1. Recycling & Composting
One of the first and simplest 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, it may be as easy as requesting a recycling bin and then showing your tenant which items belong in it. Also, start providing a composting bin on the property so that your tenants can create clean fertilizer for the landscaping. Not only will you save on landscaping costs, but your tenant may enjoy having an alternative to throwing excess food away.
2. Upcycling
In addition to recycling, upcycling is an efficient way to reduce waste and protect the environment, too. Upcycling is simply using items, such as empty glass jars from jelly or pickles, for another purpose. As an example, glass jars make wonderful food storage containers, flower vases, light fixtures, or pen holders. As the property owner, you can do several things to reuse items instead of buying new or throwing things away. To get your tenants on board, suggest some fun upcycling ideas and perhaps an incentive to participate.
3. Install Smart Air Conditioning
One more effective method to make your rental property helpful to the environment (and your utility bills) is to switch 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, for a more favorable result, consider installing a smart thermostat. Programmable thermostats are great energy savers since they can assure that the air conditioning is only running when people are home. Consider offering your tenant a few steps to make the air conditioning run more efficiently, like closing doors and windows while it is on and changing the filters regularly.
4. Use LED Light Bulbs
To conserve even more energy (and the environment), change your rental’s light bulbs to efficient LED bulbs. LED bulbs are long-lasting and energy-efficient, meaning that they will reduce energy use in the home and need to be changed much less often, unlike traditional light bulbs. Plus, make sure to install LED light bulbs in areas where lights are used over long periods of time, like porch lights or other frequently used lights.
5. Water Your Lawn at Night
Lastly, using less water is the best way to impact the environment and your utility bills positively. For maximum efficiency and absorption, water your rental property’s lawn in the nighttime. When you water during the day, a great amount of that water is lost to evaporation. But at night, more water reaches the roots of the plants and makes watering much more effective. If you have an automatic sprinkler system, this is as easy as adjusting the watering times. As another option, 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 Eden Prairie property managers at Real Property Management Viking! Contact us online or call 612-442-8850 to get started.