From the food we eat to transportation, our society is more focused on making earth-conscious decisions than ever before. But you don’t have to do all of your grocery shopping at the farmer’s market or use only sustainable, up-cycled products to get on-board. A few simple changes around the house and your home will be in line with the eco-friendly movement in no time.
Conduct An Energy Audit
Televisions, game consoles, computers, washing machines, refrigerators, lamps – how many things do you have plugged in at any given time?
We’re a technology obsessed society, and we don’t begrudge you the need for the extra juice to fuel your many devices, but did you know electrical usage makes up a huge portion of your home utility bill? Even an item that’s plugged into an outlet but not turned on is drawing energy. Find out how much energy your home is consuming by performing an Energy Audit:
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Record every item that is connected to an electrical outlet
Record when the item is used or needs electricity
Evaluate when the item needs to be connected to an outlet
Unplug items based on conclusions from step 3
Shut off any unused surge suppressors or power bars
Once you have a baseline of your home’s typical electrical usage, you can start saving dollars and energy by turning off products that aren’t in use, and even upgrading to more energy efficient, EnergyStar rated appliances.
Make Your Home Smarter
Speaking of technology, making your house “smart” is another fantastic way to take control over your energy consumption in a high-tech futuristic fashion that would make the Jetson’s jealous.
Smart thermostats learn to set the temperature of your home to your specific tastes and adjust it accordingly whether you’re at home or on the go. You don’t need to leave a porch light on when you install energy efficient smart LED bulbs that you can control from your smartphone.
Decrease Your Water Usage
Long, hot showers are one of the hardest luxuries to give up, but by simply replacing all of the nozzles in your home with low flow, high pressure nozzles, you’re already taking one giant step to reducing your water usage. The higher pressure of the water spreads the stream over a larger area, which reduces the amount of water required.
Increase Your Heating & Cooling Efficiency
A cold house in winter takes longer to heat. Likewise, a hot house in summer takes longer to cool. Both mean higher than average bills due to significant energy wastage, and windows and doors that don’t seal properly are the usual culprits. Inspect your seals annually, and for those where you’re experiencing a draft, use caulking to plug up the hole, or even a window insulation kit (especially useful in winter) can be used to create an air tight seal over the window.
Pro Tip: Turn your ceiling fan on reverse during the winter months – hot air rises, and your fan will help circulate that warm air around the room.
Plant A Tree
Enough cannot be said about the benefits of planting trees in your yard. All of those benefits add up to increasing the value of your home – that should be enough, but if you really need us to break it down…
The right tree can…
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Help significantly reduce your annual heating and cooling bills
Provide shade in the summer
Protect your house from rough weather
Provide a habitat for wildlife
Offer a place for children to play
Raise the value of your home by as much as 5 per cent
Need we say more?
Do your part to help the environment – a green home is a happy home!
