If you’re looking for home improvement projects to invest in, you might want to consider those that make your home more energy-efficient.
Making your home more energy-efficient will help you reduce your monthly utility bills. Aside from that, being more energy-efficient will also benefit the environment in the long run.
There are a lot of different ways you can make your home more energy-efficient. It can be as simple as changing a light bulb to as complicated as converting the source of your energy. However, a lot of them are relatively easy to accomplish if you want to be more energy-efficient.
To help you get started, here are ten easy ways to make your home more energy-efficient:
Do an Energy Audit
It’s going to be challenging to figure out how you can make your home more energy-efficient if you don’t know how much energy you’re consuming. Therefore, the first step to have an energy-efficient home would be to do an energy audit.
If you want to get an accurate energy audit, it’s better to hire a professional to do it. You can also do it yourself if you know where to look, although it won’t be as thorough as how energy auditors do it.
You need to check several things for an energy audit. Things like air leaks, ventilation, insulation, lighting, electronics, and appliances, as well as your home’s heating and cooling air conditioning system.
Once you go through each one, you can then address the energy-efficiency issues as accurately as you can.
Seal and Insulate
A lot of homes use a lot of energy to manage the temperature conditions inside their homes. If you want to be more energy-efficient, you want to look for ways to control indoor air quality and maintain that preferred temperature for a longer time.
For this particular issue, you should look into sealing and insulating your home.
Having your home insulated is going to help maintain better indoor air quality. It’s also going to help you manage your house’s temperature.
If you seal any leaks that you find, you’ll be able to increase your energy savings.
Replace Doors and Windows
Speaking of managing leaks inside your home, you might want to consider replacing your doors and windows to better your energy expenditure.
Replacing your doors and windows is especially important if you have old ones. You want to choose a material that doesn’t conduct heat so that hot air doesn’t come in or out of a room when you don’t want it.
Therefore, you should avoid using aluminum or metal frames for your window. Instead, fiberglass and wood are much better for keeping in hot air where you want it.
Another benefit of replacing your doors and windows is that it adds or improves your home’s property value.
You can also hire one of the many professional double glazing companies in your area. This is to reinforce your doors and windows and reduce disruptive noise.
Plant Shade Trees and Shrubs
If your home is old and has poor insulation and old windows and doors, you can save energy by planting more shade trees and shrubs around the house. Not to mention that it allows you to improve the quality of your indoor air.
It’s even better if you plant these trees and shrubs around the west side of your home. Having shady trees around your home will help protect it from the radiation from the sun, especially during hotter months.
The effect that comes with planting shady trees and shrubs around your home may not be evident if you already have the proper insulation in your home. Therefore, this is a solution that will only work well if your home itself can’t have better insulation.
Work on Your Heating
Many households spend a lot of energy trying to heat a variety of things in their home.
They want to heat the water before they bathe. Your washing machine also spent a lot of energy to heat the water you used to wash your clothes.
If you want to be more energy-efficient, you might want to look into how you can reduce the instances when you need heating.
Get Your Water Temperature Right
Instead of using a hot water storage tank that likely uses more energy to maintain, you might want to install a continuous-flow hot water system.
This hot water system only heats water as it passes the system. Meaning, that it only heats water that you are using.
Only heating water that you use means that you only pay for the heating system when you use it and not more than that.
Consider Blinds
Blinds are another window treatment that will help make your home more energy-efficient. It will help prevent mold from developing due to condensation.
Just remember that when you’re considering installing blinds, you should put shutters at the top of your list. Shutters will help reduce and prevent more heat from escaping a room because it closes down on gaps.
Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs (CFLs)
Make sure that you don’t use any older light bulbs anymore and, instead, switch to compact fluorescent bulbs.
These fluorescent bulbs cost more than older light bulbs, but they will save you money in the long run. Not only do they last longer, but they also use less energy to produce the same or even better amount of light.
Use Appliances and Electronics Responsibly
Being more responsible and aware of how you use your appliances and electronics will reduce your energy bill.
You don’t need to purchase energy-efficient appliances and electronics to be accountable for your devices’ energy. The simple practice of turning off and unplugging any unused appliances and electronics is one way to be more responsible.
Another thing that you should do is to place your refrigerator or freezer somewhere that won’t expose them directly to sunlight or heat. Otherwise, you’re refrigerators will be working and using more energy to remain cool.
Another way you can use appliances and electronics responsibly is simply by reducing how often you use them. You might want to consider doing some household tasks manually, such as hang-drying your clothes instead of putting them in a dryer.
Try Solar
If you’re looking for real long-term and huge investments when it comes to your energy-efficiency efforts, then going solar is the way to go.
It will help you generate your energy, and then you can give your excess energy and sell it off.
Do note that solar panels can be quite expensive, so you need a budget to get one for your home.
Conclusion
Making your home more energy-efficient is not as complicated as some people may think.
By taking the first step of being more aware of how you consume energy, you are already leagues ahead of everybody else when it comes to energy efficiency.
The ten items listed in this article are just a few of the ways you can make your home more energy-efficient.
Do your research and continue applying these practices. Soon enough, you’re going to find lower utility bills coming your way.
