How to make your garden office eco-friendly

If you’ve invested in a beautiful office from home, you’ll want to ensure you can enjoy your new space as fully as possible. One great way to do this is to create a working environment that is healthy, safe, relaxing and conducive to productivity whilst being environmentally friendly and sustainable.

Image Credit

There are plenty of ways to make garden offices fulfil these needs, and most simply require a little forward planning at the design and decoration stage. Remember that being eco-friendly is not just good for the environment; it is also good for your wallet as it helps keep your bills low and your carbon footprint down.

Choosing materials

Garden offices are often made out of wood and this is a great, eco-friendly choice if you pick a sustainably sourced wood from a cyclical and accredited forestry operation. The plantation must be sustainable and should ideally come from a local source to reduce transportation emissions. Make sure you use sufficient insulation so you don’t need to waste energy heating the office.

Think about energy

The most eco-friendly garden offices will limit the use of energy-intensive devices such as electric heaters and install a wood burning stove instead. Use LED light bulbs instead of expensive halogens. Try installing underfloor heating using a ground source heat pump for radiant underfloor warmth that uses the natural heat from the earth. Include large windows to encourage natural light and ensure that they have good thermal properties.

Image Credit

Solar PV installations on the roof can also be good for renewable energy generation. These can save you money whilst earning you an additional income.

Consider installing a composter in the garden and making sure that your teabags are recycled to help fertilise the garden!

Storage and planning

The best garden office designs will be carefully planned to minimise waste and maximise efficiency and storage. Build in integrated and hidden storage solutions, such as under-table and under-chair drawers and cupboards. Use storage cubes that can double up as occasional tables. Aim to move to a paperless office model to reduce the amount of paper and printing materials you need along with the ongoing physical storage.

Together these changes will stack up and help ensure that your garden office is as environmentally friendly as it is enjoyable to work in.