by Ian D Scofield, Writer
Out of all of the latest home design trends, one of the most popular is energy efficient homes. Constructing energy efficient homes helps not only your wallet, but the environment too. The term energy efficient means that your home uses less energy and the energy that it does use is better utilized.
People both build new energy efficient homes and modify existing homes to be more energy efficient. How do you go about making an energy efficient home? Let’s explore some of the top tips to making an energy efficient home.
Insulate The Home
One of the biggest places that you will lose temperature control in your home is through the walls. Selecting a good insulation material will help to keep the temperatures in your home regulated to your desire. Foam and radiant materials are just two options for you to choose from when it comes to insulation.
Pick The Right Windows
Window choice plays a big role in controlling the temperature of your home both during the winter and summer. Controlling the temperature without using a heater or an air conditioner allows you to reduce the amount of energy that your home uses. Without insulated windows, you are going to lose temperature.
Make sure that the window fixtures are sealed from the elements so that you don’t lose control over your temperature when you install fancy windows.
Look For Energy Efficient Appliances
As far as internal electricity use, the biggest siphons for energy is your appliances. Laundry machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, and water heaters are just a few of the big culprits. Your HVAC system is also on the list. Purchasing Energy Star rated appliances will help to cut down on the power that your home appliances use.
There are certain models out there that are designed to use less power by decreasing size. Consider these appliances to further cut your electrical usage.
Screw In Energy Efficient Lighting
A lot of people go to the grocery store or local hardware store and buy the cheapest lights out there thinking that it is the best option. Chances are that you aren’t making the right choice. LED lights and similar energy efficient lights use less power and last for longer. Both benefits of these lights mean that they quickly, and easily, offset the cost of the lights.
In most cases, they cost less than a dollar more than a traditional light bulb but can last for years longer.
Turn Off And Unplug Unused Electronics
Did you know that all of your plugs and electronic devices use power even when they are not on/not in use? While not necessarily a traditional route for energy efficiency, this is an important step. This isn’t limited to the items that you would necessarily think of. For example, a PS4 gaming console uses 10 watts of power when it is in stand-by mode and not powered down?
Your average phone charger will continue to use power when unplugged from a device. Up to 0.26 watts of power.
Gauge Your Energy Efficiency
After you have taken into mind all of these different selections, you can gauge exactly how energy efficient your home will be. The traditional method is to use a handful of formulas that will give you an idea for the efficiency of your home. For most people this isn’t realistic. We aren’t all engineers.
On the other hand, you can access software and websites that are capable of doing all of those calculations for you. If you use industry standard material and appliances, you don’t even need to do anything besides select what you are installing and the size of your home.
Take all of these suggestions into mind when considering building a new home or modifying an existing one. Each step on here will help you to reduce your power bill and footprint. You might even be able to get credits for the building materials and efforts you put in with your local power company. Do your part in keeping our planet around for those who will come after us.
This article is based off of a request from a client to write a 4400-wordpiece about energy efficient building. I rewrote the article for my portfolio and changed the keyword as to not interfere with what I wrote for him. I also expanded it so that it matches the length of one of my typical articles.
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