The Four Methods For Home Energy Savings

The rule of thumb for home energy savings is that if want energy, you have to save it, just like money.  Everyone is reeling, especially in this economy, over the often huge energy bills that many homes and businesses receive every month.  The overuse of energy drains not only our natural resources and oil / gas / electrical supplies, but also our wallets. 

Were a nation that likes its comfort, however, so we do want our houses to be livable when the weather gets extreme.  We might wonder how we got along before A / C was invented, but most of us just pay the bill.  To make that payment more palatable, here are some home energy saving tips the Big Four of energy saving. 

The best way to hit all four of these is to do a home audit, a procedure where you go over your whole house and find weaknesses in its eco - system, places where energy is being drained.  If you contact a government agency, they provide free home audit forms and advice on how to conduct the procedure. The audit itself is very effective, showing you where youre wasting energy and where you can conserve. 

1. Check for leaks, just as in a sailing vessel.  These occur around doors, windows, walls, light sockets, plumbing joins, even the edges of ceilings.  You should definitely check fireplace vents and door tops (jambs).  If you have a single door with a space of air running along its bottom (because of lack of insulation or a runner), you have what amounts to a 4 x 4 hole in your wall.  As you check for leaks and cracks, also check the insulation stuffed or blown into your walls, floors and ceilings, and look for bare spots or settling.

2. Maintain and service appliances, particularly the water heater (is its thermostat set at the lowest possible setting?), air conditioning system (which should be serviced annually) and other household helpers such as dishwasher, washer - dryer sets and refrigerators.  Many of these do need professional service occasionally, but there are also a number of online do - it - yourself sites that will give you step by step instructions in minor maintenance (changing a refrigerator water filter, or the fuse in a drying unit, both of which are easily managed by homeowners).  One thing to note:  if your appliance is connected to the outside air (as via a dryer hose), make sure the connection is airtight.  This is one of the invisible points of energy loss that many people miss. 

3. Continue the paradigm of the home audit with a family audit, in which you determine the familys energy use (how often do they adjust a / c and heating thermostats) and the patterns they follow (what hours they most often need heat or cold).  Then you can set thermostat timers accordingly  (and maintain just a few degrees away from complete comfort: 78 degrees in the summer, 68 or lower in winter). 

4. Finally, replace incandescent bulbs with energy conserving twists; they reduce energy consumption up to 60 percent and seldom need changing.

We hope you feel comfortable enough to start home energy savings right now!