Can going green improve your property’s value?

Are South Africans consciously choosing more environmentally friendly features when they buy a home?

According to bond originators ooba, which conducted a survey recently, we seem to be trending in that direction — 49% of respondents said features like insulation, solar panels and water-conserving facilities are ‘very important’, 18% said they are ‘important’ and 20 percent said they are ‘of some interest’. Only 13% said they are ‘not important at all’.

Jennie Rushin at ooba says making eco-friendly improvements to your home may well make it a more attractive purchase. The Department of Energy’s intention to install one million solar water heaters by 2014 shows that green initiatives are much on South Africans’ minds.

Is it expensive to make your home eco-friendly? Well, in the long term, you can cut costs quite significantly, so greening your home is really something of an investment.

Rushin suggests focusing on the following:

• Energy efficient appliances.Because water heating consumes almost 50% of the electricity in your household, make your geyser as efficient as possible. Install a thermometer to regulate the heating so hot water’s only used when it’s needed. And turn off the geyser when you go on holiday (but you were going to do that already, weren’t you?).
• Conserving waterA single flush of the toilet can use 11 litres of water, believe it or not. Install a pump system, which will let you use water from the bath, shower and washing machine.
• Buying eco-friendly products.When you buy household cleaners, check the labels to make sure the ingredients aren’t toxic to you and the environment. Look for eco-friendly product ranges.
• Energy-efficient lighting.These light bulbs use 66% less energy and last up to 10 times longer, which means dramatic savings in energy costs.
• Greening your garden.Don’t use synthetic fertilisers — rather use compost, which provides soil organisms and the balance of nutrients needed. Healthy soil minimises weeds and produces healthy plants, which prevents further pest problems from developing.

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