As a homeowner, maintaining your home's overall value is important if you ever decide you want to sell. Over time, your home can depreciate if you don't take care to handle routine upkeep and make improvements aimed at boosting its value. While trends can change over the years that may affect what types of home improvement projects will provide the most value, people have become more eco-conscious, which has created a demand for homes that embrace earth-friendly features. If you're interested in boosting your home's value while leveraging the latest in eco-friendly home improvements, here are some of the most popular projects to consider.

Solar 

Solar improvements are popular with environmentally-savvy homeowners. If you want to make a big impact, you can search for solar installers near me to find installers who can outfit your home with solar panels. Solar panels can power an entire home and can be scaled to fit your home's individual power needs. Over time, solar panels can save you thousands of dollars on energy bills and provide your home with a nice boost in value.

Appliances

Old appliances can be a drain on your monthly energy bills. Rather than continue to let them use up valuable energy, replace your dated appliances with new ones that carry the Energy Star label, which means they are better for the environment and your wallet. If you decide to sell your home, you may be able to fetch a higher market value by including energy-efficient appliances in the sale of your home.

Water Fixtures 

Did you know that a large portion of household waste comes from excess water usage? If you have a family who showers or takes baths, dirties piles of laundry and runs the tap often each day, you may be wasting gallons of valuable water each day. Over time, that waste can add up and cost you hundreds of dollars a year that could have been avoided. Your showerhead can be replaced with a low-flow fixture that uses significantly less water with each shower. Toilets can be swapped out for dual flush models that give you flushing options for solid and liquid waste that use less water.

Landscaping

If you spend a lot of your time pruning and caring for your lawn to keep up with Joneses, you may be wasting time, money, and energy that could be doing more harm than good to the environment. This is especially true if you water your lawn to keep it green. Rather than using excess water on your lawn, embrace the idea of a natural, no-mow lawn.

While this may seem like a radical idea, more homeowners are embracing it because it's better for the environment. Managing the upkeep for native landscaping uses less pesticide, gas, and water. A no-mow lawn doesn't mean it has to look unkempt either. In fact, you can plant beautiful hostas and other shrubberies that will look great and boost your curb appeal while being low maintenance.

Local Materials

As people are looking to lower their carbon footprint, the demand for locally-sourced goods and materials for home improvement projects has increased. Whether you're replacing your hardwood floors, installing tile in your kitchen, or building a new deck, if you can manage to find these materials from local sources, you'll do your part to lower your environmental impact. Additionally, potential homebuyers may also find more value in your property because elements of your home were sourced locally.

As we move into a future that recognizes the importance of being mindful of our environmental impact, home improvements that consider the environment will continue to increase in demand. These projects are a great way to blend eco-friendly ideas throughout your home while improving its overall value. As a bonus, you may even see significant savings over time on your monthly energy bills.