1. Recycling & Composting
One of the initial and straightforward things you can do to make your rental home more environmentally conscious is to encourage your tenant to recycle and compost their food waste. If your city or county offers a recycling program, beginning may be as easy as requesting a recycling bin and then showing your tenant which items are put in it. Additionally, think about providing a composting bin on the property that your tenants can use to generate clean fertilizer for the landscaping. Not only will you save on landscaping costs, but your tenant may enjoy having an option to throwing excess food away.
2. Upcycling
Apart from the recycling, upcycling is a smart idea to reduce waste and protect the environment, too. Upcycling is just using items, such as empty glass jars from jelly or pickles, for another purpose. As an example, glass jars make great food storage containers, flower vases, light fixtures, or pen holders. As the property owner, you can do a lot to reuse items instead of buying new or dispose of them. To get your tenants on board, furnish them with some fun upcycling ideas and maybe an incentive to take part.
3. Install Smart Air Conditioning
Another smart idea to make your rental property helpful to the environment (and your utility bills) is to change how much and how often your tenant runs the air conditioning. For instance, simply encouraging your tenant to increase their thermostat by one or two degrees can save energy. Otherwise, consider installing a smart thermostat for an even bigger positive benefit. Programmable thermostats are great energy savers because they can guarantee that the air conditioning is only running when people are home. Start providing your tenant some advice to make the air conditioning operate more efficiently, like closing doors and windows while it is on and changing the filters habitually.
4. Use LED Light Bulbs
To conserve a lot of energy (and the environment), change your rental’s light bulbs to efficient LED bulbs. LED bulbs are long-lasting and energy-efficient, which indicates that they will reduce energy use in the home and need to be changed a lot less often in contrast to traditional light bulbs. Bear in mind to position LED light bulbs in areas where lights are used over long periods of time, including porch lights or other frequently used lights.
5. Water Your Lawn at Night
After all, using less water is an extraordinary method to positively impact the environment and your utility bills. For maximum efficiency and absorption, water your rental property’s lawn around evening time. When you water during the day, loads of that water is lost to evaporation. But at night, more water reaches the plants’ roots, making watering much more effective. If you possess an automatic sprinkler system, this is as easy as adjusting the watering times. Or else, encourage your tenant to be environmentally friendly by watering the lawn after sunset or before sunrise.
If you enjoy reading our articles with helpful rental management tips, imagine how much you’ll like working with the Suffolk property managers at Real Property Management Hampton Roads! Contact us online or call 757-395-4274 to get started.