Using environmentally friendly energy is a great way to improve your home life and helps save the environment, too. Simple modifications at home will increase your energy efficiency and save you money on your utility bills. Continue on for some helpful green energy tips at home.
Solar Panels
Getting solar panels put in at home is simple and easy to attain energy from this source. However, before doing this, you need to consider a few things. One thing to factor into your considerations is the amount of sun your house actually gets over the year. If you live in an area with a lot of shade, or worse, a lot of cloudy days, you’ll be unable to make full use of solar panels.
Be socially responsible, and unplug electric chargers for all devices that don’t need immediate charging. Whether you are charging your device or not, chargers for laptops, mp3 players, cellphones and other electronics keep drawing electrical power as long as they stay plugged in.
Your furnace filters should be cleaned monthly and replaced yearly. Warm-air registers should also have filters installed on them. This will help keep debris from clogging up heating ducts and becoming inoperable.
Think about buying solar water heaters for heating your water. If you live in a sunny climate, you can use a solar water heater year-round. As is true with many solar options, you should keep your traditional water heater for times when there is not enough sun, or in case you need to use a lot of water.
Research different sources of green energy available to your community. Check how much these utilities cost and any tax breaks or laws before making a decision. For instance, you may save on energy costs by heating your home with gas instead of with electricity or by using well water instead of city water.
Instead of using a clothes dryer, hang your clothes in the sun to dry in the summer months. You’ll love how your clothes smell after being sun-dried. The smell of sun-dried clothes is much nicer than clothing tumbled in a dryer. Additionally, you will save both money and energy.
If you clean your dishes using a dishwasher, do not operate before it fills up. The energy used is the same whether you are washing a small load of dishes, or one that is larger. Make sure you are using the energy saving settings on your dishwasher that will air-dry your dishes.
Make sure that the batteries to store the power are placed as close as possible to the cells when installing your solar energy system. Doing so removes the chance of lost energy. It also prevents the cable covering the cells, which would reduce their generation capability.
Instead of utilizing a desktop computer which eat up lots more energy, purchase a laptop. That can reduce up to two-thirds of your power usage; that is especially true if you frequently use word processing or the internet. Also, you can bring the laptop with you wherever you go.
Pay attention to local and federal rebates for renewable energy updates on your home. Sometimes, you will find that a local utility company can give a rebate for the total price of the upgrades. The federal government offers tax write-offs and other credits in return for your changes. Receiving these kinds of credits and rebates can make installing the updates much less expensive for you.
It takes neither a large time commitment nor a ton of money to green your home. Usually this can be accomplished with just a few simple changes that can save you money on electricity costs. Apply the tips laid out here and share them, so you can start to see improvements to the environment.