EN | FR

When it comes to eco-friendly living, tomorrow’s world is already here. A wealth of effortless choices await when looking to revamp and modernize a home into a sustainable, conscious enclave. Why sacrifice style when it comes to sustainability? Here are 4 energy efficient upgrades to invest in your home’s worth and propel it to the top of the market’s must-see listings.

Minimize Heating and Cooling Costs

Living in luxury doesn’t mean living wastefully. Careful, considered design can be married with an economical, environmentally-sensitive approach. Ensure your home is a model of conscientiousness by first taking pause to evaluate the everyday. 

Start with your heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. Here, upgrading to high-end modern solutions becomes essential to reduce your home’s footprint, given that 43% of a home utility bill goes toward heating and cooling.

Upgrading offers a rare opportunity to step back, ensuring all the right elements play together in aesthetic harmony. And the practical can be picturesque; storm windows, for example, can look refined while reducing heat-loss by up to 50%.

Upgrade Your Appliances

Appliances. Too often treated like workhorse tools for a home; appliances should—and can—be statement pieces and talking points. Upgrading invites the perfect opportunity to introduce a new form-factor or redesign a space. Stylish fridge manufacturers like SMEG straddle the eras—embodying 50’s glamour with a pop of colour—but without compromising on energy-efficiency ratings.

Embrace Automation

With the advent of the smart-home, automation and streamlining for high-end living promises an even more seamless experience. From the front gate right through to the bedroom, almost everything can be automated to offer the ultimate in security, luxury, and comfort within your home. Many smart home systems offer “user-aware” abilities, meaning your house can now save energy by turning everything off automatically once you’ve left.

Use the Sun to Your Advantage

Sustainable energy sources are the path to the eco-conscious buyer—especially if you live in an area that receives large amounts of sunlight. In addition to the freedom of generating your own electricity, solar energy be subsidized by incentives and exemptions.

These refinements show that embracing an eco-friendly vision of tomorrow needn’t be a painful experience. In fact, upgrading not only adds value, it offers a moment to rethink your design to integrate forward-thinking choices into a fresh design scheme.

This means, come rain or shine, your home will be best positioned for success—ahead of the curve in a world where conscientious living will soon be the ultimate standard.


For top-level energy-efficient living inspiration, check out these eco-friendly homes across Canada. This article was originally published on March 6, 2018 and has been updated on October 9th, 2020. 

RELATED ARTICLES
Receive your complimentary subscription to INSIGHT: The Art of Living magazine