There are very good reasons why many homeowners are choosing to go green. Beyond people’s moral obligations to help preserve the environment and curb pollution, a green home can also help lead to a very inexpensive home. If you are able to lower your energy use, you can obviously lower your bills each and every month. Despite this, not everyone may be clear on what they can do to make their home more energy efficient. With that in mind, below are six great tips for ways to easily lower energy use in your home.
Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs
One way to easily make your home more energy efficient is to swap out your old incandescent light bulbs for compact fluorescent, or CFL for short, bulbs instead. According to Energy.gov, CFL light bulbs can use anywhere from 25 to 80 percent less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs. Over the course of a year, this can certainly add up to significant savings. Since CFL bulbs last longer than incandescent bulbs, you’ll also have to buy light bulbs far less often as well.
Install Solar Panels on Your Roof
If you really want to improve your monthly energy bills, you should start supplementing what you use from the local electrical power grid with your own locally collected energy. The easiest way to do this is by placing solar panels on your roof. In fact, solar panels could slash your energy bills by as much as half. No matter what the design or build of your house, installing solar panels is likely possible. Contact a solar power provider to see what kind of solar panel design and layout would work best for your home.
Unplug Electronics
Something that may surprise you is that many electronics actually still consume energy even while they’re not switched on. In fact, according to the New York Times, the amount of energy consumed by electronics while in an idle mode can be as high as a quarter of a home’s monthly energy bills. Make sure things like HDTVs, computers, video game consoles, DVD players, stereos, coffeemakers, lamps and toasters are unplugged while not in use.
Make Sure Your Water Heater and Pipes are Properly Insulated
One of the ways many homes waste a lot of money is on hot water. While hot water is a necessity for most people, you can also make sure you are not wasteful in how you use it. While taking shorter showers can help, you can also insure that your water gets hotter faster and stays hot while it travels through your pipes. Proper insulation can stop the heat from escaping and allow your water heater to have to consume far less energy to operate.
Perform Proper Maintenance on your HVAC System
Simple routine maintenance on your heating, ventilation and cooling system can help bring down your energy bills significantly both during the hot summer as well as the cold winter. One of the simplest maintenance tasks is replacing air filters. If air filters are not replaced, your furnace and air conditioner will have to work much harder to provide your home with warm or cool air.
Program Your Thermostat
Another simple thing many people refuse to do that could make their homes much more energy efficient is programming their thermostats. Chances are there are times during the day when a home is empty because adults are at work and children are in school. Running the heat and air conditioning the same at these times is a huge waste of money. Program your thermostat to change that.
Overall, there are many ways to increase your home’s energy efficiency and lower your utility bills. If you use the tips above, you will be well on your way to saving hundreds or even thousands of dollars a year.
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