoke and ash they produce. It's a common mistake for homeowners to assume that because they're natural then they are an eco-friendly choice, but if you're concerned about your environmental impact, you may want to choose something else for heating your home.

2. Radiant or in-floor heating

Radiant heating refers to coils that are placed under the floorboards and which circulate warm air, making the floor itself warm. This is a very energy-efficient choice as a space is often heated more quickly and easily when heat is produced from the ground up, and since your feet come into contact with the heat source itself, you may feel warmer more easily so that you need to use less energy to feel comfortable. Radiant heating is very environmentally-friendly since it doesn't produce fumes or emissions of any sort.

3. Heat pump

A heat pump works by pumping heat into the home from the ground. These systems include pipes that are buried several feet deep and which pull heat from this outside source and deliver it directly into the home. Heat pumps are very environmentally safe and energy-efficient, as they don't need to burn fuel to create heat but simply redirect it from this outside source.

4. Solar hot air

As with solar panels that create electricity, solar hot air is created by panels that trap heat from the sun and which then warm air underneath those panels. Once this reaches a certain temperature, a fan turns on to circulate this warm air throughout the home. Solar hot air is very energy-efficient and eco-friendly as it burns no fossil fuels and creates no emissions or other pollutants.

If you still prefer to have a standard furnace that blows warm air through your home as a means of heating it, remember to choose the most energy-efficient model you can afford. Have your home inspected for leaks and drafts and upgrade the insulation as well, so you can use less energy to create a warm and comfortable atmosphere in your home. For more information, contact a company like Tas Energy Savers.