Energy costs are soaring and it seems that everything in your house uses energy. Remember the days when your computer only needed one plug? Now, you need one plug for the monitor, one for the speakers and one for the hard drive. How about the appliances for your kitchen? We no longer want hand-powered tools. We want appliances that do the work for us, including our electric can openers. We like our conveniences, but complain when we have to pay the energy costs. What are we to do? How can we keep our conveniences and conserve energy at the same time? Here are five ways to make your house more energy efficient.
1) Buy energy efficient appliances.
Energy Efficiency
Buy energy efficient appliances because they save electricity. What you save in electricity or water costs will more than pay for the difference in cost between a regular appliance and an energy efficient appliance. Also, replace any appliance that is over 15 years old. Newer appliances are built to be more energy efficient.
2) Buy energy efficient light bulbs.
The price of energy efficient light bulbs has come down dramatically the past few years. According to Energy Star, "If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR, we would save enough energy to light more than 2.5 million homes for a year and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of nearly 800,000 cars." And that's just from one light bulb. Think about it, how many light bulbs are there in your house?
3) Plug air leaks.
Plug air leaks around doors and windows with proper caulking and weather stripping. In the winter, this means less heat will escape your house and will help to lower your heating costs. Plus, proper sealing around windows means less moisture build up. Excessive moisture around the windows can lead to mold growth, which is bad for your health.
4) Turn your furnace fan on.
Turn your furnace fan on and let it run all day. It will help to circulate the air in your house and allow for more even heat distribution. During the summer, the fan will bring up the cool air in the basement to the upper levels in the house and reduce the use of your air conditioner.
5) Buy a programmable thermostat.
Programmable thermostats are great! They allow you to set a schedule so that the temperature in your house will change automatically for different times of the day. Most allow you to program two schedules, one for the week and one for weekends. In the winter, set your thermostat one degree lower when you go to sleep at night or when you are away at work during the day. During the summer, set the thermostat so that it will run less when you are not at home. Even a difference of one degree can save you a lot of money.
Improving the Energy Efficiency of Your House
I hope you found these tips useful. By the way, did you notice how most of the tips will help you to save money? For more useful tips on how to save energy and help protect the environment, please visit my website [http://www.thegardenersescape.com/]
See Also : Home security essentials