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Top 5 Ways to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient
Believe it or not, there are many easy ways to make your home much more efficient, resulting in big monthly savings. Here are a few that I feel are a must for every home. Implementing them will allow your home to sell for more because buyers are increasingly seeking energy efficiency in a home before they will make the purchase.
Tip #1: Use a Programmable Thermostat
Sound too simple? Don’t underestimate its value. A programmable thermostat will regulate a home’s temperature 24/7 and will save hundreds of dollars a year. For instance, do you leave for work at 7am and not return until 5pm? Without a programmable thermostat, you can either leave the A/C set at the same level and pay for cooling all day or you can turn the unit off. If you’ve turned it off, when you get home, it’s 95 degrees inside, so you turn the A/C on and wait for 2 hours before the home is cool again. Both approaches are inefficient. With a programmable thermostat, you can set it to allow the temperature to rise no higher than 85 degrees or so while you are away and then start bringing it down to your comfort level about half an hour before you return home. It is much more efficient to keep a home around 85 while no one is home than to let it escalate to outside temperatures and then try to cool it all down again. This way, you not only save money, but you save wear and tear on your A/C.
Tip#2: Insulation
After you get the new thermostat, go to the local hardware store and get insulation products to seal doors and windows and add extra insulation to the attic crawlspace. Doing this will cost very little and save you a lot over the next few years. Keeping the cold air inside your home as long as possible is a battle, and if your home is not properly insulated, be prepared to spend extra no matter how high a rating your new A/C has or anything else you have done to make your home more efficient. It just won’t matter! If you really want to be certain your home insulation is correct, get in touch with Geary Morris, and pay for a home insulation inspection. He has special infrared cameras that will tell you exactly where in your home the insulation needs to be beefed up. Every home — no matter how well built, new or old — has leaks that should be stopped.
Tip #3: Plant Some Vegetation
Yes, adding some trees and bushes around your home will dramatically cool the home all summer long. Planting a few large mesquite trees to shade the home, especially on the west and south sides of a home, will decrease energy usage instantly. Air temperature in the shade is usually 20-30 degrees cooler than in direct sunlight. Take advantage of this fact, and plant some vegetation around your home.
Tip#4: Get New Low-E Dual Pane Windows
New windows can be a little pricey, however buyers will usually reward you nicely for having them installed. This is especially true if your home is in an older section of town where the competing homes for sale all have older, single pane windows. You will also save money on energy bills until the day you sell your home. Reports show that 15% of your cold air (in AZ anyway) is lost because the windows are not doing a good job of keeping the cold air inside and the warm out. Dual pane Low-E windows have two panes of glass sandwiching a layer of argon gas. The gas acts as an insulator and helps tremendously to keep the cold air in. Most of the Low-E rated windows will also have metallic finishes that cannot be seen by the eye but will reflect harmful rays from the sun. This not only keeps the inside air cooler, but also keeps furniture and carpeting, etc., from fading due to the sun’s intensity.
Tip #5: Get a New A/C
If your A/C is more than 10 years old, seriously consider a new one! A/C’s that are even as new as 10 years old are much less efficient than today’s models. In fact, most A/C’s that are 10 years old are 50% less efficient than today’s models. A new A/C unit won’t be cheap. Expect to spend anywhere from $2000-$5000. However, imagine cutting the A/C portion of your electric bill in half, and consider that you should be able to obtain state and federal government tax credits for doing so. In addition, if you want to sell your home, having that new high efficiency A/C will make your home very competitive compared to other similar homes on the market that lack this update.
Besides these common sense tips, there are many others. For example, unplugging items that you are not using can reap big savings since the units still draw up to 75% of the energy they use while on and running. Keeping window coverings closed during the day will also reap benefits because they are blocking direct sunlight, although the down side could be feeling like you live in a cave. If you have other energy saving ideas that seem to work well for your home and family, feel free to leave a comment and we will share those with others who are concerned about getting maximum savings and efficiency out of their homes.