Beginners Guide to Kitting Out a Sustainable Home

If you have moved or are thinking of moving into a sustainable home, it is likely you are going the whole hog. Sourcing sustainable furniture, investing in sustainable energy sources, and generally living as eco-friendly as possible is likely to be your goal. Thanks to such tools as the internet, this can be far easier than most people imagine.

#1 Sustainable furniture

There are many factors to consider when purchasing sustainable furniture, not just the furniture and its manufacture or origin. You also need to think about how the items are going to make it to your door. Of course, if you find a company to supply all of your furniture and ship it all in one go, this is far better for the environment than having a lot of individually sent items turn up over a period of time. 

By sticking to one supplier and opting for container transport from shipping brokers such as Shiply, you will find that all your items can be loaded into one load. Should your load not take up the whole container – what is known as ‘less than container load’, or LCL for short – don’t worry, as the area that is left can be rented to another person. As you will be in control of the service supplier that delivers your load, you will be able to select the perfect business for your needs that meet your desired criteria.

#2 Sustainable energy 

Thanks to online searches, you will be able to source local businesses to supply your property with sustainable energy fixtures such as wind turbines and solar panels. These important items can help you obtain energy from the sun and wind. Although a lot of sustainable housing has solar panels installed, it is a good idea to also have a wind turbine for those days or months of the year when there may be a limited supply of daylight. 

Wind turbines act very much like solar panels; however, instead of catching sunrays, they will catch the breeze. Most wind turbines will also follow the wind, so if the wind direction suddenly changes, you won’t find yourself with an idle turbine just waiting for the wind to catch it again.

#3 Applying sustainability to your garden

Having a composting bin in your garden for recycling kitchen waste can seem like hard work at first due to remembering what you can put in it and remembering to turn the contents every now and then to help get air into your mixture, but when you see the quality of the soil that your bin produces and, in turn, the plants that you can grow, it will make it all worthwhile. 

You should think about installing a water butt in your garden to capture rainwater; you would be surprised by the amount of water that runs off your roof, and this water – although it shouldn’t be drunk – can be used in the garden to keep it fresh, watered and lush during times when water is more scarce.