Increase the Efficiency of Your Home
The global warming, rising energy costs and living in the green lifestyle becomes the ultimate discussion among people nowadays. Many people become aware on how efficient their house is and what are the steps that can help to make their house function better. Environment becomes their big concern and they mostly start with small steps of reducing activities that can cause the release of the green house gasses. Making your home more efficient not only will help you to save and conserve the environment but also save your energy bills as well. Here are the steps on how to make your house more efficient.
You will need:
- Weatherstrip
- Metal duct tape
- Blanket for water tank
- Caulk
- Furnance filter
- Compact fluorescent light bulb
Steps:
- Switching off your light bulbs is the easiest way to save energy. You can change your incandescent lights with a compact fluorescent light bulb or CFL. Usually these CFL bulbs come with the harsh yellow color but nowadays the newer types are available in a nicer looking color.
- The CFL bulbs can lasts for 10,000 hours rather than the 1,000 hours of incandescent light. Although, you have to pay more for CFL bulbs than the incandescent bulbs, it is a good investment so to save your money for the electricity bill. Keep the lights off when they are not needed. Especially during the summer, it will keep the room even cooler.
- A general rule that you can follow is to turn off the fluorescent light if you leave a room for more than 15 minutes. The CFL is energy efficient as it is more cost effective to keep the light on than turn it off.
- Buy home appliances such as dishwasher, refrigerator and hot water heater which is energy efficient. Energy Star refrigerator cost less per year than a normal one. Standby features that come with TV, CD player and cable box can consume more energy. Make sure that you have unplugged chargers such as IPOD, battery chargers and cell phone as they will continue to use energy when they are still plugged in.
- Air leakage and lack of insulation are the major causes of energy inefficiency in most houses. During the summer, insulation will help to make the ceilings, floors and walls cooler and warmer in the winter.
- There are different types of insulation which is batt, blankets, low density foam and loose fill.
- If you have a furnace which is already aged or you just decided to have this feature to your home, opt for a high-efficiency system. This new system will reduce the heating costs up to 50 percent compared to 10 to 15 years of old furnaces.
- Change the filters on forced air systems every once a month during the heating season to save more energy. During the winter, lower your thermostat 1 degree to save up to 3 percent of your heating fuel.
- Replace caulking and weather stripping around windows, doors and other areas to improve the efficiency.
Additional Reading:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2208907_more-energy-efficient-save-money.html
Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mkosut/3631119830/
