When renovating your home, why not also consider what you can do to help save the planet? An eco-friendly home can be friendly to your wallet in the long run.
Although maximising storage space in Hong Kong remains more of a priority than energy conservation, architects and others see the rising cost of energy as a factor spurring environmental consciousness.
'If people can see a savings, they will say: 'let's do it',' said Clifton Leung, creative director at Clifton Leung Design Workshop, a building and design interior consultant.
The most affordable eco-friendly elements tend to be the most popular. Easiest of all is replacing old incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent bulbs, which cost four to five times more but last up to 10 times longer.
Certain environmentally friendly products have become standard items in newer buildings. These include low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint, low-flow shower heads and low-flow toilets.
VOCs in paint release toxic emissions which give that new paint smell. Low-VOC paint has little odour and a much lower level of emissions. Low-flow shower heads employ many fine jets to limit the amount of water that passes through; low-flow toilets use less than half of the 15 litres of water per flush that a conventional toilet does. 'There's very little of a price premium for these anymore because they're so widely used,' said Leung.
