How to reduce your carbon footprint with Dandara
A way to be more eco-friendly is to opt for a renewable method for heating your home. Each year, a new home generates only around one-third of the carbon produced by the average older property. So a new Dandara home's impact on the environment is considerably lower. Of course, this also brings you great savings on your energy bills; something that will make owners of older homes go green... with envy. That’s why Dandara homes are constructed with an energy-efficient heating system. Cutting back on heat waste and reducing your carbon footprint can have a huge impact.
Be intentional – no one is perfect, and the world isn’t currently set up to make sustainability easy for you but even the small changes you make have an impact. At Dandara we have focussed on energy efficiency to keep your bills as low as possible and to make our homes as environmentally friendly as we can. We know these small changes make a difference at scale and we continue to work on ways we can make an impact. Think about other small (or large) changes you can implement and maintain for more sustainable living.
Another way that households can be more eco-friendly is to invest in a renewable energy source for electricity – shop around to see if you can find a good renewable energy supplier. In Dandara homes we use low energy lighting throughout, with energy-efficient appliances which means you use less energy while also saving you money. An EPC gives you an indication of the energy efficiency of your new home. It considers things like how well insulated the property is and how much your bills might cost. It does this on a traffic light system with ratings from A to G ('A' being the most efficient). For you, most new Dandara homes will be rated as 'B'.
Did you see our sustainable gardening blog? Food waste is a problem for almost every household, but this does not need to go to landfills! Composting food waste is a great way to create homemade fertiliser and nourish your Dandara Garden.
The most environmentally friendly thing you can do in terms of consumption is to use something that already exists. Decorating your home can be a slow process, don’t forget second hand! You can find unique and striking furniture in second-hand warehouses, usually with fantastic craftsmanship and character.
Insulate your home. All the energy we use in our homes leads to additional carbon emissions. Over half of home energy is used for heating, so it’s important to make sure that the walls, roof, and floors in your home are insulated. Greater energy efficiency measures are embedded from the point of construction in Dandara homes, they are built to a layout that optimises insulation and airflow, and the upgrades that older homes may need are a standard requirement. Some Dandara homes are also made with thermal efficient blocks, from recycled materials and better-insulated building fabric and the external doors are specified with a high level of thermal efficiency and security, giving you and your family the best living experience.
Having a more energy-efficient property significantly reduces household bills. Heating costs saw the biggest differential costs between the two types of property. For owners of an older home, heating bills were, on average, £666 per dwelling a year. For new build homes, heating bills were 59% cheaper, costing an average of £271 over the 12 months and totalling a saving of £395. The data also showed that homeowners in existing properties paid an average of £82 a year for lighting and £141 a year for hot water, as compared to new build homeowners who paid an average of £70 and £113 respectively. In total, the yearly bill for owners of older properties was £890, almost twice as much as the annual bill for a new homeowner, which was £455.
Source: 33271_HBF_Report_final.pdf