Owning a home is an expensive affair for those of us who care about the environment. Houses, after all, are on a par with heavy industry when it comes to pollution, contributing around 28 percent of the UK’s total
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Co2 emissions, so there’s lots of work to be done in reducing their impact.
But making your home an eco-friendly place to live will save you money in the long run and you will see immediate benefits when it comes to insuring your house.
The first piece of advice issued by home contents insurance experts like the people at moneysupermarket.com is that you should ensure your house is secure. Security and green living are closely linked when it comes to your doors and windows: by having well fitted, tight-locking windows and doors, you can not only prevent burglars from accessing your property, but you can also vastly reduce the amount of heat loss from your home.
Compared to single-glazed windows, double-glazed uPVC windows can reduce heat loss in your home by as much as 50 per cent, saving you money on your heating bill as well as saving the world’s renewable energy resources. Smashing double-glazed windows to gain access to your property will prove a much harder task for burglars than smashing single-glazed windows, and the locks on your new windows will be much more secure, too.
Once your security and heat loss issues are under control, it might be time to take a closer look at your appliances. Old washing machines, dishwashers, fridges, freezers and tumble dryers are less energy efficient and can eat up more electricity than they need to after many years of use.
Many home insurance companies know that they can save money by helping people to update their appliances, leading to fewer claims being made. For this reason, if you make an approved claim on your broken appliance, many insurers will replace it with an A-rated energy-efficient model, helping you to help the environment.
Your home contents insurance will protect you financially in the event of your possessions being stolen. But what is there to protect the environment against the drain on natural resources of today’s consumer culture? Lower your home contents insurance premiums and help the environment at the same time by buying only what you need. Frequent updates to larger televisions, faster cars, fancy kettles and toasters, and piles and piles of new clothes all come at a huge cost to the earth. Live a simpler life and you’ll find your insurance costs fall along with your impact on the environment.
