The green home improvement movement is very strong these days. It seems that no matter which direction you look, you’ll find some new article being written about it. Some of the articles are written by people that are very gung-ho about ecologically friendly home improvement. There is nothing wrong with that. However, you need to remember that the main purpose of DIY is the creation of projects such that you can save money in the process. This is the main purpose of the project and for that reason you should try to include green strategies where they are in common with the money-saving strategies rather than at odds with them.
An example of a green home improvement project that would be in common with a money-saving DIY strategy would be the replacement of incandescent light bulbs in your house. These light bulbs are the classic ones that people have been using for many years now. While they are certainly cheaper in the short term, they are less efficient with both energy and heat and therefore are far more expensive over the long term. If you replaced those light bulbs with ones that were fluorescent or had other forms of lighting, what you would very quickly discover is that you would save money both on energy and on the purchase of light bulbs since the new ones would last longer due to the better efficiency.
However, not all green home improvement projects are going to show these types of financial gains. Things like windmill, geothermal and solar panel installation, while certainly great investments for the long term, are nevertheless not the greatest short term or money-saving investments that you could make. In fact, with the technology still in the process of being developed in a big way, you could very well lose money on the first generation solar and wind installations that you do. This is less likely with the geothermal earth energy options, but those usually require huge up front funds. Keep in mind as well that many of these green projects are not really suitable for DIY, forcing you to spend even more money if you want them to take place.
This is not to disparage the green home improvement movement. In fact, we applaud anyone that cares enough about the Earth in order to actually go out and do something about it in home improvement terms. But as someone that is turning to DIY in an attempt to save money during a recession, it would be remiss of us not to point out that going for some of the green projects would essentially wipe out any financial gains you felt from the rest of your DIY projects. Therefore, you should seriously consider avoiding many of these projects until after the recessionary times have passed.
If you feel conflicted about the green home improvement projects mentioned above, you can rest assured that you are not alone. Lots of debate about the merits versus costs of installing these types of equipment during a recession can be found on the internet. We have given you our view, but in the end the only one that matters is yours.
Photo Credits: Hitchster
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