Guest Blogger: How Green Apartment Living can Save you Money
Guest Blogger #646, Entry #1539, August 31, 2012
Apartments use 65% less energy than single family homes!
Apartment living is a lifestyle that can be greener than you might imagine. Higher density means less consumption. Because you have other dwellings on either side of you, above and below, it costs less to heat and costs less to cool. It’s like each apartment unit provides insulation for multiple other units. Contrast this with a single detached dwelling and it’s fairly obvious that you won’t have the same kind of insulation. Even townhomes and row houses use less energy than single detached homes for the same reason. The detached home is fully exposed on all sides.
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Compared to alternatives, you’ll use so much less energy by just living in an apartment. But it doesn’t stop there! There are so many things you can do while you’re living in an apartment that will contribute even more to a greener lifestyle.
A greener apartment lifestyle
By turning the heat down, Americans could save more than 500,000 barrels of oil each day–that’s over 21,000,000 gallons.
It already costs less to keep your apartment warm as described above, but you can still turn your heat down a bit and that saves even more. Here are a just a couple of tips:
- Use energy efficient appliances if you have the option.
- Put in a programmable thermostat.
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Those who live in apartments tend to use less energy in other ways as well. An apartment lifestyle lends itself to the use of greener transportation. Public transportation by bus, train or subway is usually closer to multi-residential dwellings for obvious reasons. So apartment dwellers, whether renters or owners, or more likely to use public transportation or even walk to work because of close proximity. This is going to hold true whether the commute back and forth to their home is for work or more recreational in purpose.
You can find these and many more statistics, practical tips, and resources for green apartment living in a free green apartment living guide from Rent Café. You’ll be amazed at the number of things you can easily do that make a big difference. Get your free guide now.
For more apartment living ideas on Stagetecture, click here.
These are all pretty good ideas, though I wouldn’t want people to be put off from buying a home because of the difficulty in making it more energy efficient. Houses of all shapes and sizes can be made greener with just a little bit of work and the benefits pay off almost immediately.