Home Energy Savings - Simple Techniques for Your Energy Efficient House

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What are the most effective ways to increase your home energy savings? This article discusses the many simple techniques available to help make homes more energy efficient! The first place to start is to inspect your home for “air leaks”. Since your heating and cooling system consumes about 45% of your homes energy requirements, it is important not to allow the heated or cooled air to escape from your home.

To begin a simple test to determine insulation weak spots or leaks, just light some incense and pass it around all doors and windows in your home. Take a pad and pencil with you to log all problem areas that you discover. This should only take an hour or two depending on the size of your home. It is important to check on every floor of the home, including the basement and the attic. Keep an accurate log – even draw pictures if necessary.

Once you have completed a thorough inspection and logged all areas of concern, it is time to insulate all locations in the home that you noted in your log. Depending on the area of the air leak, you should choose to use weather stripping or a caulking gun. Using your log, visit each problem area then seal and insulate all air leaks completely. This technique alone will save you up to 15% in home energy savings and is a great start to making a home energy efficient.

An even simpler way to make your house more energy efficient is to set the thermostat three or four degrees lower in the colder months and higher in the hotter months. This technique requires practically no work on your part and you will never notice the difference. With just a small adjustment to the thermostat setting you will save a considerable amount of both energy and money!

Moreover, consider the energy efficiency level of your homes heating and cooling system. Regular scheduled maintenance is essential. Once a month replacement of the systems filter is mandatory and will make a vast difference in the systems performance. Dirty filters alone will cause the entire system to work twice as hard but reduce efficiency by one-half.

The age of your homes heating and cooling system is also an important consideration. If the system is 10 to 15 years old, replace it with a more up-to-date energy efficient system. A high tech heating and cooling unit will reduce energy consumption and increase your home energy savings up to 25% overall. The new system or unit will literally pay for itself in just a few years and your family will be much more comfortable all year round.

In addition, replace your thermostat with a new energy saving programmable model. Some have multiple day and night setting, so you can program it according the times when you will be out of the house or asleep. Ensure the new thermostat is installed in a place that is neutral. It should not be installed near stoves, drafty areas of the house or doors leading to outside of the home. The location should have very stable temperature fluctuations. This alone will aide in making your home more energy efficient and will save up to another 5% in total home energy savings.

These are a few of the simple, but effective, techniques for creating an energy efficient house. Remember to seal and insulate air leaks, adjust your thermostat settings, install an energy efficient thermostat, update the heating and cooling system and replace filters once a month. By implementing these simple techniques you can save up to half of your homes current energy consumption while at the same time substantially reducing your energy costs. (Press Ctrl-D to Bookmark this article for future reference!)