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Posts Tagged ‘Energy’

There’s nothing like the shock of the first big heating bill of the winter to make a homeowner start considering some energy efficient home improvement projects. If you’re paying for the heat in your house, you want it to stay in your house. But older houses are often like sieves sending heat right out the windows and doors. Every one of those little gaps winds up costing you money.

Fortunately, there’s never been a better time to start making your old, drafty house into an energy efficient home. Prices on Energy Star rated materials such as replacement windows and low flow shower heads are at an all time low. On top of that, many state and local governments are offering incentive refunds on everything from energy efficient refrigerators to new insulation.

Conducting an energy use audit is the first step in making your house more energy efficient.

If you’ve got the funds, there are plenty of independent contractors who will, for a price, evaluate your home and write a report with recommended fixes.

A lower tech audit can be conducted by simply examining your doors and window on a cold night. Can you feel cold air coming in? If cold air is coming in, hot air, and money, is probably flowing out the other way.

Home appliances are one area that is frequently overlooked in an energy audit. Older refrigerators, washers, and televisions can account for more of your energy bill than you might think. In most states, you can check out a meter from your local library that will tell you how much energy your appliances are using each year.  Read more... (410 words, 1 image, estimated 1:38 mins reading time)

Though it is best to use the services of a professional and follow due process starting from a home energy audit to make your home energy efficient you can take up simple modifications that will improve the energy efficiency of your home.

As you read further you will realize that a lot of this is simple and obvious, it is just that we never get round to actually doing it. Therefore if after reading this you feel a tip is a good one do try and implement it if it is feasible to do so. You can then enjoy living in your more energy efficient home.

You can check if your exterior doors, including the garage door are insulated well enough. With higher energy costs better level of insulation is now available because the extra cost is now justified. You now get insulated fiber glass doors that look like wooden ones but are much better at insulating your house.

You should also check and make sure air is not leaking from gaps between the door and the door frame. You can correct any flaw you find with the help of vinyl or rubber gaskets. For the bottom of the door you can use a sweep.

Similarly you should check if there are any leaks from the windows. Once you have identified a leak you can look to plug it. You can plug leaks at the bottom of the door or a window with a simple tube filled with sand. Or you can come up with other more decorative ideas.  Read more... (362 words, estimated 1:27 mins reading time)

Arranging or rearranging your home’s furniture is probably the easiest way to implement feng shui in the home. Furniture in your home says so much about the home owner’s personality. We often see something we like and decorate our house with it, not considering how it will react “energy-wise” with the space it is in and the surrounding items. You may decorate your room with your favorite color not realizing that too much of one color can create an imbalance of harmony that can affect areas of your life. When looking to optimize feng shui in the home, furniture placement, arrangement and color are very important aspects to consider.

Furniture is also considered an “inhabitant” of your home. This is because it takes up space and energy in your home as much as you do or as much as your plants and pets do. You should look at and consider how all the “inhabitants” of your home interact with each other. Is balance maintained? Is there conflict? Is everything in harmony? These are the kinds of questions that you would want to have answers to when looking to rearrange or redecorate your home.

Once you decide to apply feng shui in the home, furniture should be one of the first things to consider in terms of how the item represents a Feng Shui element. Usually, the color is the first thing that people look at. Shape comes second, material comes last. Most objects or furnishings are easy to “read”—it will represent two or more elements (i.e. from the 5 element theory), and you can take this as the first step to understanding the Feng Shui element expressions of the various items in your home.  Read more... (540 words, estimated 2:10 mins reading time)