Assessing Energy Efficiency In Your Home

Remember that the two great factors which you can change in order to enhance your quality of life are your lifestyle and your home. If you want to modernize your home, you have to make significant decisions regarding your household appliances. In today’s world, we are faced with a wide range of appliance styles, sizes, configurations and technologies.  Evaluating your household appliances can help a lot in your aim to save home energy.  The following are the factors that can help you compare and assess your home appliances:

Image via WikipediaEnergy Efficiency:  It is always good to carefully weigh the energy efficiency of the appliances in your home. With some household devices, you may have a choice between electricity and natural gas as the source of power. The energy efficiency can also be based on the materials the machine or appliance is made of. Various materials can be cooled and heated at different rates. Choose Energy Star appliances where possible, as these are made specifically to be energy-efficient.

Size:  Having an appliance with the right size for your home and the area where it will be used is significant. Speed can also be a factor. Generally, the faster an appliance finishes its task, the less energy it uses, compared to longer usage of a slower appliance.

Features:  Assess first the features of an appliance before purchasing it and think carefully how these features can improve your lifestyle, and whether you truly need the appliance at all. If you really don't need it, don't purchase it.

Another advisable tip is to come up with a home energy conservation plan.  There are various approaches which you can use in developing such plan and these include:

• Identification of the places where home energy is used inefficiently or lost
• Prioritizing said areas and finding out how much energy is being wasted
• Correcting said problems systematically depending on your home energy improvement budget

As you come up with your home energy conservation plan, you should first identify the problem areas. It is good to start in the area where the highest amount of energy is used because that area can also be the best place to gain potential savings. With the above mentioned home energy conservation tips, you can free up more bucks and also benefit the environment by conserving energy (aka fuel) use.

Examples of Energy Star Rated Appliances:
     

Home Energy Conservation Tips

Every year, interest rates are increasing and the cost of electricity is definitely going up. And whether we admit it or not, we sometimes find ourselves running out of money. However, if you compare an average house to an energy-efficient residence, you’ll find out that it is very possible to lessen your annual energy consumption to almost 40 percent. There are lots of ways to conserve home energy which consequently lower your energy bills. And most of the changes that you can do for your home are also helpful to the environment.

Here are some ways to conserve energy in your home:

Image via WikipediaHeating and Air Conditioning

1.  If you’re going to be out of an air conditioned room for a long time, be sure to turn off the A/C unit - similarly if  leaving on vacation, set your A/C to a lower setting, or even turn it off altogether if there aren't plants or pets or other things inside that may suffer due to heat while you're gone.
2.  Rooms that are not used often should have sealed (or at least closed) vents.
3.  You can also install ceiling fans that are remote controlled than have a built-in heater.
4.  When the room is occupied, put the thermostat at a comfortable setting.
5.  When the fireplace isn’t used, close the damper in the fireplace

Laundry Appliances:

1.  Avoid using your washing machine in partial loads. It is better if you meet the capacity of the machine.
2.  Very dirty clothes may be pre-soaked before washing. This will prevent you from running your machine twice.
3.  For the garments that aren’t very dirty, use a smaller quantity of detergent and put your machine to a lighter wash setting.
4.  Electric driers consume the most energy in your laundry tasks, so if you do have a clothesline, use it! The sunlight can also help kill bacteria, and your clothes will smell fresh too.
5.  Ironing clothes should be done all at one time and during off-peak hours. 

Refrigerators and Freezers:

1.  Refrigerators and freezers should be defrosted regularly.  Frost build-up can increase the load of the compressor motor. (Many newer Energy Star appliances have a self-defrosting feature, so you won't have to worry about this. But do keep the vents unblocked to allow proper air circulation to keep your food cold.)
2.  Inspect your refrigerator door and keep an eye out for a leaking gasket. If you can feel cold air leaking around the seal, it's definitely time for a new fridge.
3.  Avoid constant opening and closing of the refrigerator’s door because it can contribute to ice or frost build-up, and also causes the appliance to run more. When taking a number of things from the fridge, take them all out at once.

Kitchen Appliances:

1.  Don’t boil water in an open pan. A pan that’s covered will boil the water faster, and also keep more water in the pan for your use.
2.  Keep stove burners, range top and reflectors clean. It can help generate more heat and consume less energy.
3.  When the food you’re cooking starts to boil, turn the electric stove to low mode.
4.  Put smaller pans or pots on small burners or heating elements. If the burner is larger than the bottom of the pan, you are wasting a lot of energy, and the heating won't be as efficient. Always match burner and pan size whenever possible.

Image via WikipediaLighting:

1.  Switch off unused lights as well as other appliances that use electricity when not in use.
2.  Utilize low wattage yet efficient lamps.
3.  Replace your incandescent bulbs with fluorescent. These are available everywhere nowadays, at much lower prices than they used to be, and they can last 10 times longer (or even more) than traditional incandescent bulbs.

Those are just handful of tips to lower your energy bills.  There are many other factors which can also guide you in conserving your home energy. Check back Friday for some tips on choosing efficient appliances, and assessing your home energy usage.