Yes, our homes may be our castles, but in the 21st century wise people consider their energy efficiency at home. A test for yourself: do you see tips on residential energy efficiency and think, “Yeah I need to do that sometime.” – and then …
Think of it this way: it’s much more fun to spend your money on things other than energy drains. Right?
For energy efficient home design, consider these possibilities.
1. A Local Audit To Locate Energy Leaks
Home Energy Audits are common in this day and age. You can:
* Do it yourself – not a good idea unless you really understand the energy efficient home or are willing to put in a LOT of learning time …
* Hire an expert in the energy efficient home field …
* Often, local energy companies will perform a home audit at little or no cost – certainly the best choice if this is available in your locale …
If you know where your home is leaking energy, and how to fix the problems, you will be saving yourself a pile of moola and doing a small thing to help our gorgeous planet. Energy auditors are loaded with technological aids – like infrared cameras to find areas with insufficient insulation and “blower doors” to find leaks in your house’s framework.
It’s definitely a good idea to catch these issues when they’re babies rather than before they turn into huge and expensive monsters.
2. Energy Efficient Home Design Compliments Of The Department Of Energy (DOE)
The DOE website offers lots of helpful resources to help you find the strengths and weaknesses of your home’s efficiency and it will suggest resources to repair the problems. Yes, it takes some time to answer all the questions – but isn’t it worth it to save a chunk of money? Regardless of how much money you have to spend, you will be able to find ways to decrease your energy use. For instance, you can analyze your electricity usage and get tax credits for upgrading your systems.
Yes, energy efficiency at home IS a project worthy of our attention. It’s not just about money – although that’s a really strong motivation for me! :-) It’s also about being a contributor to society, rather than a parasite.
Leave a Reply