Four Do It Yourself Home Environmental Projects

People are becoming more environmentally aware every day, and as they do that they are thinking more about how to ply their skills in a way that can make a difference. Do it yourself types of people are particularly blessed in this regard, since they can undertake a wide variety of projects themselves and save a lot of money. But even if you’re not Mr. Fix-It, you can still find at least a couple of projects that are very easy to do yourself with some patience and perhaps a good manual.

Check out these four possible do-it-yourself projects to help you go green, which vary in difficulty from easy to challenging:

1) Build a composting system. Anybody can build a composter without having to buy a fancy one. Find yourself a big container like a garbage can with a lid. Punch holes around the sides of it to allow oxygen to enter the compost pile. Then you layer your “green” and “brown” waste from your kitchen or backyard into the bin, set it out in a sunny spot, and wait. If you want, you can add compost starter but it is not necessary. If you’re patient and wait a few months you will be rewarded with incredibly rich black humus for which your garden will thank you. Better yet, you are keeping a large amount of debris out of landfills and using it in a more environmentally friendly way.

2) Insulate and weatherstrip your house. Weatherstripping is a relatively easy task, while insulation may be more difficult depending on how your house is constructed and whether your walls and attic are finished or not. Weatherstripping involves adding things like foam strips or thin layers of wood with rubber seals to the areas around your doors and windows to keep the cold out in winter and the heat out in summer. Taking these steps makes a huge difference in your energy bill, which is very environmentally friendly in that you’re using less fossil fuels.

3) Build a rain barrel system. The concept is simple, in that you buy large rain barrels and put them under your gutters to collect water. You then distribute that water to your garden when necessary instead of using a faucet. In practice, there are a few complications. For example, you may want to stop water collection when winter arrives, to avoid frozen water in the barrel. You can remove the barrel, but it might be too heavy. Alternatively, there are systems on the market that allow you to switch back and forth between sending water to the barrel and sending it to the ground by the flip of a lever. They can be fairly easy to install, and make it easy to manage your water flow without having to move a heavy barrel around.

4) Build your own solar panels. This project is for the more intrepid do it yourself types, but is one of the most eco friendly projects you can ever undertake. What could beat reducing our reliance on dirty fossil fuels and using the energy of the sun instead? You may decide to build a single panel, or an entire array for your home’s roof. Solar panel prices have plummeted in recent years, making them much more affordable. Using a contractor for installation can still be expensive, so some people opt to do the work themselves. Various step-by-step manuals exist on the Internet for building a simple solar panel array for as little as $200 that can help you get some or all of your power from the sun instead of the power company.

These four ideas, and many others, can be undertaken with a bit of elbow grease and some good instructions for a fraction of the price it would take to buy or install a finished product. Not all of these projects are for everyone–but if you think yourself willing and able, you can save lots of money and do good for the environment by tackling these tasks yourself.

Devlin Gerson writes for EcoVillageGreen.com. Looking to take on a DIY solar panel project? EcoVillageGreen reviews three top guides on how to complete your own DIY solar panels.