6 Simple Changes You Can Make at Home to Save Energy and Money
In the midst of a worldwide energy efficiency revolution, many different life changes have been popularly discussed in order to prevent and avoid unnecessary energy usage. Making a few, small changes in your own home is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and also keep some extra money in your pocket. These tips should be considered as a great investment for the well-being of your household’s energy usage. Remember, money spent now could end up saving you much more in the end and taking any (or all) efficient steps to preserve the earth and conserve energy is a priceless matter. Mother Nature and your wallet will both thank you!
1. Recycling
Instead of throwing away all of your garbage, start looking for ways to reduce and reuse certain recyclable materials. If you cannot find any more use from it, you should bring it to your local recycling center or put it in your color coded neighborhood recycling bin. It will help conserve energy and reduces pollution and greenhouse gas emissions extracted during manufacturing and disposal of garbage. You can recycle your paper products, cardboard, plastic bottles, aluminum cans and other such materials. It doesn’t cost anything and you are helping keep the earth clean.
2. Efficient Use of Water
Saving water (and money) in your home can be very simple. Most of water based energy usage happens during the pumping, treating and heating of water for showers and cooking. Try shortening your showers by turning it off while washing your hair, shaving and brushing your teeth. Also, consider smart water use while treating your yard and garden such as a low-flow hose which forces resistance against the faucet flow and uses minimal water to nourish your plants and flowers.
3. Sealing and Insulating
Most heating and cooling in the home is lost through holes in the insulation of your home. You can look into getting your insulation evaluated to make sure you are not paying for air leaks from your attic and through your walls. Check all door and window frames and weather stripping to make sure there is no exiting air flow, causing loss of heating and cooling and costing you money.
4. Updating Windows and Shutters
Along with checking the quality of your insulation, updating and replacing the windows and shutters on your home can be a fantastic investment to efficiently conserve the air in your home. There are plenty of options nowadays for affordable energy efficient windows to update your new eco-friendly home and budget. For example, an upgrade to polywood indoor shutters to help with insulation can really increase energy retention and cut expensive energy bills.
5. Switch Lightbulbs
Replacing the lights you and your family use most on a daily basis to an energy efficient lightbulb, such as halogen incandescent, can save your household upwards of $70-90 a year alone. They are a little pricier but well worth the savings in the long run and it helps save energy.
6. Keeping Your Cool
Cut your heating, cooling, and electric costs dramatically by turning off lights and fans when leaving the room, powering down your air conditioning unit while leaving the home for the day, and switching air filters routinely. Try limiting laundry until a full load is ready to be washed, instead of multiple smaller loads, and close your shutters or curtains to conserve the air in your home.
While pondering what changes you can make to preserve the earth and prevent over usage, keep in mind that heating, cooling and such utilities account for over half the energy use of a single home. Making these simple changes and small investments now can help your home help the earth!
Category: Save Energy
