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How-To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Reduce cost and improve your homes energy performance when you take advantage of these cost-effective measures.

How-To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

A very effective strategy in improving household energy efficiency is to first target your homes enclosures with insulationwalls, attic, windows, and doors.

How-To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Then improve the energy efficiency of systems, such as heating, cooling, lighting, and appliances. Consider clean energy generation (solar, geothermal, and so on).

1. Make sure your walls and attic are well insulated.

Quality insulation slows the rate that heat flows out of the house in winter or into the house in summer, so less energy is required to heat or cool the house.

1. Make sure your walls and attic are well insulated.

If your house has no wall insulation, and it has moreor-less continuous wall cavities (such as conventional stud walls), blown-in insulation can greatly improve your comfort and save enough energy to be very costeffective. (It rarely pays to blow additional insulation into already insulated walls.)

1. Make sure your walls and attic are well insulated.

Choosing a qualified contractor is more important than the insulation material you choose. Properly installed fiberglass, cellulose, and most foam insulation materials can all reduce the heat conduction of the completed wall system. The key is the insulation be properly installed.

2. Upgrade or replace windows.

If your windows are old and leaky, it may be time to replace them with energy-efficient models or boost their efficiency with weatherstripping and storm windows. It is almost never costeffective to replace windows just to save energy.

2. Upgrade or replace windows.

EnergyStar.gov reports, replacing windows will save 7 to 24 percent of your heating and airconditioning bills, but this applies to replacing singleglazed windows.

2. Upgrade or replace windows.

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However, if you are replacing windows for other reasons anyway, in many areas the additional cost of Energy Starrated replacement windows is very modest, perhaps $15 per window. This upgrade would be cost-effectiveand increase your comfort to boot.

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3.Plant shade trees and shrubs around your house.

If you have an older home, with relatively poor insulation and windows, good landscaping can save energy, especially if planted on the houses west side.

4. Replace an older furnace with a highefficiency system.

If your furnace is over 20 years old (built before 1992) and has a standing pilot, it probably wastes 35 percent of the fuel it uses, and it is probably near the end of its service life. In this case, in all but the warmest climates, ACEEE recommends early replacement with a condensing furnace with annual efficiency of at least 90 percent.

4. Replace an older furnace with a highefficiency system.

This type of furnace wastes no more than 10 percent of the natural gas you buy, and may save you as much as 27 percent on your heating bill.

4. Replace an older furnace with a highefficiency system.

For houses with boilers and hot-water heat distribution (radiators, baseboard) The savings from a modern condensing boiler with outdoor reset or equivalent feedback controls can be substantially larger, since the condensing boilers allow reducing the circulating loop temperature almost all the time.

First, turn down the temperature of your water heater to the warm setting (120F).

5. Improve the efficiency of your hot water system

Second, insulate your hot water lines so they dont cool off as quickly between uses. Third, use low-flow fixtures for showers and baths. While storage water heater standards were raised in 2001, it was probably not enough to justify throwing out an existing water heater that is working well.

6. Replace incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

Most people dont think about the fact that the electricity to run a lightbulb costs much more than the bulb itself. One of the new CFLs costs about two or three dollars, but it lasts 10,000 hours and uses only about 27 watts to generate as much light as a 100-watt bulb.

6. Replace incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

During the new CFL bulb life, it uses about $22 in electricity, so the total cost is about $25. A 100-watt incandescent will cost more than $80 at a national average price. The best targets for replacement are 60- to 100-watt bulbs.

6. Replace incandescent lightbulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

A 100-watt incandescent will cost more than $80 at a national average price. The best targets for replacement are 60- to 100-watt bulbs.

7. If you buy a new refrigerator, dont leave the old one plugged in.

Avoid the temptation to use the old fridge as a backup for party supplies and liquid refreshment. The extra storage space will cost you: figure an extra $50 150 per year in electricity to keep that older fridge running.

7. If you buy a new refrigerator, dont leave the old one plugged in.

In contrast, the new fridge, particularly if Energy Star rated, may cost only $3060 per year to run. The best rule is to have only one refrigerator, and to size it to meet your needs.

If you would like to learn How to SAVE 70% on your Next Month's Electricity Bill:

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