Help For Homeowners: How To Maximize Energy Efficiency Without Sacrificing Comfort

Articles

You can expect energy efficiency to play a significant role in your household expenses throughout each year. A home that is not well protected from the outdoor elements and that heavily relies on electricity for temperature control can cost you a noticeable amount of money in unneeded expenses by the end of a given year. Luckily, there isn't a need to invest in expensive renovations in order to maximize energy efficiency and lower your monthly power costs – here are a few things you can do to get great energy efficiency results without having to sacrifice your household's comfort levels:   

Focus on Your HVAC System

One of the best ways to ensure optimal energy efficiency throughout your household is to focus on maintenance for your central air conditioning and heating system. Maintenance on the HVAC system should be performed at least once every three months, and a professional inspection should be scheduled once a year or so. You can do the maintenance yourself by removing the filters from your HVAC system and cleaning them with a little soapy water and a clean rag.

If you spot any tears or holes in the filters, it's important to replace them with new ones to ensure proper performance. Clean filters should decrease the wear and tear that is put on your air conditioning and heating system throughout the year, which will save you money on electricity costs as well as minimize your need for HVAC repairs as time goes on. A yearly inspection will allow your technician to spot any problem areas and repair them before they become too serious or costly. They'll also clean up the system's condenser coils, tighten up all of the connections, and test out every aspect of the system to ensure proper performance.

Make Some Updates to Your Windows

Making updates to your home's windows is a surefire way to improve overall energy efficiency as well as significantly lower your monthly power expenses. By simply applying solar insulation film to each window in your home, you'll decrease heat loss or gain and experience a year-round improvement in overall interior temperature control. Solar insulation film not only lessens the workload on your air conditioning and heating system, but it also repels harmful UV rays and keeps your home's floors, walls, and furniture from getting sun damaged.

It's also a good idea to seal each of your windows up with some spray foam insulation or caulking to eliminate unwanted air flow from proliferating throughout your home. To find possible leaks that need to be sealed, light a candle and slowly move it around the frames of your windows. Any place where the flame sways or flickers is a likely culprit. Lightly mark the places where you see the flame flicker with a pencil so you can go back and seal the area up with your choice of sealant. When you're finished, sand the sealed areas to create a smooth surface and then freshen the frames up with a paint job.

Invigorate Your Yard With Trees

By planting trees in the yard, you can increase your overall property value while at the same time decrease your reliance on the HVAC system and save some money on energy costs. Large trees in the yard will also protect your home's exterior from damage due to harsh elements and provide you with some extra privacy to enjoy while spending time outdoors. Deciduous trees like sycamore and crab apple have large leaves in the summer to protect your home from excessive heat and sun rays. During the winter, deciduous trees lose their leaves and allow the sun to naturally heat your home up.

With the help of these techniques you can feel good about reducing your household's overall carbon footprint, and you should see a dramatic decrease in your energy costs as each year passes. 

For more information and options, contact HVAC technicians, such as those at HomeSmart From Xcel Energy, or other home contractors in your area. 

Share

22 March 2016

keeping up with appliance care

The appliances that we use every day to prepare meals, do our laundry, keep up with never-ending dirty dishes and keep the hot water flowing all need our attention and care from time to time. When you use these things so often, it can be easy to forget that they need that attention to continue working for us. This blog will show you what you need to do to keep all of the different appliances in your home as reliable and operational as they can be to prevent unnecessary repairs and early need for replacement and save you some cash as well.