With tips, advice and the Green Home survey, we have made it easy for you to “green” your home.
""Welcome to Green Home! Our aim is to raise environmental awareness and support positive and sustainable environmental actions amongst householders and community groups. Green Home works on the principal of behaviour change. Many people making small changes can make a large impact. We want to help you to make positive environmental behaviour change. Below you'll find all the information you need to get started!"" - Susan Vickers, An Taisce Green Home
The survey takes just a few minutes and then it is up to you to spend as long as you want to on implementing the suggested changes. They should soon become part of your normal routine and so won't take any extra time!
The first step is to decide that you want to take action to run your household more efficiently and more sustainably!
Then go to Green Home and register an account. Once you have set up your account, you can select which county you are based in and whether you are going to work on Green Home as an individual household or if you will join an existing group in your locality. If you want to set up a new group to work on Green Home together, for example your local Tidy Town group, or your housing estate, contact the Green Home Team (Email: [email protected] or Tel: 01-4002218) and they will set up the group on the Green Home site, so the members of your group can join it, and you will all be able to have access to your survey scores.
To help you to stay in touch with your group, to share tips and update everyone on your progress and upcoming events, you can use your ChangeX page and networking tools which will be available once you sign up to start Green Home here
Step 2 is to take the Green Home survey for the first time, to find out what your baseline result is, so you know where there you can make changes to improve. On the Green Home site go to the "Full Green Home Survey" - it only takes about 5 minutes to complete the survey.
When you complete the full Green Home survey, you will get a baseline score of how sustainably you are running your home – in terms of each theme; waste, water, energy & transport. You can then use this information to change some of your behaviour; using the Green Home Action Plans, tips & advice to do this.
If you have signed up as part of a group, you can see both individual and group scores. National scores are also shown, so you can see how you fare with all of the other people across the country who have completed the survey.
Using your baseline survey results to see where there is the most room for improvement, start the process of making small changes in your home in the areas of waste, water, energy & transport. The handy Action Plans for each of these themes give you a tangible checklist that you can work through in your own time. You will also find the most up to date tips, advice and relevant links on ways to reduce waste, conserve water and energy around the house and to use more sustainable travel options.
If you are taking part as part of a group it is a good idea to check in with the other group members to share support, tips and learnings. If you are using your ChangeX page to manage your group, you can share photos and links to stuff that has (or hasn't) worked for you and you can learn from the rest of the group.
At least 2 months after completing the full survey, log back into your Green Home account and take the same survey again. When you have completed it you can compare the new scores with the baseline scores to see how and where you have improved, and of course, give yourself a well deserved pat on the back! Even very small changes in your home will help to reduce emissions and your bills. Whoohoo!
This is an ever evolving process and you can continue to improve the efficiency of your home for years to come using all of the information and tips found on the Green Home site.
Now is the time to spread the word to your neighbours, friends, family and colleagues about your experiences of implementing the Green Plan and the results you have had. The more people that take part, the greater an impact we can collectively have! You are now part of a movement, started from your home!
