Quick Ways to Improve Your Home’s Energy Efficiency

Brian Kinkade
August 19, 2010

If you’re like most people, you don’t want to have to pay more for your home’s energy than what you need to. Forget for a moment concerns about waste and the environment, and understand that most homeowners are throwing money away every month because their homes could really stand to improve their energy efficiency.

Fortunately, there are some relatively basic and quick things you can do if you want to improve your energy efficiency today:

•    Start by assessing the situation. There are a number of online energy efficiency calculators you can use to estimate how much money you’re burning every month just because your home could stand to see improved energy efficiency. These calculators take all of about five minutes to use. If you’re more aggressive and have more time, you can bring in a professional energy auditor who can do a thorough assessment and tell you where the most effective energy efficiency improvements will be for your particular home.

•    Change out your thermostat. One of the quickest ways to improve energy efficiency in your home is to start with the thermostat. You can install a programmable thermostat fairly simply, and they’re really not that expensive at all. They are readily available at most local hardware stores, and you’re almost certain to find them at the big box tool and home improvement stores.

•    Check your insulation. Whether it’s adding some insulation to your attic or simply caulking around your exterior doors and windows, taking an hour or two to better insulate your home and reduce the air flow is a great way to quickly improve the energy efficiency of your home.

•    Make use of an alternate heat source. If you have a fireplace, use it. Of course, you want to make sure that the damper on the fireplace is shut when you’re not using it, and that all of your seals around your fireplace’s hearth are tight.

•    Get energy efficient appliances. If you’ve got a 20 year-old clothes dryer, chances are pretty good you’re not being anywhere near as efficient as you can. Today’s appliances are greener (not to mention much more feature rich) than those of decades past.

About the Author: Brian Kinkade is a broker and team lead with Brokers Guild – Cherry Creek Ltd, one of Denver’s fastest growing full service Denver real estate firm. Brian’s team of Internet savvy agents service the Denver Metro area while specializing in Denver luxury homes, Colorado horse property and International sales. They invite you to visit their advanced real estate website today to search for homes, gather local information, and learn about Denver neighborhoods. Brian and his team are standing by, ready to assist with your home purchase, property sale or relocation needs.

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Wellington Luxury Homes
August 22, 2010

Hi Brian, I have a stay at home wife. We changed over to efficiency bulbs which changed our bill about 20 per month. We also put new seals on all doors, wow much better now. A/c turns on less.

Property Marbella
August 24, 2010

Hi Brian,
One very economic trick for houses is to rent an energy camera or a thermo camera, you can find many energy hole in your house who often is cheap to fix and repair. I have seen 3 day rentals from $299.

John, Vancouver USA
August 24, 2010

Hello Brian, yes those simple things can add up to make a big difference. We also see a lot of insulation out-of-place for the main-floor. Often a simple visit to the crawlspace with the necessary supplies (usually inexpensive) to get the material back into place does the trick!

George West
August 24, 2010

In the area that we live in, the a/c is rarely used, but heating is used a lot. We followed some of the steps that you’ve outlined last summer and our oil bill last year dropped by a few hundred dollars. This year we’re looking to replace the furnace with a more efficient variety to see if this can be reduced even further.

Maurice Jenkins
August 31, 2010

Hi Brian,

Thanks a lot for the info. Even though these changes are minor they do make a huge difference. In the end not only do you save money, but you also make the world a better place.

seoneo
September 7, 2010

Hi Brian,
Thank you for your suggestion. These are very effective for improve home energy efficiency.

Real Scottsdale Real Estate
September 18, 2010

I really like the article

The Tire
September 30, 2010

i live in Romania, and the truth is that the average salary is near 300 dollars/month. the bills are high, much too high to permit things like letting your computer turned on all night long, or things like this. when we leave a room, we turn of the light, when we enter back, we turn it back. This is energy efficiency. I still remember days when the main source of light was the candle (Ceausescu’s reign). Greetings!

Terence Richardson
October 22, 2010

We take a lot for granted in North America don’t we The Tire? On a separate note, I’ve got an 11 year old 10-seer HVAC system and in the summer our electric bill is $250-$260 a month. A “comfort consultant”, as those crafty HVAC sales people like to be called, said that by changing out our system to a newer and higher efficiency system (16-seer) that our bill would drop by $150 a month and we’d get up to $1500 in tax credit back from uncle sam. Surely not a simple energy fix but very significant. If we keep the house long-term it’s worth it. If we’re planning to sell then not so much.. New system would cost about $6000 (-1500, so $4500 after credit), that’s 40 months until break even and I can’t imagine every month being $150 cheaper since we switch over to gas heating in the colder months. Interesting to think about though!

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December 11, 2010

[...] Link to original post: http://ericbramlett.com/quick-ways-to-improve-your-homes-energy-efficiency/ [...]

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