You may notice that you spend an incredible amount of money paying electricity bills for your home during cold seasons such as winter and fall. This may be due to some factors in your home that use energy unnecessarily. You should conduct an inspection of certain elements in your home to check their efficiency levels and consider the following changes.
Insulation
Your house may be losing heat through the walls, the ceilings, and the attic during cold weather. You should get a home energy audit to check whether the insulation in your home is sufficient in preventing unnecessary heat loss. Your local power company may conduct a free home energy audit and provide an energy report of your house. If this option is not available, consider paying a professional to conduct the energy audit.
The results of the audit will determine whether you need to supplement your current insulation or whether the house needs an insulation overhaul. It is advisable that you incur the one-time cost of re-insulating your home in order to save on the recurrent cost of paying expensive electricity bills.
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Heating and cooling system
Your home may be wasting energy through the heating and cooling system. If your central heating system is old and worn out, you should consider replacing it with a modern energy-efficient system. Before replacing the entire unit, have the ductwork cleaned by professional air conditioning experts. The ducts of an air conditioner collect dust, cobwebs, and debris over the years, which clog the pipes and make it hard for the system to heat rooms effectively. As such, the central heating unit ends up using more energy to supply heat to the home due to clogged pipes.
Additionally, you should consider having a zoned heating system. A zoned heating system only heats up rooms when they are in use. As such, you avoid heating the entire house when you are only using the living room and the bedroom. Replacing your old thermostat with a smart programmable thermostat may save you money on utility bills. A smart thermostat allows you to control the heating system of your house from anywhere through a connection to your smart phone. As such, you can turn off the heat when you are not at home and switch it on before you get home in order to enter a warm house after work.
Fix faulty windows and doors
You may be heating your home and the outdoors due to faulty windows and doors. Faulty doors and windows allow cold air from outside into the house through the edges due to poor weather stripping or inability to close properly. Consider buying new weather stripping and installing it on your doors and windows to prevent air leakage. Ensure that you have double-pane or triple-pane windows because they provide maximum insulation hence your warm house will not lose heat through the single-pane glass.
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Evidently, the above energy practices will save you money in the long run. Additionally, they may help you get tax benefits due to the energy-saving factor and fetch your more money on the house during a sale.
