Reduce Your Energy Use At Home

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Your home’s heating and air conditioning makes up a massive part of your energy use. Whether you’re trying to reduce the amount of energy you use to save money or to just make a greener home, saving on your heating and AC is a good place to start. Save energy and money with these simple tips. 

  1. Get an energy audit. If you have a large house, it can be worth the money to have an energy audit done to see exactly where you are wasting energy. The audit can also show you how to improve the overall efficiency of your home. 
  2. Don’t skip maintenance. If your system has to work harder due to dirty filters, or dust causing clogs, it’s going to use a lot more energy and cost you more money to run. Routine maintenance ensures your system is running at the best efficiency levels. If your system does need repairs, make sure you use quality parts, like a honeywell 8000 thermostat. 
  3. Program your thermostat. Adjust your thermostat so the heating and air conditioning comes on around the schedule of the family so you’re not wasting it. 
  4. Seal against drafts. Your home needs to be well insulated against drafts in order to keep the costs of running your heating and air-conditioning low. Work out where hot air is getting out and cold air is getting in, and seal up these gaps. Seal up any cracks, fit insulation, and use draught excluders and heavy curtains to keep draughts at bay. 
  5. Block out the heat. When your house gets too hot, find some ways to keep the heat out before you crank up the air conditioning. You can make use of blinds and shades on the windows to keep out direct sunlight, which helps your home to stay cooler. By keeping out that heat, your air conditioning doesn’t have to work as hard to keep the house cool. 
  6. Turn off your ceiling fans. Ceiling fans aren’t very effective for cooling the air inside the house. What they really do is move the air around so you feel cooler. Use the fans when people are at home to help everyone feel comfortable, but turn them off when there’s no body in, as they won’t do much to keep your rooms cool. 
  7. Run your appliances at night. If you use appliances like a dishwasher or a washing machine, run them at night when you can. At night, the outside temperature is lower, so your air-conditioning isn’t working as hard to keep things cool and can better combat the heat put out by these appliances. 
  8. Change your air filters. Your air filters in the AC need to be checked every month and replaced on a regular basis to stop dirt building up. Old filters make the system work harder and push up the energy you use. 
  9. Upgrade your systems. If your current heating and AC systems aren’t very energy-efficient or are getting old, it may be worth replacing them. This will be a large cost at first, but over time, it will pay for itself by lowering your energy costs. 
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Mia Guerra

Mia Guerra

Executive Editor at Chispa Magazine
Executive Editor at Chispa Magazine, Mia Guerra is a writer at heart. Regardless the topic, she loves to investigate, encourage, and ruminate on topics that can make us better people. Aiming to live a Proverbs 31 life, Mia is ecstatic to be following her calling with Chispa. At home she is her husband's sidekick and together they are raising a God-fearing family in Atlanta.

Mia Guerra

Executive Editor at Chispa Magazine, Mia Guerra is a writer at heart. Regardless the topic, she loves to investigate, encourage, and ruminate on topics that can make us better people. Aiming to live a Proverbs 31 life, Mia is ecstatic to be following her calling with Chispa. At home she is her husband's sidekick and together they are raising a God-fearing family in Atlanta.