Options such as sun, water or wind are great producers of energy without negative impacts to the environment. They also offer cost effective solutions for your home. If you’d like to make the energy that you use to power your house’s technology a little bit greener, just keep on reading. You’ll find some excellent suggestions on how you can get started.
You can conserve energy by shading your windows from sunlight. Both curtains and blinds will help keep the heat from the sun out of your home during the summer months. If you do both of these it will cool your house down so you won’t have to use as much air conditioning in the summer. In addition to conserving energy, you will be able to save money.
Conserve energy by unplugging chargers when you aren’t using them. Anytime a charger is plugged in, it is using a bit of energy.
Furnace filters should be replaced annually, and check them monthly for cleanliness. Installing the filters in warm-air registers is also a great idea. This can prevent anything from getting caught in the ducts.
Try solar water heaters instead of traditional ones. If your location does not get too cold, purchase a system that puts the water in a solar heater prior to coming to your home. It’s a good idea to use a supplemental water heater, however, if you cannot count on constant sunshine or if your hot water consumption is high.
When you have a solar energy system installed, ensure that the batteries that hold the power are situated in close proximity to the cells. This procedure guards against power loss as energy travels through the cable. This also prevents the long cables from casting shadows over the PV cells.
Be sure you maintain your refrigerator properly. With the fridge being a top energy consumer in the home, maintenance is important for efficiency. Make sure you clean out any dust from around heating coils. Make sure door seals are clean and tight.
Get rid of your old water heater and put in a green, tankless one. Even though these green versions of water heaters still use electricity or gas, they only need it to warm the water you’re using instead of heating it at all times. Tankless water heaters are available to purchase in many different sizes; you can heat water for your whole house, or just a single faucet.
Use a laptop rather than a desktop computer to save electricity and enhance your mobility. By doing this you could be saving around 75% off your electric bill, especially if you constantly use the Internet or type up papers. In addition, the laptop is portable and be used anywhere in the house.
Keep track of how many watts you’re using. Use gadgets such as Kill-A-Watt or Watt Minder and figure out what your consumption is and where it is coming from. When you plug an electrical appliance into the monitor, it displays how much energy it requires each hour, month, or year. This lets you know how much it costs to operate an appliance.
Energy Star
Appliances with the Energy Star certification bear a distinctive logo that makes them easy to identify. The ENERGY STAR guidelines are set by the U.S. Department of Energy in addition to those of the Environmental Protection Agency. Some of these products have tax rebates from the government for being green appliances.
Making use of solar energy will take your current green home plans to the next level. The initial cost of installing solar panels may seem significant, but consider the long term saving when calculating the final cost. Once your solar panels are installed, you can generate lots of free power. It’s also possible to sell some of your excess power to nearby electric companies.
Frequently check the condition of the seal on your refrigerator and freezer doors. A damaged seal will cause your fridge to use more energy than necessary, wasting both energy and money. You can determine if you need to replace your seal by inserting one sheet of paper in the door jam. If it slides out too easily, your seal is not up to par.
To make you home greener, install a programmable thermostat. It can save you a significant sum of money your monthly energy bills. These devices come with many different heating schemes programmed into them. Some settings are suitable for saving energy during the summer, while others are more suited to the winter months. These thermostats regulate the temperature overnight and during the day according to your chosen settings.
Environmentally Friendly
By developing good, environmentally friendly habits, you can start saving money now. As you can see from this article, being green does not mean that things have to cost a lot or be complicated. You can have an environmentally friendly house today.
