There are countless ways to renovate you home. Many of us would love to have a wonderful patio in the back yard, or possibly a large sun room to turn into your own private rainforest! Green and eco friendly home renovation ideas are a great way to spruce up your living quarters and outdoor areas and gardens. Here are a few home renovation ideas that you may wish to think about if you are planning some remodeling around you home.

1. Install rain collecting rain barrels to harvest rain water. A lot of water is used outdoors in the hot, dry summer months. Installing a rain barrel to harvest and store rain water is an excellent way of reducing water use. Use the collected rainwater to wash your car, water the lawn or water your vegetable garden.

2. Remove all chemical cleaners from your household cleaning products. This is one thing that individuals can do to make a huge environmental impact. A lot of the chemicals you use in cleaning are extremely toxic, and if not used or disposed of properly these chemicals can easily enter waterways and pollute streams, lakes and rivers. There are a large number of safe cleaning products out there for you to choose from, or you may choose to make your own household cleaning products.

3. Replace old, inefficient appliances. Those old appliances just might be sucking up more juice than you think. You may consider investing in an energy meter to see just how much energy those old appliances are using. An example would be an old fridge costing you $250 per year in energy costs, and a new, energy efficient refrigerator may run you about $39 per year in energy costs. That’s a huge savings!

4. Install larger windows to allow more sunlight into your home, reducing the need for indoor lighting. There is no need to be running several lights all day long when the sun is shining high in the sky! Consider large bay windows to light up your home with natural sunlight!

We’ll have more great green and eco friendly home renovation ideas to come in the very near future!