With energy prices creeping ever upward and the planet facing a climate disaster, improving the energy efficiency of our homes is something we should all be thinking about. Luckily, there are plenty of options and changes you can make, both big and small, that will improve the energy efficiency of your home today. Below are some ideas to get you started!
Switch to LEDs
A simple change you can make today is to switch from traditional incandescent light bulbs to LED bulbs. Although LEDs cost more upfront than incandescent bulbs, on average, they offer 20,000 hours of use, compared to the 1000 hours from a traditional bulb.
The real savings from LEDs come from how much more efficient they are to run. On average, an LED will use roughly 6 times less energy to produce the same amount of light as a regular, incandescent bulb. Per bulb, that translates to a saving of somewhere between $10 – $20 dollars per year, depending on use. And that’s just for one bulb. Now, multiply that over all of the bulbs in your house and you can start to see the true savings that come from switching.
Insulate Your Attic Space
Most attics are designed to draw cool air in through the edges and move it across the attic space. This displaces the warm air that has risen from the house and prevents the build-up of condensation and mold. However, it also means that your attic is full of cold air all the time. This, added to the fact that an uninsulated attic space can bleed a lot of heat through the roof, can lead to massive losses in heat from your house, higher heating bills, and an uncomfortable living space beneath.
Thankfully, there are many options for insulating your loft. Some things to consider are what kind of insulation you choose, whether you insulate just at the ceiling level or up to the roof rafter level, and whether you insulate your attic hatch. All of these things will have a bearing on how much insulating your attic costs, with it likely to run you a few hundred dollars at the least. But the savings you will make on heat bills will soon pay for themselves, and your overall energy use will drop, which is good for everyone.
Batten Down the Hatches
As with an uninsulated attic space, you can also lose a lot of heat through poorly sealed windows and doors. Make the time to go round and check all of your windows and doors for cool draughts, and seal up any that you find. For windows, this should be a fairly simple DIY job, but with your doors, you might need the help of a professional.
You could also explore the options of adding more weather-resistant doors and windows from a company like Storm Pro Window and Door to your house. This could be in the form of extra glazing on your windows or a storm door which will insulate your house from the elements far better than a standard front door. These won’t come cheap but the potential savings could be significant.
Switch to a Low-Flow Showerhead
Swapping out your standard showerhead for a low-flow head can reduce your water usage by half, by reducing the flow of water per minute that comes through the head. Low-flow showerheads can be bought fairly inexpensively and installed easily by anyone. Not only will you be saving on water bills, you’ll also be saving on the energy you were using to heat all that water beforehand. Win-win.
Use a Cool Cycle
Sticking with the water theme, consider using a cooler wash cycle on your dishwasher and washing machine when you run them. It is estimated that roughly 90% of the energy usage associated with washers comes from the energy used to heat the water. With plenty of products on the market that are able to provide the same level of cleaning at lower temperatures, try dropping the degrees and watch as your bills drop too.
Drop the Thermostat
During the day, when you’re out at work and the kids are out at school, consider lowering your thermostat by a few degrees. Even a drop as little as 3 – 5 degrees will make a positive impact on your bills, while a drop of 10 – 15 degrees will have a profound effect on how much you see coming out of your account each month. There’s no point heating a house when no one is in it! Plus, you can always set the heat to come back on just before you come home, that way you’ll still be nice and toasty when you get in.
Start a Compost Heap
Instead of throwing leftover fruits and vegetables into the trash, start a compost pile in the garden instead. Not only will the unused food break down into lovely fertilizer for your garden, but you will also be reducing the amount of trash you send to the landfill each week.
A compost pile is also a great way to get the kids outdoors and in nature. By letting them help create the compost, you can get them involved with gardening, hunting for creepy crawlies, and just getting their hands dirty, every child’s favorite activity!
Every Little Helps
Try to incorporate energy-efficient habits into your and your family’s lives – it’s the small changes that often have the biggest difference.
Get into the habit of turning off the light when you leave the room, likewise for anything else you might have been using. There’s nothing more creepy (or wasteful!) than a TV talking to itself in an empty room.
Turn off the tap when you’re brushing your teeth and save all of that water from needlessly spiraling away.
Unplug chargers that aren’t being used. How often do we all leave chargers plugged in and switched on but with nothing attached to the other end? Unplug these when you’re done with them and stop charging the air.
These are just a few ideas to get you started, but I’m sure you can come up with loads of your own. The added benefit of developing these little habits is that you will be instilling energy-conscious practices into your children, that hopefully, they will carry forward with them the rest of their lives. We can all make a difference, no matter how small, on our monthly spending and our impact on the environment, so let’s start today.
Disclosure: collaborative post
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