Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Energy Saving Tips That Will Put Money In Your Pocket

The most effective and efficient way to save energy for your home is also the most effective way to reduce your energy costs and put money in your pocket. Making the house as efficient as possible is the most effective way to cut energy costs.

Because homes account for more than 20% of all the energy consumption in the United States, saving energy becomes a priority. Here are some energy saving tips that will put you on track to saving energy and money.

How do you do that? If you’re building a new home, start by looking at the size of the home because the simple truth is the larger the home, the more energy it uses.

What if you’re not building a new home and you want to cut your energy consumption and therefore, your energy costs. Here are a few strategies you may want to consider in your next remodeling project.

A good place to start is to look at insulating your home properly because heating and cooling rooms in your home consume 44% of all the energy used in the home. By insulating existing walls of your home, you can reduce that high energy use.

What does insulation do?

Insulation slows the heat flow into and out of your house. It reduces the heat loss and stops air from infiltrating. Insulating your existing walls can reduce your energy bill from 10 to 30%. The U.S. Department of Energy provides a formula you can use to find out just how cost effective insulating your home can be.

There are many types of insulation to choose from because different insulation materials not only slow the heat loss at different rates but they also do different things. It can be a bit confusing. Here’s something to remember. The higher the “R” value of an insulation material, the better it is at slowing the heat loss.

How do you know what “R” value you need? First, take into consideration the type of climate you live in. Green builders almost always insulate well beyond what is minimum requirement particularly if building a Passivhaus where energy savings start by using an “R” value of 60 is used everywhere, including under the slab.

Other Things to Consider

There are many factors that determine which insulation material to use. Cost is always a consideration along with ease of application, moisture resistance, meeting project requirements and environmental impact of the product.

In considering the environmental impact of a product, we want to look at the manufacturing process, how the product is disposed, what it is made of and if it has any effect on indoor air quality.

No matter what the determining factor may be in choosing which insulation to use, bad and sloppy installation will cause problems and can reduce its effectiveness significantly.

Now that you have captured an impressive 10%-30% energy savings on your energy bill, it’s time to turn up the volume on that warm and cozy and add some fun and excitement.

Carve out your own personal space in rooms that are jaw-dropping, vivacious, serene and beautiful expressions of YOU. Our tips and tools can show you how. Click here to discover how a few simple changes can inspire your life.

2 comments:

  1. Yeah... All of us have our own house and if we want to help in energy saving we should start this in our house.

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  2. It seems difficult and overwhelming, but it really isn't. And, the coziness and savings are well worth the effort. Good luck!

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