5 Ways to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Energy efficiency is about more than just safeguarding the environment for future generations. It's about more than preserving our country's resources. Every home budget can benefit from using power more wisely, especially since advanced technologies are making it possible to maintain the same quality of life while saving money. Here are five simple strategies for streamlining your home's energy efficiency.

1. Know Your Needs

Becoming more energy efficient is first and foremost a function of awareness. This applies whether your home is a house in the suburbs or an apartment in town. There are a number of minor flaws, as well as outdated technologies, present in most buildings that can result in a waste of energy. The status of every part of a home from the window panes to the buck boost transformer counts when it comes to calculating efficiency. If you're feeling overwhelmed by the massive number of considerations, think about having a professional energy audit performed on your home to find out exactly where inefficiencies are bleeding your energy away.

2. Consider Renewable Power

The elephant in the room when it comes to saving power is the market price of energy generation. Most people still get their power from fossil fuels, which can fluctuate wildly in cost depending on market conditions. Thankfully, solar energy has finally become commercially viable. Back in 2017, the solar industry beat its 2020 goal of bringing costs down to $0.06 per kilowatt-hour by three years. Solar energy isn't just economical with respect to global production, it's versatile as well, with photovoltaic cells available for installation on a range of house styles, allowing some homes to move off the grid entirely. State and local governments are offering multiple tax incentives for installing solar energy systems, so do your research and see if this could be a cost-saver for you.

3. Install More Efficient Lighting

According to government studies, the average household spends about 5% of its energy budget on lighting alone. This may not seem like much, but the cost is pretty much an unavoidable one, making traditional incandescent lighting systems a major long-term source of energy inefficiency. There are a few possible options here. LED lighting is one of the most common and popular choices, though some studies have highlighted health concerns. Other possibilities are halogen incandescent and compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) bulbs. Also consider getting timers and photocells that can switch lights off automatically when not in use. It all adds up to long-term efficiency.

4. Optimize Your Layout 

Daylighting refers to the use of windows and skylights to bring light into your home. It's only one of many architectural and interior design decisions that can impact the energy efficiency of a building. Modern designers are even using the power of artificial intelligence to determine optimum positioning to take advantage of solar heating and minimize loss from heat sinks. Windows themselves are a major source of heat loss, and should be chosen to maximize incoming light and then properly sealed to prevent heat from escaping. Carpets are actually great insulators; according to experts they retain up to 10% of a room's heat, making them another good energy-saving choice.

5. Make Your Water Habits Green

When most people think of the cost of using water, they're thinking of their water bill alone. Actually, water use often expends a great deal of energy too. Standard water heaters are among the worst culprits, especially if they happen to be electric. Because water in the tank is constantly reheated, that's always drawing either power or fuel. This is called standby heat loss. It can be mitigated by getting a well-insulated heater, but there are other options. For example, solar water heaters and heat pump water heaters have higher purchase costs, but they usually have lower overall operating costs. Making your home more efficient and sustainable may seem daunting at first. The good news is that you don't have to alter your entire lifestyle in order to effect these positive, cost-saving changes. It's a simple matter of taking the time to consider the impact that the things we use have on world and our wallets.