Nowadays, environmental issues have become a hot topic in the society. Everyone is worried about the Mother’s Earth and man’s destructive effect on it. It was once thought to be the the inevitable price of modernization and industrialization. Media and press are widely discussed on the ways to conserve the environment. Henry David Thoreau, the author of Familiar Letter of Henry David Thoreau say, “what’s the use of a fine house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?”. Today, they slowly gaining momentum on solving this problem. They come with the idea to construct houses with Green homes concept. Green homes is a house that is built or renovated in order to improve the way that homebuilding site to use water, energy and material efficiently. Thus, it helps to reduce the impact on human health and the environment. Using non-toxic paint and avoid phantom load are the examples of green home feature.

There was a time when painting a room in our home meaning we have to open all the windows, switch on the fan and left the roomuntil the paint dry just to avoid inhaling the chemical smells. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), average of home’s interior air is three time more polluted than outdoor air. From their research, interior paints are the prime suspect causes the indoor air pollution. Thankfully, that day was over. These day, many major paint brands offer low and non-VOC paint. VOC is a harmful chemicals as it can contribute health problems such as cancer, sick building syndrome, breathing difficulties and blurred vision. These kind of paints are safe to use around the chemical sensitive, asthma suffer, pregnant woman, kids and pets as it contained ingredient from natural sources. As a result, we can have a better air quality in the house.. Yolo Colourhouse, Mythic Paint, Earthborn Paint are the brand that offer non-VOC paint.

Do you know you may have phantom in your house? Not the ghost you see in the movie or during the holloween, but the energy phantom. Phantom load is any device that consume electricity when turned off but still plugged into an outlet. If you look closely in every corner of your house, you will notice many phantom lurking especially in the entertainment center. When you turn off the television, it still draw energy out. DVD players, satellite boxes and video game consoles also use energy turned off. Altogether, phantom energy Can account for about 10 percent of an individual home’s electricity use. So, to minimize the usage of phantom energy we have to unplugged electrical appliance that are unused, buy ENERGY STAR equipment and use smart strips. Instead of saving energy usage, this way also save money and reduce the emmision of greenhouse gases from the sources.

In the nutshell, our environment has been threatened by pollution

that have been made by us. “When we heal the earth, we heal ourselves”-David Orr. Therefore, we should make our first move by using non-toxic paint and avoiding phantom load. We are the people who borrow the land for a short term from the next generation. Don’t let our kids and grandchildren suffer because of our action today. After all, nature is not a place for us to visit, it is our home.