20 ways to make your home more energy-efficient
Unfortunately, homes were not designed to be energy-efficient—just lighting, heating, and cooling homes account for a significant amount of the carbon emissions that exacerbate climate change. However, with some tweaking, a few repairs and some choice appliance replacements, homeowners can make a sizable dent in their home energy consumption, which will help pave the way for a greener future and save some money on their energy bill. Here are 20 ways you can make your home more energy-efficient.
Switch to a smart thermostat
A smart thermostat, like a Nest or ecobee, uses your home’s Wi-Fi and algorithmic technology to automatically regulate and adjust indoor temperature based on personal preferences and outdoor conditions, as well as by detecting the presence of a person in a room. This helps to cut down on totally unnecessary energy being used up.
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Change light bulbs
If you’re still using old incandescent light bulbs, consider switching them out for CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) or LED (Light Emitting Diode) bulbs, which both last much longer and use much less energy. LEDs are the priciest, but they last the longest—save those for the lights you leave on the most.
Update old appliances to energy-efficient versions
If you can’t remember when the fridge, washing machine or clothes dryer were purchased, you may want to consider replacing them. Older fridges use powerful greenhouse gases called hydrofluorocarbons that are up to 10,000 times more harmful to the atmosphere than carbon dioxide to trap heat. Upgrade to a newer, energy-efficient model and you’ll be cutting down on your greenhouse gas emissions significantly for decades to come.
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Fix leaky faucets
Save precious hot water from unnecessarily going down the drain by fixing leaky faucets—check your toilets, pipes, faucets and valves for leaks. Plus, if you learn how to fix them yourself, you won’t be waiting around for a professional every time you have a dripping faucet.
Upgrade to low-flow water fixtures
Low-flow faucets and fixtures use up to 60% less water than traditional faucets, without compromising on water pressure. Since most of water-associated energy use is through the heating of water, this will make a huge dent on both your energy bill and your environmental footprint.
Update your toilet
Like refrigerators, toilets are also energy hogs that can be a pain to replace. However, once you consider the water savings, you’ll want to think about replacing your old clunker. An older toilet uses up to 18 litres (five gallons) or more of water per flush, while newer, energy-efficient models use as little as seven litres (two gallons) per flush. Over time, that’ll save you hundreds on your energy bill.
Update your insulation
Get an energy audit and check the insulation in your home—especially if you’re noticing that some rooms are colder in the winter than other rooms. Some older homes still use makeshift insulation materials like newsprint to insulate parts of their exterior walls. By updating your insulation, you’ll be keeping yourself from cranking the heat in the winter and relying too much on AC in the summer.
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Make sure your home is properly sealed
On top of updating your insulation, make sure there’s no unwanted air coming in from the outside. Some places to check to see if there are any holes or gaps are around windows and doors, in attics and near open holes, like near your dryer vent hole.
Install fans
Rather than turning on the air conditioner on the first warm day of summer, treat the AC as a last-resort measure with escalating courses of action to keep you cool in the meantime. Fans can be great at cooling down the house using a fraction of the energy consumption of a conventional AC—place them around windows to let in fresh air or install a ceiling fan to cool the whole room.
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Keep your fridge at a reasonable temperature
Colder isn’t always better when it comes to keeping food fresh. Keeping your fridge at a cool-but-not-icy temperature of just under 3°C (37°F) and your freezer at -18°C (0°F) will make sure your food stays fresh without taking up more energy than it needs.
Install a clothesline
The simple act of washing and drying clothes takes up 10% of a home’s overall electricity use, and much of that—around 60 kWh—goes into drying clothes. One way to save on all of that electricity is by installing a clothesline and line-drying your clothes. Not only will it infuse your clothes with a fresh scent, it’ll also help keep your clothes from degrading over time.
Adjust your thermostat by one degree Celsius
Adjust your AC by one degree in the summer and your heating by one degree in the winter. You won’t be able to feel the single degree of difference in your home’s temperature, but your energy bill will: for every degree you lower your heating by, you’ll save roughly 1% of your overall energy.
Get a water butt to collect rainwater
Attach this simple barrel to your downspout and you’ll be able to harness the power of rainwater to water your lawn and garden rather than using a hose or sprinkler, which uses up to hundreds of gallons of water per hour.
Replace the family desktop computer for a laptop
Unless you need a desktop computer for work or intense gaming, a laptop should cover much of your day-to-day requirements like word processing, internet shopping, and YouTube tutorial watching. And it’s just as well, because a laptop uses up to 80% less electricity than a standard desktop computer.
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Move your fridge away from direct sunlight and sources of heat
Simply moving some appliances around will make a small dent in your kitchen’s energy consumption. Keep your fridge away from direct sunlight or from sources of heat, including an oven or a dishwasher to reduce temperature fluctuations. And to help your fridge run smoothly and efficiently, move it a few inches away from the back wall to ensure proper airflow.
Kit out your kitchen
A lot of small appliances can lead to big energy savings. A microwave, for example, uses up to 80% less energy than standard ovens; pots and pans will cook food faster when they have fitting lids on; and pressure cookers make quick and tidy work with the kind of recipes that would require long hours bubbling over a stove. Making sure you have lots of options for cooking your food and learning how to choose the most energy-efficient ones will go a long way in keeping your carbon emissions down.
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Install a tankless water heater
Rather than keeping a huge water tank in the house that keeps hot water on standby around the clock, a tankless water heater only heats water when you need it using a system of temperature and flow sensors, heat exchangers and mixing valves. As a result, tankless water heaters save up to 50% of the fuel costs of traditional water tank heaters.
Use your dishwasher over hand-washing dishes
If you have a dishwasher at home, consider using it instead of hand-washing your dishes—even if it means running it once every few days. Experts have found that using a modern dishwasher to tackle the dishes actually consumes much less hot water. However, if you don’t have a dishwasher nor any space to install one, you can still save energy by switching to the two-basin method—fill a sink or a dishpan with sudsy water to soak and scrub, and fill another one with cold water to rinse off.
Turn off ‘heated dry’ on your dishwasher
Make your energy savings go further with your dishwasher by turning off the ‘heated dry’ setting and letting your dishes air-dry. Not only will that save you time on your wash cycle, it’ll extend the life of your dishwasher.
Keep blankets around in the winter
Often, the simplest tool is the most effective. Just layering up on sweaters, cozying under blankets and using a hot water bottle will go a long way in helping you stay warm indoors, without having to touch the thermostat. Rather than turning up the heat when you start to feel cold, keep blankets around for easy access and throw on a sweater.
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