We are all looking for ways to be more eco friendly and that change has to start at home. You may not have considered the impact that your home has on the environment before, but you use a lot of energy and if you can find ways to change that, you can reduce your carbon footprint in a big way. There are a lot of other resources that you use in the home, like water and food, that you need to manage as well. 

Being more mindful about the way that you use energy and water is important, but you should also consider some of the technology that you can use to help you out. There are so many amazing technological advances that have made it so much easier for us to live an eco friendly lifestyle, and it’s important that you take advantage of them. These are the best pieces of technology to make your home more eco friendly. 

Smart Thermostats 

Smart products have grown in popularity so much in the last few years and they can help to make life easier in so many different ways. One of the best pieces of smart tech to invest in if you want to be more environmentally friendly is a smart thermostat. You can control the heating from your phone at all times, which means no more accidentally leaving the heating on when you go out. The best smart thermostats also have a learning capability, which means that after a few weeks or months of use, it will know when you are in the house and when you are out, so it manages your heating for you automatically and you don’t need to worry. It will also adjust the temperature slightly so you can make some big energy savings even though the temperature feels the same. 

If you are not good at managing the heating in your home and you leave it on all of the time, a smart thermostat is one of the best investments to make. 

Heat Recovery Systems 

Heat recovery systems are another great way to reduce your energy usage by managing the temperature in your home and preventing heat loss. A heat recovery system works by cycling hot air out of the home and bringing cold air in, and then using the outgoing hot air to heat the incoming air. This system can work in reverse as well, so in the summer when you are trying to keep your home cool, you don’t need to run the air conditioning system all day long. Heat recovery systems are the latest in home heating technology and it is likely to become the standard in all new homes in the future because it’s so efficient. Although it may be expensive to have one installed in your home, you will make a lot of savings in the future and it will do wonders for your carbon footprint. 

Smart Power Strips 

So much energy gets wasted by devices that are on standby. When you switch your TV off with the remote, for example, it is still using a small amount of power. If you consider all of the different devices on standby, it quickly adds up to a lot of wasted energy. You could just unplug everything when you aren’t using it but that is a bit of a pain to do, especially if you have a lot of devices. Smart power strips offer a simple solution to that problem and they can be easily switched with the standard power strips that you are already using. You can control all of your smart power strips with your phone or even a voice assistant, so you can make sure that nothing is ever left on standby again. You can get smaller smart plugs which can be used in outlets where you only have one device as well. 

Smart Light Bulbs

Smart light bulbs are another simple but effective way to reduce your carbon footprint. They can be controlled with your phone or a voice assistant, so you won’t accidentally leave them switched on. The other great thing about smart light bulbs is that they are LED, which is far more efficient than a normal bulb and lasts much longer. Most smart light bulbs allow you to switch between an almost infinite range of different colors as well, so they’re great from a home decor standpoint as well. 

Smart Meters 

Smart meters are great for helping you to manage your energy usage. Once plugged in, they will give you a real time update so you know exactly how much energy you are using. This allows you to see whether there are certain devices that are wasting energy or if you are accidentally leaving things switched on. When you are able to visualize the amount of energy that you are using, you will find that you are more cautious and you don’t waste as much energy. 

Solar Panels 

Cutting your energy usage is a good start, but you also need to think about where your energy comes from. Although the situation is improving, a lot of energy providers still rely mainly on fossil fuels, which is terrible for your carbon footprint. If you are serious about reducing your impact on the environment, you need to start thinking about producing your own energy. If you call a solar installer, they can give you a quote for installing solar panels on your home. You can also install some outside in the garden if you have a large outdoor space. Generating your own clean energy is one of the most effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint and save a lot of money at the same time. 

Meal Planning Apps 

Food waste is such a huge problem but most of us are not really aware of it. It is estimated that around 30 to 40 percent of the food supply in the USA is thrown away, which is a huge waste of money and it’s not great for the environment either, especially as the population grows and resources are stretched. Finding ways to be more efficient with your food and cut back waste is so important if you want to be kind to the planet. 

The main reason that people waste so much food is that they simply buy too much. People miscalculate how much food they need for the week and then some of it goes bad and gets thrown away. The easiest way to get around that is to start planning our meals, and there are some great apps to help you do that. Big Oven is a great app that lets you upload recipes from anywhere you like and even take pictures of recipes from books. You can choose which recipes you want for the week and then it will make you a shopping list, so you only buy exactly what you need and nothing gets wasted. It’s also great for helping you to find ways to incorporate leftovers into your meals so you can use everything up before it goes off. 

Express Composters 

Composting is a great way to put any food that does get wasted to good use, but the process does take a long time. However, there are some great express composters, like the Hotbin, which shorten the process and make compost in days instead of weeks or months. It’s a great way to make sure that your food waste doesn’t end up in landfill and you can use it in the garden. Now that you have some great compost, you can start growing your own vegetables, which is another great way to cut back on food waste and reduce your carbon footprint. When you buy food from the supermarket, you have to consider all of the emissions caused by transporting the food and the factories that package it etc. But if you grow your own, it’s far better for the planet. 

Smart Sprinkler Systems

If you are going to grow your own vegetables, you need to be careful about the amount of water that you use. Excessive water usage is a big problem because we don’t tend to pay attention to how much we use. If you want to grow your own vegetables but you are concerned about water usage, you should invest in a smart sprinkler system. These great sprinklers can be controlled and programmed by your phone so your vegetables are watered correctly at all times. But the best thing about smart sprinklers is that you can connect them to your wifi and they will automatically monitor the weather reports. If it is going to rain, the sprinklers will not water the plants so you can save water and avoid flooding the plants. If there is going to be a particularly dry spell, it will adjust the watering to make sure that your plants don’t dry out. 

If you are looking for ways to reduce your carbon footprint at home, you need to invest in these amazing pieces of technology.