Building an eco-friendly house can be overwhelming at first. At my first try I thought I did a pretty good job, using a lot of the green eco footprint items. But the fact is, the lot had a neutral footprint in the end. What did I do wrong? So I took a deepdive what objects you should use and which ones you shouldn’t.
In The Sims 4 Eco Lifestyle you have 3 stages of the eco footprint: Green Neutral and Industrial. In this guide we’re going to help you to make your lot as eco-friendly as possible. By upgrading your own home you will contribute to a Green Eco Footprint for your neighborhood. So it’s important that you not only enact neighborhood action plans but also put time and energy into making your home eco-friendly.
A Green Eco Footprint in the neighborhood brings fresh air, a healthy atmosphere, and increased utility production of Solar Panels, Wind Turbines and Dew Collectors. An eco friendly house in The Sims 4 means that your bills will be much lower and the impact on the neighborhood’s pollution will be more positive.
If you build your house eco-friendly enough, you can make a big difference on the neighborhood’s eco footprint.
Choose the Most Helpful Lot Traits
Certain lot traits may also contribute to water or power generation or usage.
| Eco Lot This lot moves toward eco-friendliness faster than others. |
| Geothermal Natural heating lowers utility bills by generating power, and keeps any pools warm. |
| Natural Well Spring water runs under this lot, reducing utility bills and offering fresh, clean water from the tap. |
| Off-the-Grid This lot is not connected to the utility grid, and most objects that use power or water will not function as expected. Can your Sims survive without the comforts of plumbing and electricity? Natural living does have it’s advantages, such as no utility bills! |
Other Lot trait that are also very helpful but have less impact are:
- Great Soil
Gardening just seems to go really well here. - Homey
The homey vibe helps Sims quickly master the domestic arts of Cooking, Mixology, Handiness and Gardening. - Peace And Quiet
Something about this lot makes it great for reading, Sims understand more, so they gain skill faster from reading, and Tense moods go away faster.
How can I see if an object counts towards a Green Eco Footprint
To see if an object will produce or consume utility, hover over an object in the Buy Catalog. The tooltip will indicate if that object has a Power or Water Production/Consumption Rating. To make it easier for you we’ve gathered a lot of those objects below.
Useful objects for an Eco-Friendly home
Some build/buy objects, wall patterns and floor patterns will count towards a green eco footprint. Indoor objects such as chairs, tables, bookcases and even potted plants won’t help with a green eco footprint so be creative with the interior because it doesn’t matter what object you’ll place. Because we can’t filter them in the game we made a list with the most important objects to use on your lot. You can check your eco footprint on every item in build and buy mode.
Add the Correct Roofs Patterns
Some roofs will count towards a greener eco footprint and some are very useful to use for water or power production.
Roofs that will count towards a green eco footprint are:
Gravel, straw, clay tiles, glass and heavy metal panels.
Roofs that generate water or power are:
Grass (water utility) and solar tile roof (power)
Add Natural Columns
Yes, even columns can help make the lot a bit more greener. Try placing natural wooden columns and the Warehouse Living Column from the Eco Lifestyle pack.
Place Green Fences
Most fences are neutral and won’t help anything but some of them will have that green eco footprint buff. For example: natural wooden fences, fences from Eco Living and hedges.
Planting Trees, Shrubs and Flowers
Almost every tree, scrub or flower available in the game will help you towards a green eco footprint. Most of them will give you Green Eco Footprint +2. So place a lot of them on your lot! The natural toilet bushes also help.
Eco-Friendly Windows and Doors
Most natural wooden windows and doors have a positive effect. Like the windows from The Sims 4 Jungle Adventures, Island Living and of course Eco Lifestyle.
Pick the perfect Wall and Floor Patterns
Patterns from packs such as Island Living and Eco Lifestyle will contribute to a greener lifestyle. Some wooden floor and also rock and stone wall patterns will help too. Be careful with choosing wall patterns because a lot of them count towards an industrial eco footprint.
Use Bicycles
Placing them on your lot actually helps towards a green eco footprint.
Build a Garden
You are now able to build a more functional garden in this new expansion pack. This includes vertical and wall gardens! More plants, less space! Every plant you put in the soil will count towards a greener and eco friendly garden. This is also very helpful to produce your own soy, wax, cruelty-free meat, fruits and vegetables.
Objects that have no impact that actually should
Some objects you think that will help towards a green eco footprint, but that actually don’t give the correct benefit you’ll need. Outdoor wall sculptures like wall ivy, indoor plants or wall gardens.
Objects that are very useful to have but don’t seem to have an impact on the environment are the Recycler and the Fabricator. So feel free to use those.
Objects you shouldn’t place
All objects that are marked as industrial are a very logical choice not to build, but there are some objects that have a hidden pollution problem. The objects that are very polluting are bonfires, outdoor warming lamps, water or power generators, fireplaces and also rocket ships. Launching a rocket ship will pollute the air.
Also be careful with the light placement. You should pick as many off the grid light sources as you can on your lot to lower the power consumption rating. Torches and braziers are actually a no-go since they count towards the pollution.
Energy Efficient Objects
There are now a variety of Water and Power utility production objects that can be purchased from Build Mode. Water and Power generated from these objects can be used to help supplement the cost of utility on Bills. These objects will also allow a household to operate with utilities when utilities are shut off.
If a household generates more power or water utility than is consumed, excess utility may be sold. This can be done by viewing the bills and utilities menu on either the mailbox or the weekly bills statement. Excess utility is set to auto-sell by default, but it may also be stored for future use. Preference may be selected in the bills & utilities menu.
Objects that Generate Green Power
These objects generate power and count towards a green eco footprint. The Wind turbines are the most efficient but take up a bit more space as the solar panels.
- Solar Panels
- Wind Turbines
- Solar Tile Roof pattern
Objects that Generate Clean Water
Do not use the Water generator, this will count towards an industrial eco footprint. Object that you can use:
- Dew Collectors
- Grass Roof pattern
Bill Discount Objects
To lower your utility bills place these objects:
- Doors and Windows from Eco Lifestyle
- Fences from Eco Lifestyle
- Columns from Eco Lifestyle
- Wall patterns form Eco Lifestyle
Keeping track of your eco footprint score
It’s really difficult while building to see what your eco footprint scrote is. The only way to tell is going to the world map, toggle the eco footprint mode on top of your screen and checking the icon on your lot.
Upgrade appliances to conserve power
You can upgrade appliances to be more efficient. Many plumbing items can be upgraded with a water recycler or a H20 Siphoner. You can even make most plumbing objects off the grid with the biofuel upgrade from the insect houses. Electronics can be upgraded to make them more power efficient. This will lower the industrial eco footprint. For these upgrades you need Eco Upgrade Parts. Gather some bits and pieces at the recycler and use the Fabricator to make those eco upgrade parts.
