If the sight of your energy bill is giving you the chills then it’s time to make some simple and easy changes to your home.
Conserving energy is not only good for our planet but equally as good for your pocketbook. Here are some ideas on how to lower that bill each month.
- It is finally time to swap out all your lightbulbs to LED. All your concerns have been answered. Color temperature is the same, bulbs can be dimmed, almost all conventional bulbs have an LED equivalent. The average US home has 40-45 light bulbs, if they were all 40-watt bulbs and on in an hour you would use 1,800-watts of electricity if all of those were LED bulbs with equivalent lumens (brightness) you would use 225- watts. That is money in the bank.
- Install a programmable thermostat. By manipulating the temperature in your home when you are not there or under the covers you can save up to 20% a year in the energy you use to heat or cool your home.
- Turn the thermostat up or down depending on the season. Each degree up or down over a 12-month period can lower your energy costs by 3%. If you normally keep the home at 75 degrees in the winter if you went to 74-73 degrees? Again, money in the bank.
- Install an on-demand water heater. First, you would have endless hot water, 20 people could shower in a row and the water would still be hot. When the units are off, they are off. 20% of the energy consumed in a tanked water heater is for standby, meaning no one is home but the water in that tank is hot and waiting. Why?
- Add insulation to your attic. This is the single best thing you can do to improve the energy efficiency of your home. It’s like wearing a warm hat on a cold winter day.
- Eliminate drafts in your home by adding weather stripping around windows and doors. Sealing out the drafts can increase the energy efficiency of those openings by up to 70%.
- Replace furnace filters regularly. Clogged filters mean the system runs longer to heat and cool a home and decrease the air quality in your home.