How to Make Your Home More Energy-Efficient and Save Money on Utility Bills

The best way to save our planet is to minimize our energy use by having energy-efficient homes. By making your home energy efficient not only will you help preserve our planet but you will also save money on your utility bills. There are no more excuses for wasting energy and so here are some easy steps on how to minimize your utility costs. We all must start living greener in order to preserve the planet and our own existence.

Lightbulbs

We are all accustomed to our incandescent lightbulbs at home. These lightbulbs might have a nice homey glow but in reality, they are not energy efficient. These lightbulbs convert only 10 % of energy into light while the rest becomes heat. New light technologies such as light-emitting diodes (LEDs) and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), can reduce the use of energy required by lightbulbs up to 75 %. You can further save energy due to the advanced lighting controls these new technologies have to offer. Also LEDs and CFLs last ten times longer than normal incandescent lightbulbs.

Insulation

One of the ways to be energy efficient is to seal and insulate your home. Proper insulation keeps warm air inside when it’s winter and also cool air when it’s summer. When you have air leaks due to cracks around electrical receptacles, mailslots, and attic hatches a large amount of heated or cooled air can escape and this can drive up your heating bill. So wherever you see cracks you should fill them with foam sealant and always check for new ones especially if you live in an older house. A properly insulated home will surely increase comfort and dramatically save energy and cut your heating bills.

Conserve water usage

We sometimes forget how much we use water on a daily basis. We waste an unnecessary amount of water while brushing our teeth, having a bath, showering and washing our clothes.

One of the things you should do is to install low-flow showerheads. These will create a satisfying shower while using a minimum amount of water and will surely reduce your water amount usage. Low-flow toilets are also a good way to reduce your water usage. Traditional toilets, in general, consume 30% to 40% of total water in every home, making them the biggest water users. Modern low-flow toilets can reduce 2 gallons per flush which in the end can save 12000 gallons every year. Sometimes you’ve done everything to reduce your water usage and for some reason, your bills tell you otherwise. This can happen due to broken and old pipes and you might have water leakage somewhere. If you’re suspecting this then you should contact some leak detection services and they will handle your problem in no time.

Unplug

Did you know that when you leave your cellphone plugged in while it’s fully charged it continues to pull power? This goes for all other devices like computers, tv, stereo, and game consoles. These unused devices, when plugged in, in time can draw significant amounts of energy and are called energy vampires. So in the future get in the habit of unplugging devices when they are fully charged and for non-battery devices use power strips so you can turn them off when they are not in use.

Solar panels

Everyone knows that solar panels aren’t exactly cheap. But if you’ve decided to make your home energy efficient as possible then solar panels are the right call. Every day they are becoming more and more popular because you can save money on energy bills and in general people are growing more aware of the dangers of fossil fuel usage has on our planet. They are typically used to heat hot water and generate electricity for your home and are easily installed on your roof. By using solar panels you will cut the costs of your electric bills and will generate power independently.

Thermostat

When you’re away from home you should always remember to lower the temperature on your thermostat. You don’t want your house to be warm and wasting energy while you’re not at home. If you adopt this habit you will reduce the costs of your monthly utility and save precious energy. Another good way is to get a smart thermostat. These thermostats are programmable and you can set them to lower and raise the temperature of your home accordingly to you and your family’s usage habits.

Energy audit

If you don’t have the time or the knowledge of how to make your home energy efficient then you can always hire a professional energy audit who can evaluate the inefficiencies and wasted energy in your home. These trained professionals can determine what possibilities your home has and improvements you can make in order to cut costs and save more energy.

There are a lot of ways to make your home energy efficient and the important thing is to start making a difference. We should all make some steps in living greener in order to preserve our planet and our existence. One of the best ways to do this is to start changing ourselves and our homes.