Enhancing Efficiency Will Reduce Energy Use and Save You Money

Despite warm temperatures for the first week of December, winter is well underway. And with the cooler temperatures, there is the normal rise in heating and electricity costs. To avoid feeling the sting of rising electricity rates, there are things you can do to make your home warm and increase energy efficiency in your home.

Insulate and Winterize

Insulating and winterizing your home is an important step in saving electricity. When you insulate, you save money on your energy bill, because it takes less energy to heat and cool your home. A well insulated home will keep heat in during the winter and out during the summer. For winter, winterizing your home improves existing insulation. Some easy fixes involve sealing up openings that let in cold air. This means repairing seals on entrances and windows. For homes with window AC units, removing them for the winter is another smart and easy step. Families can also use other tried and true methods like using heavy drapes to cover large windows. This is an easy to keep out cold drafts and keep warm air in.

Switch To Updated Heating Systems

You can save a lot of money on your energy bill by updating your heating and cooling systems. If you rent, talk to your landlord about options for improving your heating system. For homeowners, the cost of replacing your old HVAC system may seem expensive, but it is a solid investment in saving on future heating and electricity bills. A new update offered by many power utilities are smart thermostats. These thermostats help to cool and heat your house more efficiently with programmable settings for when to turn on and turn off your home heating and cooling. Consult with professionals to find a system that saves electricity and meets government standards. In the long run, a new system pays for itself in the money saved on your power bills.

Keep The Thermostat Set Close To Existing Temperatures

It takes power to keep your house warmer than outside temperatures. So it makes sense that you should keep your house just warm enough to be safe and tolerable. A reasonable temperature to set your thermostat at is around 60 to 65 degrees. This is perfect because on warm winter days your heating system will hardly use any power, saving you money over the winter. Combined with other strategies like improved insulation, you can keep your home warm for less.

Energy Efficient Appliances

Aside from your HVAC system and thermostat, there are other affordable replacements to improve the energy efficiency of your home year round. For example replace kitchen appliances, coffee makers, and other small appliances with those that have high government energyefficiency ratings. You can tell them by the blue energy star sticker. Also make sure to use energy-saving lighting such as halogen bulbs and LED lighting where possible.

Be Aware of Your Energy Use

All the steps mentioned become more powerful as you cultivate the habit of conserving energy in your home. Using electricity only when you need it can help lower your power bill in dramatic ways. When you take steps to make your home energy-efficient, you also do your part to help the environment. In addition, you can also look for retail electric providers with more competitive electricity rates to save even more and have greater access to alternative energy sources.

Author Bio: Sean Derrick is an environmental researcher. He is always researching new ways for consumers to save on their energy bills while protecting the environment. To learn more check out TexasElectricityProviders.com.

 

Tags: Central heating, Efficient energy use, Energy, Energy conservation, EnergyStar, HVAC, Technology, Thermostat

Category: Saving Money