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5 Inexpensive Ways To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient This Summer

July 1, 2019 by admin

There’s a lot of information out there on how to make your home more energy efficient. While it’s all meant to be helpful, some of the advice is not the most practical. Not all of us can afford to install solar panels or to buy all new appliances. With that in mind, we’ve brought you a few budget-friendly ways to save on energy. Read on to learn how to start lowering your utility bills.

An energy audit will take stock of your home’s strengths and weaknesses. Image: tommaso79/Shutterstock

Get an energy audit

If you’re unsure of where to start with making your home more energy efficient, having an energy audit done is a great first step. Also known as an energy assessment, these audits are designed to take stock of how much energy your home is currently using, to identify problem areas where energy might be being wasted and to offer suggestions on how to solve those issues.

As for how to get an auditor out to your home, calling your electric or gas utility company may be your best bet. There’s a good chance they’ll either conduct assessments themselves or be able to recommend local auditors. However, if not, the Residential Energy Services Network offers a search directory for qualified professionals. Just remember to always do your research before hiring any service provider to come into your home.

Insulating your attic will help keep cool air where it belongs. Image: Arturs Budkevics/Shutterstock

Insulate your attic

Your attic isn’t just a place to store your excess belongings. It’s also one of the places in your home that’s most likely to let cool air out. This, in turn, causes your HVAC systems to have to work harder, using more energy overall. However, by adding some extra insulation, you can go a long way towards keeping your temperature-controlled air where it belongs.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, you can save an average of 15% on heating and cooling costs — and an average of 11% on total energy costs — by taking the time to properly insulate your home. Here, they especially recommend insulating attics, crawl spaces and floors.

Fixing drafty doors and windows will keep you more comfortable indoors and help you save big. Image: Ray B Stone/Shutterstock

Seal drafty doors and windows

In addition to insulating the attic, you can also take care of any drafty doors and windows that might be allowing cool air to escape your home. While an energy auditor will be able to identify these “cold spots” during your assessment, you can DIY this task just by paying attention to where you can feel drafts coming through on windy days.

As far as how to do the sealing, this is definitely one home maintenance task where you won’t need to call in a professional. Adhesive sealing strips are sold at nearly every home improvement store. Once you have the strips in hand, it’s simply a matter of measuring the area you need to seal, cutting the strip to size and applying it securely.

Change out your light bulbs for newer, energy-efficient varieties. Image: New Africa/Shutterstock

Change your light bulbs

If you can’t afford to splurge on a new energy-efficient appliance package or to upgrade to solar panels, replacing the light bulbs in your home is one of the fastest and most affordable ways to make a difference in your energy usage. This move can help you save around 5% on your total energy bills.

In terms of which lighting options offer the biggest savings, you have three choices:

Halogen incandescents: Halogen incandescents are popular bulbs because they come in a wide range of shapes and colors. In addition, they tend to work well with dimmer switches. However, while they do meet the minimum energy-efficiency standard, they are not the most efficient option that’s currently available on the market.
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs): CFLs are where you really start to see energy savings. These bulbs use about one-fourth the energy of traditional incandescent options. They also are said to last up to ten times as long. While these bulbs did not offer a lot of variety when they first came out, they are starting to become available in more shades and colors.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs): Though LED lights have been traditionally used in outdoor applications, they are becoming more commonplace in indoor settings. LEDs use only 20% to 25% of the energy and last 15 to 25 times longer than the traditional incandescent bulbs they replace. They also use 25% to 30% of the energy and last 8 to 25 times longer than halogen incandescents.

Plugged-in electronics like coffee makers can use up a lot of unnecessary energy. Image: rawf8/Shutterstock

Unplug energy vampires

This last tip is more of an ongoing effort than a one-time task. Though it may be convenient to leave electronics plugged in even when you’re not using them, the reality is that unless they are certified as energy-saving, they are likely wasting energy. Directenergy.com estimates that you can save $100 to $200 per year simply by unplugging these devices when they’re not in use.

The post 5 Inexpensive Ways To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient This Summer appeared first on Freshome.com.

How to Make Sure Your Home Stays Energy Efficient this Summer

May 21, 2019 by admin

For many of us, summer has become synonymous with high energy bills. However, even if you’re one of those people who has to have their AC running at all times, there are things that you can do to cut down on energy costs. To that end, we’ve created the following guide. Below is a list of surprisingly simple tips that you can use to ensure that your home stays energy efficient this summer. Don’t go into the warmer months without it.

Make sure to have your HVAC system inspected seasonally. Image: Christian Delbert/Shutterstock

Optimize your HVAC

The first step that every homeowner should take toward making sure their home is energy efficient is to keep their HVAC system in good shape. The easiest way to do that is to make the effort to keep up with the HVAC maintenance schedule. While that’s truly a year-round effort, the summer months are all about two tasks. First, have an HVAC professional perform a seasonal check-up. Second, make sure you change the air filter regularly.

Do your part, too. Cleaning the filter ensures that dust and dirt don’t get trapped in the components of your HVAC unit. They can cause an unnecessary amount of wear and tear on the system.

After the inspection is over and new filters are in place, you can further optimize your HVAC system by setting the thermostat for the season. While it may be tempting to adjust the temperature in accordance with the weather, don’t. Doing so actually expends more energy and can raise your cooling bills. Instead, experts recommend setting the system at a manageable temperature each season and then leaving it alone.

Seal up your attic and windows. Image: onzon/Shutterstock

Seal up your home

You’re probably used to hearing about sealing up cracks and air leaks in your home in conjunction with advice on how to keep your home warmer during the winter months. While this maneuver will help keep warm air inside your home, it will also help keep the cool air where it belongs. The reality is, if all the cool air is escaping your home, your HVAC system has to work that much harder. If the cool air stays put, however, your system will be able to shut off sooner, saving you on energy costs.

Ideally, a professional will help you detect the areas where air is leaking from your home. However, if you don’t want to make that level of a commitment just yet, you can do some of this work yourself. Simply make sure that your attic is properly insulated and use caulk or weatherstripping to create a proper seal on all your doors and windows.

Put your ceiling fan to work. Image: JR-stock/Shutterstock

Fan yourself

Though it may seem simple, one of the easiest ways to keep yourself cool in the summer is to invest in a high-quality ceiling fan. While ceiling fans don’t directly cool the air, they work well with your AC by helping to circulate the cool air faster. According to the Department of Energy, using ceiling fans allows you to set your thermostat up to four degrees higher, which will help save money.

The key to helping a ceiling fan do its job is to pay attention to the direction that the air is flowing. Most fans have both a “clockwise” and “counterclockwise” setting. In the summertime, you want the blades on your fan to run counterclockwise. That way, they push the cool air back down towards you. The trick for determining if the fan is set properly is simply to stand under the fan while it’s on and see if you feel a breeze. If you do, it’s set correctly. If not, all you need to do is get a ladder and switch the setting.

Limit the use of heat-generating appliances like the oven. Image: New Africa/Shutterstock

Watch out for heat-generating appliances and lighting

Did you know that only 10 to 15 percent of the electricity that incandescent lightbulbs consume is used to create light? The remainder is turned into heat. Fortunately, you can combat these percentages by using newer, energy efficient lightbulbs, which run cooler. Additionally, turning off any lights that you aren’t using helps to stop the creation of any excess heat.

Like lighting, the electronics in your home can also create excess heat energy. Appliances like your washing machine, dishwasher and oven are the biggest culprits. You can give yourself a leg up by investing in certified, energy efficient models of these products. However, the best way to save on energy is to avoid using these appliances on hotter days. Wait until it cools down a little to do that laundry and look into alternative cooking methods like grilling.

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Sneaky Sustainability: 7 Ways to Design a More Efficient Home

January 29, 2019 by admin

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If you’re interested in building a more sustainable, eco-friendly home, you probably already know most of the basics: installing solar panels for power, opting for water-saving fixtures in the bathroom, you know the drill. But while that takes care of some of the biggest uses of power and water, you might be overlooking some of the smaller factors. Fixtures, solar panels and sustainable landscaping can definitely reduce your environmental impact, but the very design of your home could help you shrink that impact even more. Some of the smartest ways to increase sustainability might actually be the sum of a few small changes to your home’s design. Consider these sneaky sustainability hacks for a more energy efficient home.

A two-story home is often more energy efficient. Image: Omni Customs

1. Size Matters

It’s no secret that a smaller home is typically more energy efficient than a larger one. But it might not be just the size of the home, but how you use it. Consider two homes of the same square footage: one is 2,000 square feet on one level and the other is two levels, with 1,000 square feet on each. Which is the more efficient home? Stacking your square footage is almost always more energy efficient than a sprawling space, which costs more to heat and power.

Think about how much space you need and how it can be configured for energy savings. If you can get everything you want in a smaller, more compact footprint, it’ll be more sustainable in the long run.

2. Think Passive

Your mother-in-law might be passive aggressive, but an energy efficient home should be just plain passive. Passive design means creating a home that can basically take care of itself. When your home is designed so that it takes in the most sunlight during the winter, you can spend less on heating. The same home can offer shades to draw against hot summer sun, or windows that are situated for a cool breeze. Think of the ways you can decrease your home’s energy expenditure simply by where it sits on your lot or its layout.

Think about shade trees to keep your home cool. Image: 186 Lighting Design

3. Smart Landscaping

When talking about landscaping for sustainability, you’re usually referring to plants and grass that naturally do well in your home’s climate. It’s definitely a great way to save money on water and energy, but you can also use landscaping for even more sneaky sustainability. Simply plantings trees so they provide your home with natural shade and coverage helps you save on energy costs. Choose a leafy deciduous for hotter climates and you won’t need to crank up your A/C. Just make sure you plant trees where they’ll block sun in the summer, yet allow the sun to keep your home warmer in the winter.

4. Reclaim and Recycle

Building a home isn’t always the most eco-friendly way to procure a place to live. Even if you’re designing for a sustainable space, having new materials manufactured and delivered to your building lot requires a lot of energy. Thinking about how you source various materials can help you lessen the environmental burden. Choosing materials that are recycled or reclaimed from other projects reduces your environmental impact while giving every inch of your home more character. You can check with local builders, scour online classifieds and even check out demo projects to see if you can find solid materials with life left in them. If not, choose materials created from recycled goods whenever your contractors offer the option. Your environmental footprint will thank you for it.

Opt for natural light whenever possible. Image: Art of Architecture

5. Let in the Light

Indoor lighting can definitely drain you when it comes to energy costs. Besides a hefty electric bill, you’re also left with the burden of buying and swapping out bulbs. Instead, ask your architect to design your home for optimal natural lighting. It’s not just a question of installing windows, but utilizing your home’s orientation to make sure you get more light without sacrificing heating or cooling.

You can also sneak in sustainability by opting for LED fixtures and bulbs. Don’t worry about sacrificing ambiance: new-school LED bulbs can cast a natural, warm light. They’ll be more expensive up front but last much longer than traditional bulbs. What’s more, they’re cheaper to use because they consume less electricity.

6. Home Automation

Making your home a smart home can seem like an unnecessary expense. If your goal is a more efficient space, however, you might want to rethink technology’s role. Home automation puts some of your home’s energy-wasting processes on autopilot. The result? A more efficient home that adjusts itself when necessary. A smart thermostat can adjust the temperature based on when you spend time at home. Smart blinds can close themselves to block out hot sun in the middle of the day. Home automation isn’t just about convenience. It can create a space that is hyper-efficient and easy on your wallet.

Utilize organization for smaller, smarter spaces. Image: Tim Moss

7. Organization Solutions

An organized home means everything has a place. And when everything has a place, you can use less space storing your stuff. Smart organization solutions allow you to reduce the size of your home and storage space so you make less of an environmental impact. Whether it’s installing outlets in some of your most-used cupboards and drawers or building shelves into tight corners, think about organization from a sustainability point of view. Shelving, cabinets, attic spaces and closets can be retooled so they take up less room and store more stuff for a more efficient home.

When designing a more sustainable home, it’s important to think about how you’ll live in the space. Solar panels and energy-efficient appliances are great, but day-to-day sustainability might come from a smaller master bedroom or better kitchen windows. By working with your architect, you can design a space that is beautiful, functional and energy efficient.

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