There are so many things you can do to make your home more energy efficient and here are 10 Energy Star approved ways that will help you achieve this goal.
First of all, what does it mean to have an Energy Star rating. Energy Star is a government-backed program helping businesses and individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. There is a whole host of products and things you can do in your home to meet the Energy Star standards and give yourself a more efficient home.
Energy Efficiency
1. Energy Star Appliances. Understanding that besides the cost of an appliance, knowing how much electricity it uses or how much water it uses will effect the amount of money it will cost to use it over time. With Energy Star qualified appliances that use less energy and less water the savings of up to 50% can far out weigh paying less money for a less efficient appliance. The fact is a good Energy Star rated washer, can save you close to 0.00 over time.
2. Heating and Cooling. We all know that one of the biggest expenses in our home is heating our homes in the winter and cooling them in the summer. Gas and electric bills seem never to cease going up each year. Older equipment use a lot of energy to operate. When it is time to replace a furnace or air conditioner, you need to be thinking Energy Star.
With equipment that is older then 10 years, it may be time to make some changes and not only increase the efficiency of the heating and cooling system in your home but also reducing the cost to run it. with Energy Star HVAC equipment, you can cut your bills by as much as 0 or more annually and at the same time make your home more comfortable to live in.
3. Ceiling Fans. Most homeowners have one or more ceiling fans. These devices, if used properly, can help to keep your home more comfortable both in the cold seasons and in the hot seasons. But, guess what? Energy Star qualified ceiling fans use improved motors and blade designs that make them more efficient to run and this will contribute to the overall energy savings in your home. If your fans have lights, then you need to be thinking about using more efficient Energy Star rated lighting.
4. Energy Star Rated Lighting. Energy Star qualified lighting provides bright, warm light but uses about 75% less energy than standard lighting. This lighting also can last up to 10 times longer and produces about 75 percent less heat then other lighting. Here is an amazing statistic, using the more energy efficient CFL lighting, can save you .00 over the lifetime of each bulb. Do the math and multiply this times the number of bulbs you would use in your home. It is recommended that you replace your existing bulbs with CFLs in fixtures that are used for 15 minutes or more at a time, several times a day.
5. Office Equipment. Have a home office? Most people do now days and here is another place in which you can cut your home energy costs. Most office equipment is left on for several hours each day. With the new energy-efficient design and power management features that the Energy Star rated office equipment has, using it not only saves energy but it will also help to reduce the green house gas emissions that can contribute to global warming.
Think about it! Computers, monitors, fax machines, printers and other equipment run for hours each day. Energy Star power management features place computers (CPU, hard drive, etc.) into a low-power "sleep mode" after a designated period of inactivity. Low-power modes for computers reduce the spinning of the hard disk, which decreases power consumption.
6. Home Electronics. When you consider that home electronic products use energy all the time even when they are off, it is no wonder that the average household spends over 0 a year just to power these devices while they are in the standby mode. Newer Energy Star models not only use less energy in the performance of these functions they also perform just as well if not better then those that use more energy.
There are so many home electronic products that we have come to depend on. TVs, Home Theater Systems, DVD Players, CD Players, Receivers, Speakers and more. When it is time to replace or upgrade these products, remember these two words, Energy Star.
7. Energy Star Windows and Skylights. Replacing old windows in your home with Energy Star rated glass can save you up to 0.00 a year. Older windows seem to always feel drafty and when they do, this means they are letting air infiltrate into your home. This is why so many people put plastic over their windows in the winter. With Energy Star rated windows, you would not need to use plastic.
Because skylights use the same technology as Energy Star windows, they act very similar except that they receive more sunlight in the summer and in the winter the variations in temperature is greater. Again, these more efficient skylights have less air infiltration and help to reduce your energy bills.
8. Energy Star Exterior Doors. We all know how important the weather stripping is on a door to keep the air out and the warmth in, but with Energy Star rated doors, more attention is focused on the weather stripping giving you a much tighter seal then older doors. The frames also have much tighter seals and fit together better. The core materials include a polyurethane foam core and energy efficient upgraded steel, wood or fiberglass cladding. They also incorporate double and triple Low E glass for maximum efficiency.
9. Sealing Your Home the Energy Star Way. There are so many places in a home where air can get in and you need to know how to seal those areas and keep the air outside, where it belongs. Air can get in around windows and doors, around recessed lights, around plumbing vents, wiring holes, switch and outlet covers, furnace flues and chases and around the frame work such as rim joists and soffits. Sealing air leaks in the basement and the attic with help keep your home air leak tight and energy efficient.
10. Energy Star Rated Insulation and Ventilation. Adding insulation to the block walls in basements, the outside walls of the home and in the attic can really help with your heating and cooling bills. In the attic it is also important to have the proper ventilation. So you add insulation in the attic for warmth, but why would you allow cold air to enter the attic to keep your home more efficient? In the winter with the proper flow of air in the attic, which helps keep the attic cold, it helps to reduce the potential for ice damming. I am sure that many people are aware of this problem. When snow builds up on the roof, a warm attic will cause the snow to melt and pretty soon ice forms. Ice dams build up and then as the ice melts the water can run up under the shingles and find entry into your home.
In the summer, natural air flow in a well-vented attic along with the proper vents and or ventilation fans or ventilators help move super-heated air out of the attic, protecting the roofing and getting the moisture out. You can even buy Solar Powered Ventilation Fans that make use of the natural power of sunlight to help cool the attic. The well insulated attic then helps keep the heat from getting into the house.
Using these 10 Energy suggestions will help you to maintain the most efficient house possible and save you hundreds of dollars.
10 Ways to Make Your Home Energy Star Efficient Which Will Save Money
In 2007, Rick Maselli founded RTM Directories Inc. and as president of this company his goal is to help the do-it-yourself people out there to have a one stop home improvement resource and that resulted in his new website, http://www.showroom411.com
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