Las 10 mejores tecnologías ecológicas para el hogar

Cuando te imaginas una casa ecológica , ¿te imaginas paneles solares que son una especie de monstruosidad, o tal vez esas casas solares Earthship de los años 70? Las casas ecológicas a veces tienen mala reputación, pero existen tecnologías ecológicas modernas que casi cualquier persona puede incorporar a una casa.

Y hay buenas razones para probar algunos. ¡ El hogar estadounidense promedio usa alrededor de 32 kilovatios hora de electricidad [fuente: Administración de Información de Energía de EE. UU.] y 400 galones (1,514 litros) de agua al día [fuente: WaterSense ]! Por lo tanto, el ahorro de energía y agua no solo conserva los recursos naturales, sino que, como propietario de una vivienda, verá un retorno de su inversión en facturas de energía mensuales más bajas.

Tampoco tienes que ir a medidas extremas para que tu hogar sea más ecológico. Ya sea que esté buscando construir un nuevo espacio o pensando en actualizar el existente, tenemos muchas tecnologías ecológicas que quizás desee considerar. Algunas de estas innovaciones requieren un gran presupuesto y otras son más un proyecto de fin de semana. Comencemos con uno que puede ahorrar mucho dinero.

1. calentador de agua solar
2. Barriles de lluvia
3. Paneles solares para electricidad
4. Bomba de calor geotérmica
5. Turbina de viento del patio trasero
6. Inodoros de doble descarga
7. Electrodomésticos Energy Star
8. Tiras de alimentación inteligentes
9. Tecnología de gestión de energía en el hogar
10. Termostato programable

Los calentadores de agua convencionales usan electricidad o energía de gas natural para calentar el agua en su hogar para todo, desde duchas hasta lavar ropa y platos. Cada vez que usa agua caliente, eso es energía y dinero por el desagüe.

Un calentador de agua solar utiliza el calor y la energía del sol para calentar el agua de su hogar, ya sea usando el calor del sol o recolectando energía con paneles solares para calentar el agua. El agua calentada permanece en un tanque aislado, al igual que con un calentador de agua convencional, hasta que esté listo para usarla [fuente: ahorradores de energía ]. Si bien su instalación cuesta más que los calentadores de agua tradicionales, podría ahorrar entre un 50 y un 80 por ciento en sus facturas de calentamiento de agua.

El inconveniente de los calentadores de agua solares es que a menudo es difícil usar la energía del sol para calentar suficiente agua para una casa típica. Hay un salón que me gusta visitar cuando estoy en el sur de Florida que usa un calentador de agua solar, y si tienes una cita demasiado tarde en el día, es probable que tengan que lavarte el cabello con agua fría antes de cortarte . Eso no es un gran problema en el salón, pero cuando te estás preparando para el trabajo por la mañana, una ducha fría es un problema un poco mayor. Es por eso que muchos calentadores de agua solares domésticos utilizan un sistema de respaldo , ya sea eléctrico o de gas, como complemento.

Ya sea que estés cultivando comida o flores, ese jardín requiere riego si quieres que se mantenga vivo. Confía en mí. He matado más que mi parte justa de plantas simplemente olvidándome de regarlas. El uso de agua al aire libre, como regar su jardín , es un factor importante en el uso general de agua de una casa, y también es fácil de arreglar con uno o dos barriles de lluvia y un sistema de riego de jardín.

Un barril de lluvia es exactamente lo que dice que es: un gran barril para recoger agua de lluvia, a menudo con un grifo en la parte inferior. Puede comprar barriles de lluvia en una ferretería o hacer uno propio. Si planea usar su barril de lluvia para regar su jardín, le recomiendo colocarlo sobre bloques de concreto. La altura adicional utiliza la gravedad para darle a la manguera una presión de agua adicional.

Para hacer que su barril de lluvia sea aún más eficiente, es una buena idea instalarlo debajo del bajante de su canalón. De esta manera, el agua de lluvia se canaliza desde el techo hasta el barril. Esto no es terriblemente difícil de hacer usted mismo. Simplemente coloque el barril en una esquina de su casa, mida su altura y luego corte la canaleta para que pueda colocar el barril debajo.

¡Los paneles solares han recorrido un largo camino desde los años 70! Los paneles solares modernos son más eficientes que sus predecesores, y algunas empresas están fabricando paneles que son francamente hermosos.

You can install solar panels on your own or hire a contractor to do it. Some states have solar leasing programs, where you sign up with a company that puts the panels on your roof and maintains them [source: Shahan]. They basically are your new power company. The panels on your roof and roofs in your area produce power, and you and others in the program buy that power from the leasing company.

¿Le preocupa que los paneles solares sean una monstruosidad? Claro, aún puede obtener paneles de la vieja escuela que se montan en su techo o en un soporte en el patio trasero, pero las nuevas tejas solares pueden combinarse perfectamente con su techo existente [fuente: Pandolfi ]. Básicamente, está reemplazando una parte de las tejas de su techo con tejas solares que se conectan al sistema de electricidad de su hogar para generar parte o la totalidad de la energía de su hogar.

Maintaining a comfortable indoor temperature can use up to half of your home's energy [source: Energy Star]. That means green technologies that can help reduce your heating and cooling bills will have some of the quicker returns on investment.

If you have central heating and air in your home, the way it maintains the temperature is by exchanging air inside of your house and with the air outside. In the summer, that means your HVAC unit pumps out hot air as it cools the air inside, and in the winter it takes heat from outside and transfers it into your home. This is not the most efficient system, since in summer the outside air is hotter than you want and in winter it's usually much colder. A geothermal heat pump works the same way, but its heat exchange apparatus is buried underground, where temperatures are a lot more stable. This type of system can might cost you more in the beginning for installation, but it can reduce your heating and cooling costs by as much as 30 to 40 percent [source: Consumer Energy Center]!

Not only is a geothermal heat pump more efficient, but it's quieter than a conventional HVAC system, and it lasts a lot longer. Since none of the system is exposed to the elements, there's less chance of damage from weather or from vandalism and they are virtually maintenance-free [source: Energy Savers].

Depending on where you live, a backyard wind turbine might be a good green home technology. A backyard turbine looks similar to the ones at big wind farms , just scaled down. It uses the wind's energy to generate some of the electricity you need to power your home.

To find out if your area is a good candidate for wind power, check out the U.S. Department of Energy's wind map. You can click on your state to see more detail on wind speeds in your area. You need wind speeds of around 5 miles per hour (8 kilometers per hour) or more to generate a decent amount of wind power [source: Liscano]. In windy states like Texas, home wind energy is starting to become more popular as conventional energy prices rise.

As with solar power, residential wind energy typically doesn't provide all of the electricity that you need to power your home, but it can supplement your power use and help reduce those energy bills. Unlike solar panels, however, wind turbines aren't quite so accepted. Some homeowners associations (HOA) forbid wind turbines, so make sure you check with your HOA before installing one. Turbines can be noisy, but wind turbine technology has come a long way, and there are low noise turbines on the market now [source: Bottero].

Did you know that your humble toilet uses more water than any other fixture in your house? Depending on how old your toilet is, it can use as much as 27 percent of the water in your home [source: WaterSense]. Upgrading from an older toilet to a newer one can drastically reduce your home water use, but even better is a dual flush toilet .

You don't need to upgrade any of your plumbing to install a dual flush toilet, but you may need a plumber to do the deed for you. Basically, a dual flush toilet has two flush options: one for liquid waste, and one for...er..."solid waste." You don't need as much water to flush away liquid, so why use the same amount every time you flush? Dual flush toilets also use a different mechanism to flush waste away which means they're even more efficient in handling solid waste than a conventional toilet [source: The Energy Conscious.

If you can't swing a whole new toilet right now, you can also find kits at the hardware store and online that can convert your current toilet to a dual flush. These are very simple, and chances are you can install them yourself.

Large and small appliances -- like the dishwasher , washing machine , and even the toaster –- can be major home energy culprits.

Energy Star is an Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy program that rates appliances for energy use. The standards for Energy Star ratings vary by product, but in general an appliance needs to be more efficient than its conventional counterparts to receive the Energy Star rating. For example, an Energy Star refrigerator has to use at least 20 percent less energy than other refrigerators on the market [source: Energy Star].

When you do need to replace older appliances in your home, an Energy Star model can help reduce your power bill, but there is some debate about whether it's better to replace old appliances or wait for them to break before replacing. If your goal is to reduce your overall footprint , you can actually reduce your impact by running those old appliances into the ground before replacing, because the materials and shipping costs for a new appliance outweigh the potential energy savings [source: Reichman].

Beyond Appliances

Energy Star appliances can save you a bundle on your utility bills, but Energy Star applies to more than just electronics. Products like insulation , heating and cooling systems, and even entire homes can have an Energy Star label, so keep your eyes peeled for that little yellow tag.

Have you heard of vampire power ? All of those devises that plug into the wall, like your TV, DVD player, and video game systems actually keep using energy even when they are in the off position, because they don't actually turn off. Instead, they go into "standby mode," which constantly uses energy, even in the "off" position. TV vampires suck blood. Energy vampires suck power.

Before smart power strips caught on, the only way to stake these vampires was to unplug appliances when you weren't using them. Not so convenient!

Smart power strips work by using a control device to cut all power to these energy vampires. You're probably already using a power strip for your home entertainment center. All you need to do is replace that strip with a smart power strip, and you're ready to save! When you turn off your "control" device, your smart strip cuts power flow to all of the other devices on the strip, so they're fully turned off rather than still using electricity in standby mode.

The key to saving energy with a smart strip is choosing the right control. We have our entertainment set up with the receiver as the control. Since our TV, DVD, and game systems are all routed through the receiver, we wouldn't be using any of them without turning that on first. When the receiver is off, none of those devices can steal power from the wall. Most smart power strips also have a few outlets that are always hot, in case you have devices that you want on that strip but don't want to power off when you turn off the control, like the DVR.

One of the best ways to conserve energy at home is to figure out where you're using the most power, and a home energy monitor puts that knowledge at your fingertips. Whether you opt to monitor your power use outlet by outlet or go for a home energy management system with all the bells and whistles, knowing how much power you're using and where can help you cut your energy use to save money.

Like most green technology, home energy monitors run the gamut from simple to complex. You can buy simple monitors to track the energy use in a single outlet or install a full-on home energy monitoring system. You plug the monitor into a standard outlet and it communicates with your smart power meter to tell you how much energy you're using at home, in which room, and at what times of day. Some can even track it down to the individual outlet [source: General Electric].

The device sends all of that data to your computer, so that you can see where you're wasting the most energy. Some home energy monitoring systems can even send energy data straight to your smart phone and allow you to wirelessly control devices to reduce your home's energy consumption on the fly [source: Ellis].

Do you remember to turn the heat down at bedtime or bump the thermostat up before you leave for work, so you're not cooling an empty house? A programmable thermostat remembers to control your HVAC system , so that you don't have to. It can also help you save on heating and cooling without sacrificing comfort.

There are a few different sorts of programmable thermostat, but they all work in basically the same way. You tell the system when to adjust the temperature, and it does all of the work. The type of programmable thermostat you need depends on your schedule. There are three options:

Installing a programmable thermostat can be pretty simple, depending on what your wiring is like now. A battery -powered progammable thermostat is simple to install if your current thermostat has two wires feeding into it. If you have three wires, you may need an electrician to do the installation [source: Marques]. Remember: Before messing with your thermostat, turn the power off at the breaker!

Author's Note: Top 10 Green Technologies for the Home

I am a stickler for conserving energy and water in our house, so researching this article was sort of like a dream shopping trip for me. I'm constantly turning off lights in rooms we aren't using and unplugging "wall warts" -- cell phone chargers and other small energy vampires -- from the outlets in our house. My husband may or may not sometimes call me "energy cop." Of course, I know that this comes from a place of love.

Our home doesn't have any fancy alternative energy-saving gadgets or monitoring gizmos right now, but my dream home would definitely be decked out with all of the green home technology in this list! For now, my husband and I have opted for more DIY energy- and water-saving solutions. He and his dad installed a pair of rain barrels to water our garden, and we've got smart power strips in pretty much every room of the house. I'm so nerdy about green technology that I called my mom the day we replaced our existing toilet with a dual flush.

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