When it comes to lessening our impact on the environment, a good place to start is at home. Although making your home more environmentally friendly won’t solve the climate crisis, every small action adds up over time. Below are eight ways to make your home more energy-efficient so you can do your part to help the environment.
1. Properly Seal Windows and Doors
Drafty doors and windows can cause a massive waste of heated or cooled air in your home. Roughly 38% of heat loss is caused by windows and doors, and drafty single-pane windows can account for 50% of the heat being lost from your home. The way to combat this is to make sure that you are using updated windows and doors and properly installing them to avoid any spots where air could get in and out of your home.
2. Insulate Everything
Improper insulation can mean that your home’s heating and cooling is not working as effectively as it should. If you have any unfinished rooms in your home, such as an attic, make sure that you install insulation to ensure that hot or cold air is not escaping your home. If you do any remodeling of existing rooms, make sure that you invest in high-quality insulation to reduce the amount of energy being wasted with your heating and cooling.
3. Inspect and Repair Your Roof
If your roof is not properly insulated or is made of a low-quality material, your home will not be functioning as energy-efficiently as it could be. Get a roof inspection and ask the inspector about the material that your roof is made out of. If you need a roof replacement, make sure to emphasize your need for a roofing material that will help with your roof’s efficiency. Choosing the right material can decrease the amount of energy your home uses by up to 30%, which is a significant amount of energy saved up over time.
4. Be Preemptive
Instead of waiting for things to break and become unusable, begin switching out your current appliances and fixtures for more energy-efficient options over time. This will help you avoid unexpected repair costs and cases when you are not able to choose the more energy-efficient option because of your financial situation.
Considering the fact that homeowners spend 1% to 4% of their home’s value on repairs each year, choosing to preemptively fix things in your home will be better than having unexpected costs pop up.
If you are replacing an appliance that is still functional but not as energy-efficient as you would like, consider selling your appliance or giving it away so that it does not end up in a landfill. Helping someone avoid having to add to the market demand for new appliances and avoiding filling up landfills is a very green decision.
5. Invest in Alternate Energy
Some areas will have access to alternative energy sources that you can opt to get your home’s power from. If you are able to, installing solar panels can help your home be much more sustainable.
If you can’t produce enough energy to fully power your home, many power companies will let you hook your solar panels into their grid so that your energy can be supplemented by a larger energy source. They may even give you a discounted price on your energy bills if you have a solar panel at your home.
Other energy companies may have programs where you can opt to use wind-powered energy and invest in alternative forms of energy. Make sure to check with your local power company to find out if they offer more sustainable options for your energy sourcing.
6. Use LED Lightbulbs
LED lightbulbs are a quick and easy switch that can save a lot of energy and money over time. LED lightbulbs are slightly more expensive than the typical bulb, but the bulbs last on average 50,000 hours. This means that even if you left the lightbulb on constantly day and night, it would last nearly six years.
Considering the fact that most light bulbs are not on 24 hours a day, it will likely last much longer than that. This is a smaller way to improve your home’s energy efficiency that you can start on today without much inconvenience or a big price tag.
7. Check Your Fridge and Freezer
Refrigerators and freezers are a staple in the average kitchen. However, they are likely not operating in their optimal energy state if you’re not thinking about it. Make sure that you are regularly defrosting the ice build-up in your freezer — if it builds to more than a quarter-inch, your freezer is no longer working at its optimal efficiency.
In addition, make sure that you are keeping your fridge and freezer as full as possible at all times. When you open the door of a mostly empty freezer, all of the cold air immediately escapes, which means the freezer has to expend energy making the air in the freezer cold once you have shut the door. If there are items in the freezer taking up space, there is less air that has to be cooled each time you open the freezer. In addition, the cold from the items in the freezer will help cool the air. The same goes for your fridge, so make sure that you are keeping both full, even if it is just with ice packs or water bottles.
8. Get an Energy Audit
There are companies that offer professional energy audits in which they assess the energy efficiency of your home. They will go through each room in your home and look for all of the weak areas where your home is not functioning as energy-efficiently as it could be. Sometimes they will assess your utility bills and ask about resident behavior as well to check that everything in your home is working together towards energy efficiency.
If you’re unsure about where to start on making your home more energy-efficient, having a professional energy audit will help you find the most inefficient parts of your home that could use improvement.
There are many ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency, but the act of paying attention to how energy-efficient your home currently is will always be the first step. You’re already on your way to a more energy-efficient home just by caring about energy efficiency and your impact on the environment.
How do you optimize your home for energy-efficiency? Did you use any of the tips from this list?
Image credit: Chris Ross Harris via Adobe Spark
