Homeowners are often looking for ways to save money and the environment, and one way to do this is by cutting down unnecessary energy use. By updating or changing the way you use your home appliances, you can increase your home’s efficiency, protect the environment, and save on your annual utility bills without compromising comfort.
Home Energy Conservation Tips
1. Use Your Thermostat Efficiently
Don’t Overadjust Your Thermostat
You can help reduce your energy consumption by changing your thermostat habits. During hot summer days, avoid cranking your thermostat down thinking the house will cool faster. Air conditioners make your home feel cooler by removing heat and humidity, which takes time. Lowering the thermostat drastically only makes the AC run longer to reach the lowered thermostat set point.
If you want more control over your temperature settings, consider investing in a smart thermostat. A smart thermostat learns your heating and cooling preferences based on your behaviours. It communicates with temperature sensors in each room, adjusting your home’s heating and cooling to reach your ideal settings automatically. Plus, using the programming features of your thermostat can help decrease your energy consumption, which could translate to cost savings.
Find the Right Temperature Set Point
Generally speaking, the smaller the difference between the indoor and outdoor temperatures, the lower the energy consumption will be — for example, if the outdoor temperature is -25°C, it takes more energy to bring the outdoor air to your thermostat set point than if it were -15°C outside. To find the best temperature for comfort and energy savings, conduct an experiment with your thermostat. While you’re at home, set your thermostat to the recommended set points of 25.5℃ for summer months and 20-21°C for winter months, and adjust the setpoint by 1 or 2 degrees at a time (as a general rule of thumb, it takes about 1 hour to lower a home’s temperature by 1°C). You want to find as high of a temperature in the summer, or as low of a temperature in the winter, as comfortably possible while managing humidity levels.
Set Back Your Thermostat When You’re Away
During winter months, lowering the thermostat by up to two degrees while you’re away from home can help save on energy consumption. While this is an effective strategy in the heating season, it’s not recommended for the summer. It’s much harder to cool rather than heat a space because you need to factor in humidity control. The energy required to remove accumulated humidity from setting back your thermostat and cooling your home back to the desired set point is often more than the energy required to maintain a specific temperature.
2. Utilize Your Ceiling Fan Year Round
Another way to save on energy is to use your ceiling fan to help keep your home cool. As the summer approaches, run your fan counterclockwise to create cool air without air conditioning. When the weather gets hotter, use your ceiling fan as an extra boost to disperse the cool air from your HVAC system throughout your home so you don’t need to lower your thermostat more than necessary, which can lead to more energy drainage.
Besides cooling, ceiling fans can also help you save on heating. During the cooler months, running your fan clockwise at a low setting can help push the warm air that rises to the ceiling down into the rest of the home without creating a breeze.
Whether it be to cool or heat your home, running a ceiling fan can help reduce your energy consumption while keeping your home comfortable. Just be sure your fan is rotating in the right direction for your desired effect.
3. Monitor Shower Length and Update Your Showerhead
The best way to reduce the amount of water you use while showering is by being mindful of how long you run the shower. If your household struggles with this, try setting a timer for each shower. We also recommend installing low-flow showerheads. Standard showerheads release 2.5 gallons of water each minute, whereas low flow showerheads use 2 gallons of water or less. These small changes can add up to save you on water usage.
4. Wash Clothes in Cold Water
Your washing machine uses more hot water than your shower and dishwasher combined. One of the best ways to conserve energy is to use a wash cycle that washes and rinses your clothes in cold water. If your washer is not a high-efficiency model, then consider replacing it with an energy-efficient model. You can consult an appliance’s EnerGuide label to learn more about its energy-efficient qualities.
While you’re at it, hang your clothes up to dry to add humidity to the air, which will boost energy savings in the laundry room and make your home more comfortable in the dry winter months.
5. Replace Your Dishwasher
Your dishwasher is among the largest energy wasters in your home, especially if it’s been in use for a while. Purchasing a more energy-efficient model should be among your priorities if you have the financial means.
6. Give Your Refrigerator Space
Refrigerators need some free space on the back side to operate at optimal efficiency. Also, try to avoid overcrowding the inside of your fridge and regularly vacuum the grilles to save on energy and ensure adequate airflow.
7. Manage Your Electronics
Smartphones, laptops, game consoles and chargers each use small amounts of electricity that can add up in electricity costs. Did you know that the average Canadian household has 25 or more electronic devices? Many devices drain energy even when they’re not on — this is called phantom power and can account for up to 10 percent of a home’s energy use. Monitoring and unplugging your electronics after fully charging can save you up to $150 a year.
8. Boost Window Performance
Install High-Efficiency Windows
Your windows make up about 15 to 20 percent of your home’s surface, so it is important to make sure air is not leaking through window cracks and gaps. Double-pane windows have gas in between the panes that work to increase insulation, and they can also raise your R-Value by blocking off air gaps in cold and warm weather.
If you’re unable to replace your windows, window insulation kits are an economical way of keeping cold air out of your home during the winter. Although single-pane windows have low R-value insulating property compared to double-pane, sealing the frames tightly can go a long way toward keeping out the cold as well.
Close and Cover Your Windows in the Summer
If your home is too humid, your rooms will feel sticky and uncomfortable. Since your central air conditioning unit cools your home by removing moisture, it’s important to keep your windows closed during summer months when it’s more humid outside. By opening windows, you let in humidity, which will make your air conditioner run longer to reach a cool indoor temperature. The ideal humidity level for a home is between 40 and 60 percent. Also, avoid additional heat gain in the home by closing window coverings where there’s direct sunlight during the sunny summer months.
9. Seal Your Chimney
If you have a wood-burning fireplace, it is important to close your chimney damper until it is completely sealed off, especially in the summer — and if you ever feel a cold draft coming from your fireplace, make sure your chimney is properly sealed when the fireplace is not in use. Over time, heating and cooling can warp a chimney damper and affect how well it seals. If your damper is leaking, hire a professional to replace it or try an inflatable chimney balloon. When inflated, chimney balloons form a tight seal within your flue.
Before sealing your chimney, make sure that it isn’t being used to exhaust your furnace or water heater combustion gases.
10. Ensure Adequate Attic Ventilation
You can save on heating and cooling costs by ensuring adequate ventilation throughout your home. During the summer months, proper ventilation moves hot air out of your attic, making the job of cooling the home easier for your equipment. In the winter, proper ventilation keeps warm, moist air from forming condensation and lowering your insulation’s effectiveness. Check with a professional to see if you have enough attic ventilation.
Another way to stop cold and hot air from escaping your roof is by adding more layers of batting type insulation to your attic. There are many types of insulation. Be sure to get expert advice on choosing the best type of insulation for your application.
Seal Your Attic Hatch
Good sealing and air barrier between the attic and the home’s living space are important for saving energy and to avoid moisture problems in the attic. Openings used for access to the attic such as access panels should be sealed — to air seal, weather stripping should be added to either the frame or panel of the attic access panel and latch bolts, or fastener should be installed that will pull the access door tight to the weatherstripping for an airtight seal.
To reduce heat loss, these access panels should be insulated. Panels can be insulated by gluing rigid foam to the panel or attaching batt insulation.
11. Plant Hedges and Shrubs to Insulate Your Home
Just like how trees shade your house during the summer, shrubs near your home help protect your exterior walls from heat and cold. Hedges and shrubs work as windbreaks by forming an air envelope that helps protect exterior walls and spigots. For best results, plant hedges that grow well for your region around 30 cm from your exterior walls.
12. Add Motion Sensors to Exterior Lights
Your porch light gets left on for long periods of time. LED lighting uses far less electricity to produce the same luminosity as incandescent lighting, which means that installing motion sensor lighting with high-efficiency CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) or LEDs can help increase energy efficiency and make a huge difference in the long run.
13. Replace Your Furnace Filter
Furnace filters collect common contaminants like dust and animal hair. All furnace filters have a MERV rating, typically ranging from 1 to 16, which indicates how many microns a filter can collect — the higher the rating, the fewer the particles that can pass through. With that in mind, filters with higher MERV ratings must be replaced more frequently than filters with low MERV ratings, as the former will restrict the airflow and cause the furnace fan motor to work harder, using more energy.
Replacing the filters in your heating system will facilitate smoother airflow through the house, especially when coupled with duct cleaning, leading to more efficient fuel consumption.
14. Keep Air Ducts Clean
Good indoor air quality is essential to a healthy home. When dust, mold, fungus, pet hair, debris, food and even small toys clog up the ductwork in your house, they can cause allergy symptoms such as headaches, sneezing and itchy eyes and force your equipment to work harder — raising your energy consumption and increasing the possibility of equipment breakdown as well.
Calling a home air duct cleaning service at least once every 5 years or after a major renovation is a good practice that will help remove dust from your HVAC system and enable it to operate at maximum capacity.
15. Upgrade Your Heating and Cooling System
Newer HVAC systems are more efficient and typically use less energy to operate, saving you money and energy. If your heating system is mid-efficiency or more than 15 to 20 years old, consider a newer, higher-efficiency boiler, furnace, or air conditioning unit. If you have a 15- to 20-year-old AC unit that’s less than 13 SEER, consider a high-efficiency replacement. Ask one of our professionals about ductless heat pump systems for the areas in your home that are hard to heat and cool.
To learn more about how you can save energy in your home, get in touch with us today.
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