If you have the environment in mind, it’s important that you respect it in all areas of your life. A holiday home is your place to relax, so don’t let it be a place where you also worry about your carbon footprint or your impact on the local area. Here’s how you can turn your holiday home into a green one.
Turn It Off
Whenever you leave your holiday home, make sure to turn off everything that is not needed. There are only a few systems that might need to be left on; for example, you might set the heating to go on for an hour a day to ensure that your pipes do not freeze and break. Try investing in alternative energy sources which can fuel these required systems. You could have a personal-sized wind turbine on the property which stores energy during the winter months, which then automatically powers the heating. It’s a great way to keep everything going without using fossil fuel power.
Use Solar Panels
Long gone are the days when solar power was far too expensive for the average home owner. Now you can use it inexpensively to power all kinds of areas of the home. They can store up power while you are away, and provide it when you come to your holiday home for a break. For example, you can use solar panels to heat your swimming pool – which does not need to be heated if you are not there. Since you are most likely to visit in the sunny and hot days, this will work out perfectly.
Choose Your Location With Respect
When you are buying a holiday home, and especially if you are having one built, try to respect your environment. Is the location known for deforestation? Is tourism in the area contributing to a failing ecosystem? Will your presence in the area have a detrimental effect on any plants or animals? You can make a sustainable choice which means you are not harming the environment by having your holiday home there. If you think you can redeem a location which has previously been harmful to the environment, then snap it up – your actions can really make a difference.
Stay Local
When you are visiting your holiday home, try not to bring lots of food and products with you. Instead, shop in the local area so that you can help local businesses to flourish and cut down on your carbon footprint. Look for sustainably sourced food, and be careful about what you do – for example, always buy low-energy lightbulbs instead of picking up whatever you can find at the store. If there is not a particularly good recycling program, consider bagging up your recyclables and taking them home to be taken care of rather than just throwing them out.
Even though you may think of it as a place to relax, your holiday home can also be a boon for the local environment. What could give you more peace of mind than that?