If you’ve lived in your home for a while, maybe you’ve identified some obvious opportunities to improve its energy efficiency and improve your comfort. So, where do you start? And what changes should you consider to make your home greener?
When it comes to saving money on your home energy bills, it is very important to go about utilising energy efficient home upgrades.
These different upgrades will drastically reduce the amount of money you spend every month on your utility bills. It also allows you to live a greener lifestyle, so you reduce your overall carbon footprint. We can help you with these upgrades and have identified the 7 most important upgrades we can carry out in your home that will see immediate improvements in your utility bills, your energy rating and your home comfort:
- Seal it up! – Plugging up the leaks that allow cold air to slip into your house—and drive up your heating bills—is an important first step in creating an energy-efficient home. Such leaks are often found around doors and windows, but they also can be in your basement or attic.
- Insulate upstairs – Attic insulation when professionally installed is the most cost effective and efficient money saving device you can have in your home, with the potential to save as much as 50% on your heating costs.
- Install a programmable thermostat – Another way to cut energy costs is to install a programmable thermostat. These devices can save about 10 percent on your heating bills and so they can pay for themselves literally in a matter of months.
- Replace old windows with energy efficient ones – Replacing old, leaky windows with higher-efficiency models can also make your home greener.
- Install energy efficient doors – Replacing doors, particularly exterior doors, with energy efficient doors helps ensure that the heat stays in and the cold stay out!
- Replace old equipment with energy efficient heating, ventilating, and air conditioning units – Replacing an outdated heating, ventilation or air-conditioning systems with a more energy- efficient one can lower your monthly energy bills. But before considering this project, it’s essential to make sure your home is as well-sealed and insulated as possible.
- Install high efficiency water heaters – High-efficiency water heaters can drive down home energy costs as water heating makes up anywhere from 15 to 25 percent of the annual energy usage in a home.