We at Gruen Eco Design are passionate about sustainable design. Because sustainable design can and must be affordable for everyone. As a matter of course should be integrated throughout the whole design process. Rather than designing something and trying to make it sustainable later.
Even small changes can have a huge impact on your energy bills and how comfortable your home feels.
1 Draught Sealing
1 Most of us cannot afford to replace windows. But it can make a huge difference if you weather-stripping them. Closing off walls and ceiling vents also has a huge impact.
2 Insulation
In an ideal world your house should have a continuous insulation layer. But even if you can only insulate certain parts of your house it will make a huge difference.
Start with adding insulation to the ceiling/roof.
Then look at the walls. There are several options available on how to retrofit insulation to existing walls.
Next you should look at the floor. Same concept here, even if access is limited, insulating the areas you can get to will have a big impact.
3 External Shading
Try to keep the sun out of your house during summer, rather than cooling your house down after it’s too hot. Plant deciduous trees in front of windows or install external blinds. Even most hardware stores have some simple and often quite cheap solutions available.