How to Check If Your Home Is Wasting Energy and How to Change It

How to Check If Your Home Is Wasting Energy and How to Change It

The following contribution is from another author.

You might not even realize it, but your home is almost certainly wasting energy, especially during the colder months when you’re using your heating system more often. The first step to doing something about that is to understand the various ways in which your home is wasting energy. From there, you can take action to change it. Find out all about that and more below.

Running the Washing Machine and Dryer When Half Full

When you use the washing machine or dryer while there’s only half a load of washing in them, you’ll need to do another load not long after, and that’s not very efficient when it comes to conserving energy. Lots of people make this mistake, and it’s a trap you should try not to fall into if possible. Try to make sure that you only run these appliances on a full load.

Window and Window Sealant Problems

Your windows will have a big impact on how energy efficient your home is overall. The sealant in place keeping your windows where they are is important too. If the sealant is worn and damaged, air will escape more easily, and that means heat will escape too. So it might be time for you to have some new and more energy efficient windows installed if yours are currently old and past their best.

Not Replacing Your Old Thermostat

If you have an old thermostat, you probably don’t have as much control over the heat of your home as you could. Modern programmable thermostats put you in control and allow you to find the temperature that’s just right for any given moment. By having more control and more precision, you’ll find that you’ll usually consume less energy.

Through Issues with the Home’s Roof

It’s important to make sure that your home’s roof is properly protective and keeps out the cold and rain. If you know that your home has seen better days and is allowing a lot of heat to escape, you definitely need to do something about that or you’ll be wasting a lot of energy day after day. Make repairs and start by choosing the right roofing contractor to carry out the improvements and fixes for you.

Leaving Appliances on Standby

We’re all guilty of occasionally leaving appliances on standby in the home, even if we know we shouldn’t. It might not seem like a big deal, but when we’re talking about potential dozens of appliances being left on standby all the time for months and years at a time, you can only imagine just how much energy you’re needlessly wasting and paying for. So switch them off!

As you can see, there are so many ways in which your home is wasting energy and electricity and that’s not something that you should allow to carry on happening. It’s up to you to think about how you’re going to make the right changes to your home in order to make it as energy efficient as it can be.

Author

Eric is the creator of At Home in the Future and has been a passionate fan of the future since he was seven. He's a web developer by trade, and serves as the Director of Communication and Technology for a large church in Nashville, TN (where he and his family are building a high tech home in the woods).

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