Ways to make your home energy efficient
1. Insulation
Adding insulation should be one of the first improvements you make to your house. Insulating an older home or one with inadequate insulation can reduce energy bills up to 30%. The amount of energy you conserve will depend on several factors including local climate; the size, shape, and construction of your house; the living habits of your family; the type and efficiency of the heating and cooling systems; and the fuel you use. Energy conserved is money saved, and the annual savings increase when utility rates go up.
2. Windows
Windows are part of the home envelope and inefficient windows contribute to air leaks and cause comfort problems. Inefficient windows can add 10-25% to heating bills and up to 75% to summer air conditioning bills. The Efficient Windows Collaborative has in depth information regarding energy efficient windows.
3. Cooling and Heating
If you have an older, inefficient air conditioner or evaporative cooler, upgrading to high efficiency equipment can cut your costs by more than one-third. Using a programmable thermostat adds even more savings. Your energy costs will decrease 1% for every 1 degree you raise the thermostat. For more information, download ENERGY STAR’s guide to energy-efficient heating and cooling.
4. ENERGY STAR Appliances
You can sharply reduce your energy bill by using high-efficiency appliances and space conditioning equipment. The American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy's (ACEEE) website offers the most energy-efficient residential appliances available. Only the highest-rated models are listed within each appliance category, making up fewer than 5 percent of all the different models currently available. There are many appliances not listed on their website that are above average in efficiency, but this list is a good place to start.
Refrigerators use high efficiency compressors, improved insulation, and more precise temperature and defrost mechanisms to improve energy efficiency. Refrigerators must use at least 15 percent less energy than required by current federal standards and 40 percent less energy than the conventional models sold in 2001. Click here to calculate the savings by retiring your old refrigerator and upgrading to an ENERGY STAR model.
Freezers use at least 10 percent less energy than required by current federal standards.
Compact refrigerators and freezers use at least 20 percent less energy than required by current federal standards. Compacts are models with volumes less than 7.75 cubic feet.
Dishwashers use 25% less energy than the federal minimum standard for energy consumption, and use much less water.
Room Air Conditioners use at least 10% less energy than conventional models. Many people buy an air conditioner that is too large. ENERGY STAR suggests making sure your unit is properly sized.
Clothes Washers can save up to $110 per year on your utility bills. Clothes washers must use 50 percent less energy than standard washers. The Modified Energy Factor (MEF) measures the energy used during the washing process, including machine energy, water heating energy, and dryer energy. The higher the MEF, the more efficient the clothes washer is. You can download a list of qualified equipment from the ENERGY STAR website.
Clothes Dryers. ENERGY STAR does not label clothes dryers because most dryers use similar amounts of energy, which means there is little difference in the energy use between models.
5. Lighting
The Department of Energy says that lighting is responsible for 8% of all energy consumption and 22% of electricity nationwide. If every U.S. household changed out their 5 most frequently used light fixtures or the light bulbs in them with ENERGY STAR qualified ones, together we'd keep more than one trillion pounds of greenhouse gases out of our air. This would be equivalent in air pollution to taking more than 8 million cars off the road for an entire year.
Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs). Look for ENERGY STAR qualified CFLs by choosing the right lumens (not watts).
Tube Fluorescent Lighting. Tube fluorescent lighting has improved over the past decade to address problems like flickering or humming. Combined with new electronic ballasts, this type of lighting can provide a warm-light atmosphere. Typical applications include lighting around the perimeter of a room and above the bathroom mirror.
High-intensity discharge (HID). HID bulbs are very efficient and often used in outdoor lighting.
Solar-powered outdoor lights use photovoltaic (PV) technology to capture energy from the sun and store it in a battery to provide night lighting.
Light emitting diodes (LEDs). LED's use a new semiconductor technology referred to as solid state lighting (SSL) systems. This technology is expected to produce new lighting products that are substantially more efficient than current lighting options.
Halogen lighting has improved, but is not much more efficient than incandescent lighting. It is sometimes preferred over fluorescents when spot light is needed.
Halogen torchiere lamps, while popular, are very inefficient and do pose a fire hazard due to the extremely hot temperatures produced by the bulbs.
ENERGY STAR qualified light fixtures come with pin-based compact fluorescent lamps that are tested to last at least 10,000 hours (about 7 years, on average) versus standard screw-in bulbs which last about 1,000 hours or up to 1 year.
ENERGY STAR qualified ceiling fans use 20-50% less energy to cool your home and generate 70% less heat from the lighting.
Visit ENERGY STAR’s online lighting buying guide.
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