How to ensure a sustainable home

You want to feel com­fort­able at home while at the same time show­ing respect for the envir­on­ment and cli­mate? Our expert has the best advice to make sus­tain­able liv­ing a suc­cess. For example, by using eco­lo­gic­al build­ing mater­i­als as well as fur­niture and fur­nish­ings made from renew­able and recyc­lable raw mater­i­als. Qual­ity seals like the EMICODE^® point the way to a sus­tain­able and healthy home.

Tip 1: Use natural materials and avoid long transport routes

Espe­cially your own home offers many oppor­tun­it­ies for sus­tain­able liv­ing. There is a whole spec­trum of meas­ures you can take – from energy-sav­ing lamps and the eco­nom­ic­al use of elec­tri­city and heat­ing energy to the pur­chase of fur­niture made from renew­able and recyc­lable raw mater­i­als. Wood is con­sidered to be a par­tic­u­larly eco­lo­gic­al mater­i­al. Being a nat­ur­al resource, it stores car­bon for many dec­ades and there­fore fea­tures a pos­it­ive energy and CO₂ bal­ance. Cab­in­ets, tables or floor cov­er­ings made of high-qual­ity real wood can be sanded down and re-sealed or oiled at any time. With good care, they do their job for a whole life­time. It is best, how­ever, to use cer­ti­fied wood from sus­tain­ably man­aged European forests instead of exot­ic trop­ic­al woods. This helps avoid long trans­port dis­tances and also ensures envir­on­ment­ally friendly pro­duc­tion. Of course, there are also fur­nish­ings made of oth­er nat­ur­al mater­i­als from sus­tain­able pro­duc­tion, ran­ging from bam­boo lamps and sea­weed car­pets to fur­niture and dec­or­at­ive items made of cork.

Tip 2: Take a closer look at building products

Apart from items like fur­niture and fur­nish­ings that are vis­ible at first glance, there are also “invis­ible” ones like build­ing mater­i­als. These include adhes­ives, wall pan­els, insu­la­tion under­lays, seal­ants, primers, par­quet var­nishes, fillers and joint seal­ants. They as well should be checked for their envir­on­ment­al com­pat­ib­il­ity. In addi­tion to the eco­nom­ic­al use of nat­ur­al resources, also our per­son­al well-being is of vital import­ance. Build­ing and install­a­tion mater­i­als should there­fore not emit any sub­stances that are harm­ful to human health. In oth­er words: They should be healthy for liv­ing. After all, we spend around 90 per­cent of our lives indoors, where floor cov­er­ings – next to walls and ceil­ings – account for the largest sur­face area.