Living the eco-lifestyle seems like an unachievable task for many of us. We know we should do more, and we’re constantly reminded that by doing little things and taking simple steps we can help reduce our carbon footprint to the benefit of the environment and our
wallets. According to the UK Energy Saving trust, £160 million is wasted a year in the UK alone by not switching off the light.
Then why is it that most of us don’t seem to get around to doing anything about it? We leave the TV and computer on standby, the heating stays up on high – sometimes even when we go out as we don’t want to come back to a cold house, we forget to turn off the light and the energy saving light bulbs are still in the drawer as we really do prefer the light to come on properly the second me hit the switch.
In the end it properly boils down to the fact that even though we know what we should be doing, we also want to be comfortable in our homes. We don’t want to be cold in winter, hot in summer, wait for the lights to come on or have to get up to turn on the TV. In our busy lifestyles it’s easier to leave the computer on so we quickly can check the email when we have 5 minutes to spare.
However, it can be done. We see more and more people adapting to a more eco friendly lifestyle through their everyday choices and new ecological social networks such as Greenoptions or Ecoki appear on the web. Unfortunately many still associate this lifestyle with primitive houses and personal sacrifices, but this does not need to be the case anymore.
Modern technology has made it possible to live a much more eco friendly life in comfortable surroundings within your own high quality housing. Building techniques make it possible to construct a house that will accommodate the needs of even the most demanding house owner and yet save on our valuable resources. Turning down the heat or switching off the light will never become irrelevant, but if your house keeps the heat better or that light bulb is powered by your own renewable energy source, at the end of the day, you can feel a lot better about your lifestyle choices without making big sacrifices to the comfort in your own home.
