How to Boost Your Ellabell Area Home’s Energy Efficiency
Boosting your Energy Efficiency
By improving the energy efficiency of your home, you can significantly improve your HVAC unit’s performance while saving money at the same time. But your home’s heating and cooling system isn’t the only place where you can save energy. Keep reading for some other steps you can take to conserve.
Replace All Incandescent Lights
Incandescent lights are usually cheap to buy and produce a warm, pleasing light. However, they are very inefficient and put out a lot of wasted energy in the form of heat. That is especially wasteful in the summer when the air conditioner is cooling down what the light bulbs heated up.
CCFL bulbs use about 1/4 to 1/5 of the energy of incandescent bulbs and usually last longer. For even greater energy savings, try installing LED bulbs, which use about 1/3 of the electricity of a CCFL bulb.
Install Energy Efficient Appliances
This is a pretty obvious suggestion that can result in significant cost savings in the long run. However, getting a new HVAC system, refrigerator or washing machine isn’t cheap and is usually only done when the old one wears out.
Lower the Temperature on the Water Heater
Most of the time, homeowners don’t even need water as hot as the water heater is capable of producing. This means energy wasted on heating water to a temperature the user will cool down with cold water anyway.
Beware of Vampire Appliances or Devices
Many electronics, even when turned off, still use electricity. TVs, computers, microwaves and video game systems are just a few examples of devices that run on electricity as long as they’re plugged in. Over the course of a year, these multiple devices can add up to a significant amount of wasted electricity. To prevent this vampire draw, unplug the devices or plug them into special power strips that cut off all power to the device when not in use.
Check All Seals
Make sure there are no air leaks in the openings of the home, such as around windows and doors. Add weather stripping or caulk as necessary. This will keep the cool air in during the summer and cold air out in the winter. The HVAC unit will also appreciate the better sealing.
These are just a handful of ways you can increase the energy efficiency of your home. To learn about more options in Ellabell and surrounding areas, call our team of experts at Climatech Air at 912-355-0923.