While in Chicago in April, I had a chance to visit the museum of science & industry. The experience was great, and my friend and I thoroughly enjoyed the museum. We were both intrigued enough to pay the extra ~$25 or so to see the smart house. We were not disappointed, and left with some good ideas about things to re-use and things to purchase made from re-used items. Recently, I thought it would be a good idea to share the principles with the readers, and figure out how you can best take advantage of them. Today is the third one, focusing on Energy Efficiency.
It looks like i’ve forgotten the Overview of the process, so ill give it to you here
- Monday was Smart Design
- Tuesday was Material Efficiency
- Wednesday is Energy Efficiency
- Thursday will be Water Efficiency
- Friday will be Healthy Environment
Energy Efficiency has been one of my favorite topics for about 5 years now, and I’m planning an overview style post, as well as a possible series, about different types of energy. Just like smart design, energy can be easily manipulated to save you heaps of cash on your heating/cooling and energy bills.
As I said in Tuesday’s article, you need to treat your home as an investment, and not let recurring costs undermine your final goal (whatever that may be). By making the investment in your home for things that can help you save on (or eliminate completely) your monthly bills, you’ll be money ahead. One great way to do that is through energy efficiency. There are many different ways to do this, some detailed in Mondays post on smart design, and some I will talk about below.
One of the easiest (and cheapest) ways to increase the energy efficiency of your home is to plug the holes. Make sure that you have the whole home insulated from the outside, including quality windows as well as foam or another type of insulation. The easiest way to be energy efficient and save money is to stop it from seeping out of your house in the first place. By keeping in the energy you have already paid for, you can use much less.
Once you have kept what you’ve already paid for inside your home to the best of your ability, then you can move on to your baseload use. This includes things that need to be (or are, dont bother fooling yourself by saying you’ll unplug that phone charger after you take the phone off it if you know you wont) plugged in all the time. Lowering the energy usage of these appliances (fridge, oven, computer, etc) is the next step. Preventing them from using so much energy by upgrading to a newer model (go for the energ ystar logo) can quickly pay for itself by saving on electricity.
Next you can move back to smart design. Big windows, sliding glass doors, sky-lights, and large sunshades can help let the light and heat in, and hold it in after the sun has gone down. By using natural heat and light, you can save on heating and lighting costs. This also works in the summer, as windows can keep your home cool by allowing heat to escape and creating cooling cross breezes throughout your home.
If you have looked at all these options and are still searching for ways to lighten you energy bill and decrease your environmental footprint, you can look to green roofs (and an older post) to minimize heating and cooling costs, as well as absorb rain water and minimize runoff. If you’re really savvy, you can turn your green roof into a garden.
Finally, there is solar energy generation. This should be you LAST step if you are looking to be energy efficient. It doesnt matter how sunny it is where you live in phoenix, Florida or wherever you do happen to live, if you havent reduced your energy use, your going to end up buying more solar panel(s) than you need, and will still be pushing energy right out the door, the windows and the walls. There’s no point in putting solar first on your list, when you havent done things listed above. It would be like trying to fill up the bathtub when you dont have the drain closed. It may begin to fill, but it’s probably not going to get very full very fast.
Energy efficient upgrades are a great way to begin saving money and lowering your house’s “carrying cost” but make sure that you pick the low hanging fruit first, and make sure that you dont “trip over dollars to save dimes”. If you want the best bang for your buck, i’d start with insulation.
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