For a few months after we purchased a home, we were really frustrated with our monthly power bill. We couldn't believe how much it was costing, but we knew that it couldn't be right. We started evaluating various ways to save money, and it occurred to us that doing something about our energy use needed to be a top priority. We focused on keeping the lights off during the day and eliminating phantom power use, and it helped us to reduce our spending. Now I can honestly say that our home is energy efficient, and it makes me so happy. Check out this blog for more information.
Few things are more anxiety-provoking than opening your monthly energy and utility bill, especially in winter. What is driving your bills up, sometimes to double or triple what they are in the warmer months? How can you find out what is driving your home's energy consumption skyward? Here is how you can find out, and how you may be able to cut some of those expenses way down.
Have a Home Energy Assessment Completed
A home energy assessor schedules an appointment with you during a time when you will be home. Then he/she goes all over the house, noting everything from the types of light bulbs you use to the watts consumed by every appliance in the house. He/she makes some calculations based on the gathered information and on what you can do to make a difference in your consumption. By the end of the assessment, you will know exactly what items in your home are to blame for high energy costs, and what you can do to change that.
What Is Usually at Fault
Refrigerators, freezers, washers, dryers, hot water heaters, and home heating appliances are often at fault, especially if they are really old. Newer appliances come with sticker tags that tell you exactly how much energy they consume in a single year. Older appliances have either lost their sticker tags, or they never had them to begin with. Where these older appliances are concerned, the assessor has to either know offhand how much energy each consumes, or he/she has to look it up in a manual he/she carries with him/her. Finding any appliance that consumes more than a few watts per month is something you may want to seriously consider replacing.
Things Left Plugged in the Wall
So many people think that leaving commonly used kitchen appliances plugged into the wall does not drive up energy consumption. While leaving your stove and refrigerator plugged in is fine, leaving a half dozen or more small appliances plugged in means that these small appliances are draining on the electrical energy coming through the wall, in very small doses over time. Eventually, that adds up to quite a lot of electrical energy for which you are paying but not actually using.
Other Things That Can Help
Consider buying LED light bulbs, which burn brighter, cooler, and use far less energy than most other kinds of light bulbs. Trade your inefficient hot water heater for a tankless heater. Update old appliances, including your furnace if the furnace is a decade old or more.
To learn more, contact home energy assessment services near you.
Share6 February 2019
