A Guide to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Do your energy bills keep going up? Don’t blame the energy companies; the issue might be you. If you invest some time and money into making your home energy efficient, it will save you a lot of money in the long run.

Here are some quick and easy to follow steps to make your home more energy efficient. These tips will help you keep your energy bills lower without needing you to make any massive changes.

Regularly Clean Your HVAC

The HVAC system is responsible for cooling and warming your home thanks to circulated air. However, over time, these systems trap dirt, dust, and allergens, which affects the quality of your air and hinders the efficiency of your HVAC unit.

If these contaminants accumulate your unit can start to experience everything from simple airflow issues to full-scale mechanical breakdown, costing you a lot of money.

You can prevent this by changing your HVAC units filter once every month. It’s an effective way to keep your system healthy and energy-efficient.

Clean filters remove the dirt build-up and improve airflow. This assures your HVAC unit doesn’t suffer from much wear and tear.

Keeping Your Appliances Efficient

Appliances like your washer, dryer, and refrigerator have moving parts, and they are at a high risk of breakdown, even from normal usage. Worn parts can affect the ability of your appliance to work efficiently.

Try to perform preventative maintenance on a routine. This will help keep appliances and their parts in top shape.

For example, you will need to clean dry vents to keep them from overheating. Refrigerators lose energy via leaking door seals. If your AC has dirty filters, it will force it to use even more energy.

Tankless Water Heater

Keeping water heated and stored will increase your energy bills. This hike will cost you a lot without a single benefit. So control this loss by using a tankless water system.

The installation and venting might cost you, but it’s a worthwhile investment as it will control your heat and energy loss.

Check Window Seals

Seals keep outside air from entering and exiting the house. If your seals are old and inefficient, it will cause your HVAC system to work extra hard to maintain temperatures. This increases your energy expenditure. So it's a good idea to get your seals checked at least once every year.

During the inspection, you should take a walk outside your home and look for signs of damage. These signs are crake and broken seals. Seals that have gaps in it need to be replaced immediately, or it will increase your energy bills in the long run.

Insulation

Just like the window seals, you have to check the insulation levels of your home at least once every year. This will help you find the places with worn-out insulation and where you are losing energy. If you have an attic, inspect the height of insulation throughout the space. Check your wall insulation by removing outlet covers.

Call an insulation contractor to take a look around your house and fix the bad patches. This will make sure your HVAC system runs with its full efficiency by minimizing the loss of energy through your walls.

Inspect Air Ducts

Speaking of energy and insulation, you can’t rule out your air ducts. They play an important role in the efficiency of your HVAC unit.

If you have curved air ducts, contaminants can impede your airflow as they accumulate. This leads to loss of energy and bad air quality.

To keep this build-up from happening, contact an HVAC specialist to inspect and clean your ductwork.

Energy Efficient Practices

Here are a few ways to control heat and energy consumption for your home:

• Keep the thermostat at 68 degrees in winter and 78 degrees in summer.
• Turn the thermostat 7-10 degrees back when you are not home or sleeping. Doing so for 8 hours a day can help save up to 10% of energy every month.
• Use a programmable thermostat with weather compensators; it helps you to manage the thermostat and control the temperature with ease.

Lighting Options

It’s important to choose the right lighting options for your home. Fluorescent lights are popular these days, but LED options are more energy efficient.

These release more light, no heat. This makes them more efficient than most other lighting options available.

Home Orientation

When it comes to building an energy efficient house, don't forget about the orientation and location of windows. Have southern facing windows, will reduce the heat your house absorbs in warmer months and keep it warmer in the winter.

Try to Generate Energy

Energy costs are higher than ever, and they will continue to rise in the future. Energy efficient homes don’t mean you have to use the least amount of energy possible. It means you can generate energy on your own.

Today, there are various ways for you to generate energy. For instance, you can use solar panels and PV thermal systems to produce your energy. It’s doable, but you need to perform your research before investing your money.

First consider your orientation, size, and other facts before you do anything. You should know the amount of effort, time, and money that goes into installing solar panels. This research will help you make a well-informed decision and keep things from going south.