How to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient

Making smart transportation choices to conserve energy is important, but your home is significantly larger than any car and it runs 24/7 instead of the hour or so you spend driving each day. Improving your home’s energy use can exert a huge impact on your pocketbook, the planet and the future lifestyles of your great grandchildren.

You can hire a specialist to design and build a zero-energy home just for you, or you can adjust the home you have to make the most of it. The average new building relies on technologies like air conditioning to maintain acceptable comfort levels. But older buildings were often planned and constructed with cooling in mind because there were no other alternatives when they were built. These older homes need updating based on what we know now, while newer homes need to be adjusted for greater energy conservation. Either way, improvements in energy use at home must be made with a long-term perspective.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Fluourescent lighting
• Outdoor clothes line
• Energy efficient heaters and coolers
• Foam board insulating sheeting
• Energy-efficent washing machine

Tips to Increase Energy Efficiency

1. Reduce the size of your living space. Consider subdividing larger houses to accommodate multiple households, grow your household to fill the space you have, or just close off rooms you rarely use.

2. Insulate, insulate, insulate! For older houses, insulate from the inside. On newer houses, you can insulate from the outside. To maximize the insulation's effectiveness, consistently apply it throughout the house. For example, a well-insulated wall is virtually useless next to an open window. Use foam board insulating sheathing instead of, or apply it on top of, the structural OSB or plywood. It works for both insulation and moisture/condensation control.

3. Ensure that your home is airtight. For more information, see the related eHow article on eliminating air leaks in your home.

4. Install quality windows (low emissivity coated, double or triple glazed with argon fill gas). Your building supply store should clearly label these. Whenever possible, reduce the size of your windows; they can represent a huge source of air loss.

5. Landscape. It’s easy to predict the location of the sun throughout the day during each season. In tropical climates, plant trees to shade your home during the hottest hours of the day. If your winter climate is especially cold, choose deciduous trees (those that lose their leaves). They will protect your home from the summer sun, but will let the sun warm your place come winter.

6. Install energy-efficient appliances including water heater, furnace and air conditioner when necessary. Look for an energy-efficient label at the store. Aim for a tankless instantaneous hot water heater (EF=~0.85), a 90% condensing furnace and a 12 to 13 SEER air conditioner. For warmer climates, get a 14 or higher SEER air conditioner instead.

7. After handling your heating, cooling and water heating needs, address the electric loads inside your house. The refrigerator is probably the most important appliance since it’s always on. You can sometimes make up the cost of the new appliance in electricity savings within a year.

8. Reduce your electricity use with fluorescent lighting. If you’ve had bad experiences with fluorescent lighting in the past, give it another chance. Compact fluorescent technology is continually improving. You must wait for fluorescent bulbs to attain full brightness, so don’t judge them after you first turn them on. You might also pair fluorescents with incandescents to trim energy usage. With a flick of a switch, this duo can deliver bright light with a good spectrum.

9. Buy an efficient washing machine. The Energy Star horizontal-axis or front-loading washer saves both water and energy. It even rinses more detergent out of your clothes. Whichever machine you chose, make sure it carries a good Energy Star rating.

10. Air-dry your laundry. This prolongs the life of your clothing and reduces your energy demands. In cold climates or apartments, use an indoor drying rack. Otherwise, line drying outdoors makes clothes smell fresh. Careful line drying can often reduce the need for ironing and also save you time.

Tips & Warnings

• Structural improvements will generally yield greater benefits than good appliances.
• Technologies like home solar energy panels, home windmills, fuel cells or gas turbine cogeneration are effective, but first make sure you’ve maximized the above points for the to improving your home’s energy conservation without spending much money. These technologies are pricey, so, the less energy you use, the less you'll spend on these technologies to generate your own power.
• Buy Energy Star rated products.
• Energy Star rates houses as well as appliances. Consider buying one when looking for a new home. However, there are still improvements you can make even on an Energy Star-approved home.

[Conservation]

on 9/6/2007 One other comment - windows if installed properly can represent a significant radiant heat loss. Air loss is only an issue in poorly insulated, manufactured, or sealed windows.

[Conservation]

on 9/6/2007 One of the best investments existing and new home owners can make is to ensure that the HVAC (heating, ac and ventilation)system) is designed/installed properly and specifically that the ducts are sealed with mastic - a paste like substance that is used to seal joints in duct systems that is significantly more reliable and durable than tapes.

Stats show that significant energy loss can be attributed to "leaky ducts" and it should be the first thing evaluated when considering energy improvements. Definitely more challenging to execute in existing homes, but still the biggest bang for the buck, focusing on sealing ducts in unconditioned spaces such as vented crawl spaces or unconditioned attics.

Have a heating professional perform a duct test on your home using a duct blaster to determine if duct sealing is appropriate for your home. Contact ENERGY STAR or your utility for more inf