Can Luxury Homes Be Environmentally Friendly Too?
'Luxury homes come in all shapes and sizes, or better yet, they are made for many different purposes and in many different styles. Your personal stylistic preference could be aligned towards traditional or modern approaches to interior design, but regardless of your aesthetic inclinations, your home could be more or less environmentally-friendly. Luckily, there are many ways you can refresh and organize your luxury home to make it more sustainable. For this reason, we have written this short guide to answer the following question—can luxurious homes be environmentally-friendly too?Yes, investing in environmentally-friendly appliances and home systems allows you to reduce your property's carbon footprint. However, you will be pleased to hear that most innovations that operate sustainably also reduce your household bills in the long term. So, even though some green home systems are relatively expensive to install, implementing green solutions to your home can be quite lucrative (aside from being the right thing to do).
What's more, decorating or building your home following the green cause is becoming all the rage for all the right reasons. Should you hire an interior designer to redecorate your home, be sure to ask for advice on how you can make your luxurious home more eco-friendly. If not, we will explain what makes a luxurious house an environmentally-friendly home for your convenience.
LEED certification guarantees your home is eco-friendly
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certificate has become almost like a buzzword in the world of eco-friendly home design. Namely, this certificate ensures that the home's efficiency standards are in line with the principles of green building. LEED-certified projects have so far been responsible for removing 80 million tonnes of waste that results from unsustainable building. Also, it has been estimated that LEED buildings account for $1.2 billion in energy savings and $150 million in water savings.Around the world, about 430,000 homes are LEED-certified, most of them being in the US. Both residential, private, and commercial real estate experts recognize LEED certification as an accurate sustainability indicator.
Building your home from sustainable and locally sourced materials
Sourcing materials from the environment is an eco-friendly practice that has been used for centuries. In the past, people had no other choice but to source building materials locally. Nowadays, architects, interior designers, and contractors employ this strategy to reduce the property's carbon footprint.So, if you intend to build the perfect luxury home, you might want to investigate if there is a possibility to use wood, stone, adobe, doors and windows, or other materials collected in the area where you plan to construct your home. This way, you support the local economy while reducing your negative environmental impact since you do not have to purchase anything imported or sourced unethically.In case you are remodeling a pre-existing property by using locally sourced materials, we recommend you find a sustainable way to transport and dispose of your old furniture. Luckily, moving experts from the area can take care of this task and transport your furniture to the desired destination.
Eco-friendly vegetable gardens and orchards
It is not only the interior or the materials from which your home is built that influence your luxury home's degree of 'eco-friendliness.' Namely, many luxury homeowners have ditched traditional flower bed gardens and started planting fruit orchards and vegetable fields. The reason for this is simple - planting vegetables, fruit, and other plants is an excellent way to reduce your carbon footprint while being able to enjoy home-grown food in return.
Solar panels
Solar panels have indeed become a poster child for renewable energy sources over the years. Generally speaking, no matter how good your insulation is, up to 30% of the energy needed to heat up your home is wasted. Since luxury homes are usually quite large properties, supplying all parts of your home with electricity and heating is typically quite wasteful and costly.
Finally, can luxurious homes be environmentally-friendly? Certainly! In fact, this article only scratched the surface of the bulk of possible green solutions you could implement into your luxury home. It's up to you to do some research and make your home fit your eco-friendly lifestyle!Photos by pexels