Creating an Eco Friendly Bedroom

Your Guide to An Eco Friendly Bedroom

Ecological awareness in the bedroom isn’t the first thing on most people’s minds when they tuck up for the night…however there are many simple changes which you can make to your bedroom which will lower your carbon footprint. When we look practically at how to make changes to our bedrooms from an ecological standpoint, it’s easy to dismiss the room as dead-space in terms of green living, but that couldn’t be further from the truth! To begin to make changes, it’s important to first look at what we expect from a bedroom, what purpose does a bedroom server and how is it best managed?

Keeping Cosy

Of course bedrooms are for sleeping in…but surveys suggest that many people use their bedrooms for other activities including watching television, surfing the internet, reading and doing work or homework. Many people don’t have the luxury of an office in their home and so utilize the comparatively quiet atmosphere of the bedroom to get their essays written or their reports done.

Sleeping and working or relaxing are all activities which necessitate some warmth. There’s nothing worse than waking up shivering with cold, or trying to work on a computer with chilly fingers! This is why we have central heating and electric blankets right? But central heating uses up energy, and energy uses up fossil fuels as well as costing a lot of money.

Instead of turning up the heat, look at ways to keep your bedroom cosy and warm without using a heater or radiator. One of the best places to begin is the window. How much heat is being lost through gaps, cracks or ill-fitting frames? If you’re not in the market for replacement windows just yet, then see if it’s possible to at least secure the glass in the frame more tightly. This isn’t a big job and will really make a difference in terms of heat loss. Look at adding draft excluders to windows and to doors and you will be surprised at how much heat is kept within the room just thanks to this simple addition.

Before going to bed, fill a couple of hot water bottles and place them under the duvet; this is a cheap and highly effective way to get cosy at bedtime…especially during winter when freezing sheets are the bane of many people’s existence.

Other top tips for staying warm in the bedroom are as follows.

• Put foil behind your radiator to reflect the heat back into the room
• Close the curtains to save on lost heat
• Turn lights off when not in use
• Unplug appliances at night
• Use energy saving light bulbs
• Invest in a thicker duvet for the winter months, store it during summer
• Wear pyjamas

The bedroom is one of the most neglected rooms in the home in terms of energy efficiency but it is also one of the rooms in which we spend the most time, take some steps to ensure that you’re not wasting power in the bedroom and save money while you’re at it.