Eco-friendly and green technology have taken the world by storm — from hybrid cars, to natural household cleaners and more. With everything else turning green, how does your home do on the eco-friendly scale?
Sure, you recycle and try to take your reusable bags to the grocery store instead of using plastic, but what about the everyday appliances in your home that could use a little energy efficiency makeover? With spring-cleaning season on the reason, consider updating some of those energy-hog home appliances with a “greener” version.
Newer appliances are designed to be smaller and more energy efficient allowing you to reduce your monthly energy bill.
Pictured below are some of the leading eco-friendly kitchen and bathroom appliances, designed to be the next best thing in green technology.
This eco-friendly refrigerator from Whirlpool is designed to use about the same or less energy than a conventional light bulb. It has “6th Sense” technology in the form of a button that can quickly chill foods in half the time of a normal refrigerator.
The “Pure Washer” by Tatjana Voronova, is a rotating dual sink and dishwasher. It is designed to save space and uses degassed water technology to remove oil and dirt from plates without using any soap or detergent! So you can save on cleaning supplies and reduce your exposure to the harmful chemicals of detergent cleaners.
Induction cooktops from Electrolux are all the rage in energy efficient stovetops. They use a magnetic technology to heat. You can put any size pot on this top and when turned on, the energy is only concentrated where the pot is, leaving the rest of the range cool to the touch.
When remodeling, don’t forget about your kitchen floors. Green experts advise people to remember about renewable materials like bamboo and cork when designing floor plans. Both come in a variety of styles that you can choose from that will cost you less than hardwood floors — Bamboo typically runs about $4-6 per square foot and cork is between $2.50-$6 per square foot — and are durable with noise absorption.
For your countertops, consider going the recycled glass and stone route. It’ll give you a sleek and modern look with low carbon emissions. Trend Glass is made from up to 72% post-consumer recycle material, transparent tempered glass, and semi-process man-mode stones. The result are countertops that are maintenance free and heat, stain, and scratch resistant.
The “Eco Bath” toilet uses graywater from your sink to flush. The used water from the sink is stored in a tank and connected to the toilet with two pipes, one for the used water and one for fresh water. When you flush the toilet, a mixture of the used and fresh water combine to fill the bowl and flush it.
Joo Diego Schlmansky from Brazil’s Fog Shower uses microscopic droplet technology to reduce water waste by almost a twelfth of that of a regular shower. It consumes just two liters of water during a five-minute shower. Instead of a traditional shower head, this shower uses a fog of heated water vapor that takes less energy to produce than to heat up water in a traditional, energy-saver water heater.
LED lights are not only energy efficient, but when placed strategically they can also be very stylish. LED lights are very bright allowing you to focus light where you need it the most like above and surrounding your bathroom mirror. These small lights can be installed in a gentle design to fit any bathroom theme.
These cool, eco-friendly appliances are all designed to help you reduce your footprint on the planet. With green technology, you can design a home that is not only built to last, but also built with nature in mind.
About the Author:
Viki Caneva is a content contributor for the direct mortgage lender, New American Funding. When you are ready to update your home with a greener sense of style, you can use their home improvement loan calculators and tools.
