Heating, cooling, and lighting your home require significant amounts of energy consumption; making your house more energy-efficient is an excellent way to cut back consumption and save money.
No matter if you are remodeling an existing home or starting from scratch, there are various strategies you can employ to make it more energy efficient. Here are a few ideas to get you going:
1. Insulate Your Home
Insulation upgrades can be one of the most cost-effective investments you make for your home, providing warmth in winter and cooling during the summer, cutting energy costs, and protecting the environment.
Start in your attic for optimal results – it will prevent heat escaping through the roof in winter and hot air leaking in through ceilings, walls, and floor cavities during summer.
Walls should also be properly insulated to protect them against drafts and cold drafts, with insulation options including fiberglass batts, wet applied cellulose and spray foam being among the most widely available choices.
Old houses often lack sufficient insulation. A blower door test should be performed prior to installing new insulation, in order to identify air leakage areas which you can seal by caulking and other means.
2. Install a Tankless Water Heater
Tankless water heaters can be an excellent long-term investment that will reduce energy use in your home and save money in energy costs. Although upfront costs are higher, energy bill savings quickly offset any initial outlays.
Selecting the right gas tankless water heater size depends on your household’s water consumption and flow rates, but an experienced plumber can assist in helping determine which size best meets your needs.
Before reconnecting the power to your tankless water heater, bleed its system by opening all hot water outlets to remove air and help improve performance. Follow your user manual when making electrical connections and check that every wire connects correctly; have an expert examine its installation before turning back on power to the unit.
3. Upgrade Your Appliances
Minor adjustments can add up to significant savings on energy bills. Consider upgrading older appliances with more energy-efficient models, like an Energy Star refrigerator using less power or an 86% more efficient tankless water heater.
Lowering your electricity usage is also possible through switching to lighting that uses less energy, such as LED bulbs or CFLs, installing dimmers and occupancy sensors to control lighting in your home, air drying your clothes instead of using a dryer can save even more energy, etc.
Improvements that increase energy efficiency in your house can increase its value while simultaneously decreasing consumption and carbon emissions – and they don’t cost too much either!
4. Switch to Energy-Efficient Light Bulbs
Energy-efficient light bulbs use less electricity to produce the same amount of light. Furthermore, these more cost-effective bulbs last longer and have better color rendering than traditional bulbs; LED lights don’t contain fragile filaments or gases like their predecessors so switching can save both money and environmental footprint.
No matter your current electricity plan, there are ways to make your home more energy-efficient for under $50. The more changes you implement right away, the bigger the savings on your energy bill will be – so start now and save!
5. Install Solar Panels
Energy efficiency can benefit both your wallet and the environment. By making simple upgrades, you can create an energy efficient home and significantly lower utility bills.
Installing solar panels should not be attempted alone and should only be undertaken by professional installers. Before connecting your solar panel system to the electric grid, a city or county inspector must inspect and approve of its installation.
To optimize solar energy output, reflectors designed to focus sunlight onto solar panels can help maximize output. Furthermore, keeping them clean to reduce dust accumulation that lowers efficiency further and limit how many appliances and electronics run simultaneously in order to minimize overall power usage.