{"id":2796,"date":"2014-07-23T13:00:06","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T20:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/?p=2796"},"modified":"2014-07-23T13:00:06","modified_gmt":"2014-07-23T20:00:06","slug":"easy-tips-to-save-money-and-energy-at-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/easy-tips-to-save-money-and-energy-at-home\/","title":{"rendered":"Easy Tips to Save Money and Energy at Home"},"content":{"rendered":"

You wouldn\u2019t want to overpay for homeowners insurance<\/a> coverage that you don\u2019t need, so why would you want to lose money by being careless about your home\u2019s energy use?<\/p>\n

Typically, homeowners focus on heating and cooling to save the most money and energy, but you can also make some changes in your own habits and choices to best reduce your overall use of energy. It\u2019s best to approach energy saving for your home as a whole system rather than just focus on one area. For example, if you had the most energy-efficient heating system but you didn\u2019t have good insulation in your home, you\u2019d still be wasting money and energy! So when deciding on what changes to make on your home, first consider and implement changes that have direct impact and are easy to incorporate, and then look for ways that you can maximize efficiency.<\/p>\n

Some easy first steps to take to become energy efficient:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Use power strips to plug in your appliances, and turn it off when not in use
\n\u2022 Turn off kitchen and bath fans immediately after use
\n\u2022 Consider a laptop versus a desktop
\n\u2022 Put your computer on sleep mode rather than running the screensaver
\n\u2022 Unplug any batteries or electronics as soon as they\u2019re done charging
\n\u2022 Use copper-bottom pans and pots
\n\u2022 Match the pan or pot size to the stove top to avoid wasting heat
\n\u2022 Only run full loads of dishes or laundry
\n\u2022 Air dry your dishes and laundry
\n\u2022 Cover your windows to increase insulation and shield sun from coming in
\n\u2022 Wash laundry and dishes with cold water
\n\u2022 Set your A\/C to auto
\n\u2022 Closed unused vents in rooms you\u2019re not usually in
\n\u2022 Take shorter showers rather than long baths<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re ready to take some next steps to drastically improve the energy efficiency of your home, you can consider some of these suggestions:<\/p>\n

\u2022 Install ceiling fans versus running your A\/C or heat all the time
\n\u2022 Plant trees or shrubs around your windows to help shade from the sun
\n\u2022 Install an A\/C with a Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) of 15
\n\u2022 Check for household leaks (water faucets, windows\/cracks, doors, fireplace)
\n\u2022 Install a programmable A\/C or heater console to only cool or heat when needed
\n\u2022 Insulate the first 6 feet of cold and hot water pipes
\n\u2022 Reduce the water temperature on your boiler to 120\u00b0F
\n\u2022 Use ENERGY STAR-approved products (light bulbs, home appliances, electronics, and other products<\/p>\n

Assess the energy efficiency of your home and see how it measures up:<\/strong><\/p>\n

EPA’s Home Energy Yardstick<\/a> provides a simple assessment of your home’s annual energy use compared to similar homes. By answering a few basic questions about your home, you can get:<\/p>\n


\n<\/strong>\u2022 Your home’s Home Energy Yardstick score (on a scale of 1 to 10);
\n\u2022 Insights into how much of your home’s energy use is related to heating and cooling versus other everyday uses like appliances, lighting, and hot water;
\n\u2022 Links to guidance from ENERGY STAR on how to increase your home’s score, improve comfort, and lower utility bills; and
\n\u2022 An estimate of your home’s annual carbon emissions.<\/p>\n

Whether your main motivation for being energy efficient is being environmentally conscious and reducing your carbon footprint or wanting to reduce your monthly home utilities payments, you can do both with a few common sense tricks! Speaking of saving money, get a free homeowners insurance quote<\/a> today.<\/p>\n

Do you have any energy tips? Feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You wouldn\u2019t want to overpay for homeowners insurance coverage that you don\u2019t need, so why would you want to lose money by being careless about your home\u2019s energy use? Typically, homeowners focus on heating and cooling to save the most money and energy, but you can also make some changes in your own habits and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2797,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[720],"tags":[295,362],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2796"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.costulessdirect.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}