The summer is squarely upon us and the heat is at its highest point. This means that everyone is searching for cool places where they can beat the heat. This means that lots of time will be spent indoors and at home when possible. As a result, you can count on electric bills soaring from the increased usage of home appliances. Unfortunately companies do not pay employees more during the summer to accommodate your increased electricity usage. So in order to not go broke because of increased electric bills you need to make sure that you take on an attitude of improving your home’s energy efficiency. Here are a few great ideas for making your castle its most efficient.
1. Purchase new windows and doors
One of the biggest energy wasters in your home occurs because of poor door and window seals. Older windows and doors are leaky allowing room temperatures to become impossible to be maintained. Your home air conditioner HVAC system as a thermostat in your home that is constantly monitoring the temperature. When the temperature falls out of the range that you have set it at, the unit will turn on and attempt to get your home back to that target temperature.
Each time the unit turns on it uses electricity which in turn cost you money. When you have leaky windows and doors, the unit has to turn on more often in order to attempt to get your home to the desired temperature. Therefore, your leaky doors and windows are causing the unit to be less efficient, to work harder, and to cost you more money to operate.
A smart money-saving move is to purchase new doors and windows from a company that specializes in providing the latest high end windows and doors technologies. Ontario Canada based Echotech Windows & Doors is the right type of company. They utilize the latest materials and manufacturing techniques to create doors and windows with the tightest seals. Your home will stay at the desired temperature longer resulting in you paying less for cooling and heating. And an added benefit is that your new windows and doors will be beautiful.
2. Integrate smart lighting into your home
Traditional light bulbs are called incandescents. They use a rudimentary filament to create light. However 90% of the energy given off by an incandescent bulb is heat. For this reason traditional lighting is very inefficient. Today’s choices in light bulb include LED, halogen incandescents, and Compact fluorescents. These lights are much more efficient than traditional incandescent lighting .In fact LEDs use 90% less energy than standard light bulbs and they shine brighter.
When you purchase these new forms of lightning the initial cost of the bald is much higher than a traditional incandescent bulb however the low cost of operation more than makes up for the initial outlay. You should switch all the lighting in your house so these new bulbs and you will see a monthly lowering of your electricity bills. As an added step to take, consider putting dimmers on all of the lights that you use very often. This will allow you to control how much electricity you are dedicating towards the lighting in those areas. You can literally control how much money you want to save.
3. Consider replacing your air conditioning unit
Your air conditioner is by far the most expensive part of your electricity bill. In fact it is probably the vast majority of your total electric bill. If you have an older AC unit, you are probably losing money due to its inefficiency. Once an AC unit is more than a decade old, it no longer runs efficiently and it must work harder to generate the same amount of cooling as it did previously. Many people are reluctant to replace an AC unit because of the cost in purchasing a new one. However new or units can be as much as 25% more efficient, so the cost of purchasing a new one is quickly recovered and from that point forward you will be saving significantly on electricity bills.
Paying attention and being smart about Energy Efficiency in your home will save you lots of money. You do not have to sacrifice comfort in order to save your pocketbook, you only have to implement the Smart Tips.