Here are some high-impact environmentally friendly kitchen design ideas:

o Kitchen Recycling Centre

Look for sets of kitchen bins that allow you to easily separate rubbish – paper, food, bottles, plastics, etc.

o Waste Disposal machines

These are ideal for reducing the physical amount of food waste down to small pieces. Then start a wormery where worms can compost down the food waste more efficiently. Use the compost on your garden.

o Energy-Efficient Kitchen Appliances

When considering your refrigerator, dishwasher or washing machine purchases for the kitchen remodeling project, each appliance will have an Energy Rating. Advanced technology now means that appliances can use 10 to 50 percent less energy and water than standard models

o Induction Hobs

Induction cooking uses electricity to produce a magnetic field that reacts with the ferric content in stainless steel, cast iron, and enameled steel cookware. This excites the molecules and produces heat. The cookware (and therefore the food) gets hot, but the stove-top doesn’t. Less heat is wasted and the food heats faster, saving time and energy. Induction cooking is about 90 percent energy efficient as compared to gas and electric radiant, which are 50 to 60 percent efficient.

o Dishwashers and Washing Machines

Use a full load in your dishwasher and washing machine. If you are thinking of buying a new machine, make sure you buy a water efficient model. Have a look at our website where we have collated more information on water efficient appliances.

o Stained Concrete or Indigenous Stone Kitchen Counter-tops.

Your kitchen design should include materials that are durable and water-resistant for both counter tops and splash-backs. Stained concrete uses non-toxic, natural pigments rather than surface-applied stains. Many types of indigenous stone are available and can come from salvage sources. Make sure they are adequately sealed to prevent staining.

o Energy-Efficient Task Lighting and Lighting Controls

Kitchen designs often include two or three light settings such as general, task lighting, and mood lighting. Maximize natural light wherever possible and low voltage systems for task and mood lighting.

o Eco-Friendly Kitchen Flooring

Products manufactured from renewable forests can provide you with a beautiful, affordable and durable floor – and an environmentally responsible choice. Bamboo, cork, and eucalyptus mature in roughly half the time (or less) that it takes hardwoods, grown in colder climates, to reach market size.

o Wall Insulation

Nothing improves the comfort and energy efficiency of a kitchen more than plenty of insulation in the exterior walls. To add insulation to existing kitchen walls, blow fibrous insulation material – fiberglass or natural materials like cellulose and mineral wool – into enclosed wall, floor and roof cavities. “Dense packing” the insulation inhibits air circulation within the cavities, thereby eliminating a major cause of condensation, moisture problems and air leakage.

o Kitchen Windows, Doors and Skylights

Well-designed windows and skylights can lighten the feel of a kitchen and save on fuel bills as well. Ensure the products used have low heat emission glass with solar shading, which increases the room’s comfort, protects items from sun damage and reduces condensation on windows.

Ian D Ludlow helps sales and customer service people and organisations in the business-to-business, direct sales and retail environments to improve their current performance.

As a Master Practitioner of NLP and Accredited LVT Practitioner, he uses fun and creative techniques to change unproductive behaviours and to help individuals and teams THINK FASTER and REACT QUICKER to ever changing market conditions.

He states, “If you carry on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Ian’s specialism is knowing what to change and how to change it with minimum effort and maximum return.

Ian helped improve the average sales value for a retail business by 14% which added £34M in sales revenue over one year from 320 stores. He also helped increase the sales conversion ratio by 7% through quality sales training and lead generation programmes for a kitchen and bathroom installer; increasing sales by £24M over one year.

Ian D Ludlow can be contacted on +44 (0)1795 55 56 83 whilst his website is under construction.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ian_Ludlow

Materials galore
First, check out the wide variety of materials that you can use to construct ecologically safe real estate properties. One material to use is bamboo, which is a very cheap and accessible material that grows quickly and does not harm the environment. Using bamboo for your home can begin with the scaffolding used to build the outline of your home. You can also create walls that are made entirely from bamboo. A versatile plant, even the leaves are sometimes used in traditional Asian homes for roofing. Check out stones, rocks, and clay for building the foundations as well as the walls and fences of your home, since these are also ecologically friendly and will last a long time. They can, however, be expensive especially if you are using materials that are expensive. Wood is also one of the most frequently used of the ecologically sustainable building materials. Keep in mind, however, that wood logged from old growth forests are to be avoided.

Aesthetic benefit
Apart from the advantages of sustainability, these materials also have the added benefit of providing aesthetic appeal in themselves. While concrete walls need to be painted or covered with wallpaper, the use of wood, bamboo, or stone for construction gives the home an instant texture and character that is otherwise difficult to achieve. In fact, some interior designers go to the trouble of covering concrete walls with bamboo strips, or wood panels. Here are some of the common real estate elements where ecologically safe materials can be used.

Walls and flooring
The walls and flooring are some of the best places to use ecologically friendly building materials. Parquet floors are some of the most popular wood floors, while wood panels can also be used as walls instead of concrete. Partitions between parts of homes that do not need thick divides can also be made of bamboo partitions. Homes that need better ventilation can also benefit from the use of bamboo sliding walls which allow air to circulate especially in small spaces which are one of the primary characteristics of homes today – such as apartments and condominiums in the city.

With the right use of ecologically sustainable building materials, the environment and your real estate property does not have to be at odds with each other. So go ahead, go green while enjoying yourself in your new home.

For real estate options that make use of ecologically friendly materials, check out San Diego Houses for Sale and Real Estate in San Diego.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Maria_Faith