What if you could improve your home energy efficiency and save money ?In a world when you hear about wastefulness and pollution, let's boost your home energy efficiency and your budget as well. 
You probably have at least one or two CFL (compact fluorescent light bulb) bulbs in your house. What you may not have known is that those same CFL bulbs will last at least 10 times longer than their incandescent cousin and use about 75% less electricity on top of that. Changing all your bulbs over will pay off big time in your electric bill. The bulbs now come in a wide variety of styles to fit most any need. They even have tradtional looking bulbs for that lamp that shows the bulb. Candelabra, flood, 3-way, dimmable and globe are just a few of the styles available. It takes a few minutes for CFLs to “warm up” to their full lighting potential, so don’t think they are defective if they are on the dimmer side for a few minutes. Cfl bulbs now come in various styles and lumens so you can find one for almost any application in your home.
Habits are hard to break, try starting new ones instead by turning off the tv and lights when you leave the room. Unplug electronic chargers that aren't in use and power down or put your computer on sleep when you won't be using it. Anything that has an internal clock like a DVD player or cell phone pulls electricity when it is plugged in. But unless you have a battery back up in your DVD player or automatic start coffee pot, once unplugged, you will have to reset the clock. Using a power strip that can be turned on and off not only gives you more outlets to plug stuff in, but it has a switch that can turn off the electricity and help your home energy efficiency. We live near the Great Lakes and have plenty of water whenever we want it. You might live in a more arid region and already be "water-wise". All of us though, should keep water waste to a minimum. By shutting off the faucet while you brush your teeth, you could save 3-4 gallons of water per day…per person. How about a soak in the tub that will both relax you and save you half the amount of water you would have used taking an average length shower? One more quick note on water, most of your laundry will get just as clean with a cold water wash rather than hot water. Give it a try once if you need convincing.
While you are in the laundry room, check your dryer’s lint trap. Cleaning it after every load helps the energy efficiency by letting the air flow unhindered. Hey....what about a clothes line? You know, hang out your clothes to air dry in the sunshine. You don't need fabric softeners and nothing beats the smell of laundry dried outside. If you hang white clothes out there, the sun helps whiten them too. If you have never done this before, do yourself a favor and try it once for a treat.
I’m sure you already know that you should turn your thermostat down in the heating months to as low as you can stand it, maybe to 61-65 degrees during your sleeping hours. Now don’t forget to turn it down when you leave for work or go on a vacation or open the windows up for some much needed fresh air. Same goes for the air conditioning – well, turn that up rather than down I mean. If you’re like us, you usually have more things on your mind than remembering to reset the thermostat. Personally, I find air conditioning to be a necessity in the hot, humid midwest summers. Having an attic exhaust fan running, especially during the summer months, increases my home energy efficiency and really helps to keep the air conditioner from running constantly.
It can lower the attic temperature by as much as 40 degrees just by pulling outside air through the attic. Your bathroom is the perfect place to "Green Up" and save some money. There are so many new processes and materials these days and there are lots of things you can do for free that'll pay you back over and over! Check out A Green Bathroom Remodel.
OK, let's talk a bit about keeping your home warm in the winter.
In the colder climates, it’s easy to “feel” your energy loss when you stand near a window in your home. If you aren’t sure how well your windows are keeping the elements outside, hold a candle next to the frame of your window and notice whether or not the flame flickers. Now if it blows out….no doubt.
This diagram shows more places where energy frequently escapes. Be sure you have adequate attic insulation which is key when you talk about home energy efficiency. An investment in new windows can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars but would most likely save you big money in the long run. You can do a few things though that won’t cost you much and you can do it yourself.
If you felt that draft coming through the window a new application of caulk outside might just be enough to stop it.
1. Turn your thermostat on your water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit. This still makes for a hot shower but along with the energy savings, it may also save you from scalding yourself stepping into a shower you didn’t give the “toe test” to.
2. If you’re going on a vacation, consider turning it even lower than that or perhaps off altogether (don’t do this though unless you’ll be comfortable relighting the pilot light.) Our thermostat has a “vacation” setting, a “warm” setting and “high”. We keep ours on the higher end of the “warm”.
3. If you touch the water heater and it is warm to the touch, wrapping a water heater blanket around the tank can save you 4-9% of your water heating cost. Most of us homeowners know that the furnace has a fan built into it to move the heated air through the house but what we probably didn't know is that if you set your thermostat fan to "on" and leave the fan running all of the time, the furnace and air conditioner will work less than if you left the fan off. The reason for this is that the air in your home is basically static and just sits there waiting to be heated or cooled. If the air is moving around then the cooled air will mix with the warm air and make the overall temperature more even throughout the house. This works for AC in the summer and heat in the winter and the fan uses very little energy. Note: electric motors are designed to run constantly so don't be worried about hurting the motor. Our fan has been running for almost five years now and we have never had a problem with it.
There are energy efficient as well as renewable energy water heaters on the market as well. Take a look at tankless water heaters as well as solar powered water heaters and your state's database of incentives to see what works best for you. Green-Energy-Efficient-Homes.com has lots more tips on making your home more energy efficient.
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