The costs for energy and specifically heating varies greatly. The further north you are, the higher the bill tends to be for obvious reasons. One great way to save on your heating bill is to make a few changes to your home that will improve its efficiency.
Upgrading an Existing Home
There are a number of ways to improve the heating efficiency of your current home. The best way is to keep cold air out of your house in the first place. Sealing air leaks is the most cost efficient way to increase home energy savings. Weather stripping and caulk will seal gaps around windows and doors, but outlets and recessed lighting fixtures can also be sources of air leaks.
The very ducts your heated air travels in could also be a suspected source of heat loss. With your hard earned dollars leaking out of your ducts, you can easily lose enough money to pay your bill twice over. Make sure your ducts are in good shape with a visual inspection and repair any leaks with duct tape.
Making sure your home is insulated well is also another important part of energy efficiency. Using the appropriately sized furnace and air conditioning will help you too. The Department of Energy has a map that shows the optimum insulation for any geographic area in the U.S. so following those guidelines will also increase your homes energy efficiency. While getting any updated utilities installed in your home, make sure to hire a knowledgeable and reputable contractor or you may have to have the work done again.
A New Home Takes Planning
The planning stage of the home building process is the best time to make any and all changes you are hoping to include in your new home to maximize energy efficiency. Using factors such as trees, eaves length and even sunlight angle you should be able to drastically increase your potential for savings and keep your costs lower than if you hadn’t taken the time at this point to plan your layout. Keep in mind that you may have to modify your floor plan to maintain the gains that the new planning sessions might reveal, but in the long run it will definitely be worth it.
Using the natural lay of the land and strategically planting trees around your home can have a two-fold effect. The first effect is that your home is shaded in the summer so that the sun doesn’t heat it up too much, and in the winter the leaves will drop off and allow the heating rays of the sun right into your windows. Now, keep in mind, that is if you use deciduous trees. To incorporate evergreen trees remember to plan on using them as windbreaks or only in areas you will need shade.
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