Have proper insulation: Even if you are mindful about your heating and cooling system use, that won't matter if your home is not properly insulated. Without proper insulation, heated air can easily escape your home, meaning your HVAC system has to use more energy. This is why insulating your walls and ceilings, especially in your attic, can help save 20% to 30% of home heating bills. Doing this also reduces CO2 emissions by 140 to 2100 pounds each year. So by insulating your home, and maybe even investing in energy saving windows and doors, you can reduce your energy use.
Turn down the thermostat: While it can be tempting to crank up the heat at the first sign of cold weather, it's important to try to resist that temptation. Turning down the heat in your home by even just a few degrees can give you an immense energy use reward. A programmable thermostat can be great too -- it can turn down the heat when no one is home or when you're sleeping so you don't have to worry about manually adjusting it all the time. Sacrificing a few degrees of heat and turning towards some warm blankets instead is something easy that all homeowners can do.
Change your filters: If you notice that your air isn't coming out as strong or as warm as normal, it may be as easy to fix as changing the filter in your HVAC unit. Air filters should be changed every few months, but this is something homeowners often forget about. And when filters aren't changed regularly, they can become clogged with debris. When this happens, your HVAC system has to use more energy to work harder to get the air through. So if you're looking for a simple energy use reward, then change your air filters.
Saving energy at home doesn't have to be hard. Keep these simple tips in mind and you'll stay warm all fall and save some energy too.
No comments:
Post a Comment