Top 5 Effective Methods for Eco-Friendly Interior Design
April 3, 2021 | No Comments | Interiors
As urbanisation is evolving and seeing its day-to-day changing developments, it also reintroduced us to our ancient eco-friendly and sustainable home culture. Before foreign rule in India, our traditional homes were constructed in such a manner that residents received a reasonable amount of wind and the house system used to capture the appropriate sunlight that we needed. After industrialisation, several cultures were mixed and we lost our hidden treasures as time passed by.
Today, the whole world realized how important our energy resources are for us. The entire human race is chasing towards protecting mother earth. From banning plastic to constructing eco-friendly houses everything is being done to promote a healthy environment around us. Since the home is the first place we prefer to stay most of the time, upgrading them into sustainable spaces is largely practised now.
At Designbhk, we believe that the surroundings we survive in are associated with how the regional homes should be constructed. The local materials available for construction tolerate the regional climatic conditions. For example, in India, manufacturing materials like cement, sand, bricks, steel, etc are used but in cold regions, heat insulation materials like aluminium foil, wood wool are used to lower the heat escape to the exterior. Using cement slabs in cold countries is not suitable and advisable.
Here are five trending techniques to construct or modify already-built houses into sustainable spaces using non-toxic, renewable energy by traditional methods garnishing with a tinge of modern interior design.
ORIENTATION OF THE HOUSE
The science of architecture lies in the orientation of the house. If you live in a place that has extreme climatic conditions. Whether hot, cold, rainy or stormy, the interior and exterior built-in features of the house affect the tolerating abilities of the structure of the house. In warm places, it is advisable to build fewer windows in the west because it may result in overheating of the interiors. Whereas in cold regions, the windows, glass panels and glass doors are kept facing the South direction so that direct sunlight enters into the house. This is the reason why traditional orientations coming from ages are limited for a particular area. Other sedentary features like sun shades, rooftops, shady trees can also be involved in sustainable interior design.
LOCAL MANUFACTURING ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS
Nature designs the surrounding materials in a place such that they are suitable to that environment. Instead of importing Italian marble from far distances, we can use locally available granite and marble which do not have any adverse effect on the environment. It is not just local material, recycled materials can also be used for house interiors like reclaimed wood, recycled glass, reusable steel, etc for sustainable living.
ENERGY-SAVING ELECTRIC FIXTURES AND APPLIANCES
They are easily installable in both already-built houses and newly constructing houses. We already know how much water storage heaters consume energy but they can be replaced by solar water heaters. We can opt for heat and cold insulation glasses for windows and doors. These insulation doors will keep the houses cool in summer and warm in winter. They can be expensive but the amount of money saved in energy consumption is worth it. Using appliances of higher star-rating is the best energy-efficient option. Sources of lights like incandescent bulbs can be replaced by LED bulbs to save energy and to last longer.
RENEWABLE ENERGY
The ultimate and never-ending source of energy is the sun. If we can utilize it properly then it should be solar energy for electricity. India has already started using solar panels in their personal residences. Windmills are another source of energy to add more money to your savings. Don’t you think they are cool enough to change your lifestyles?
SAVE WATER
Conserving water is not just today’s pledge. To promote sustainability, water management is also another key feature. We can replace regular taps with stylish faucets of low-flow systems. We have already learnt about the Rain-water harvesting method in school. Now is the time to implement it in real-life. Architects have different modern designs for such systems.
Sustainability is not just an option, it is our responsibility towards our mother earth. Building sustainable homes with eco-friendly design elements will make you proud and will remind you how much you are individually contributing to save the environment.