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If somebody were to hand you a few hundreds dollars every year, would you turn it down? Well, that’s what you’re doing when you don’t make your house more energy efficient.
From upgrading your windows, to upgrading your appliances, there are a lot of ways these days to save money on your energy bills. And that is the same thing as being handed money for doing nothing every year.
If you also take measures to use less energy, then you are able to save even more money.
In this article, I will go over ways to make your house more energy efficient to help save you money and to help the planet.
Change Your Filters
If you have an HVAC system then you definitely could be saving loads of money just by changing your filters. If a filter is clogged, it causes the air for your air conditioning to blow warmer. Which means you turn down the temperature to get it to the coolness you expect.
In turn this keeps the air conditioner running much longer than it normally would. If you sometimes see ice forming on your condenser, then this is surely the reason why.
You should also be cleaning your ducts in an HVAC system as well. The effect is the same when you have dirty vents as it impacts the performance of your overall system. You’ll need a professional like Duct Dudes to do this work for you. It will pay for itself eventually, of course.
Upgrade Your Appliances
If you’ve bought your appliances within the last five years, they most likely are Energy Star rated and are efficient. Newer ones will be more efficient, but there is no need to upgrade just yet.
However, if you have an old water heater or dishwasher, then this is a good time to upgrade. In some cases you can get a tax credit for upgrading and then you save money from the increased efficiency.
New appliances can often reach efficiency levels of over 95% whereas old ones can only get 85% in many cases.
If you do upgrade to a new hot water heater, you should look into an insulating cover to keep it from cooling down too quick.
Insulate Your Walls
Up to 40% of your heat is lost through your walls. You literally are paying to heat the outdoors as I am sure your mother used to say when you left a door open as a kid.
The cost of reinsulating your home may be daunting, but you can save hundreds of dollars per year just by making this upgrade.
Even if you only insulate your attic to make it trap the heat, you are going to see some savings and not have to spend so much to do your whole house.
Be Energy Efficient
The best thing you can do in addition to these tips to make your house more energy efficient is to also cut down on your energy use. Unplug TVs when not in use and shut down your computer instead of standby.
Take shorter showers and turn the temperature down on your hot water. These little things all add up.
Infographic Provided By Residential Solar Financing Company, Sunburst Solar
