When you take steps to make your home more energy efficient, you’ll help the environment and save money on your monthly household expenses. Here are five things that you can do to enhance your home’s energy efficiency.

1.  Upgrade Your Windows

If your home has old windows, you’re likely losing a lot of your home’s heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer. Your HVAC system will have to work significantly harder and use more energy to control the temperature in your home. When you have a window contractor install

new windows, you’ll notice a reduction in your heating and cooling expenses during the months when they usually tend to spike.

2.  Insulate Your Home

If you haven’t insulated your home since you’ve moved in or the insulation that you have is extremely old, your heating and cooling costs may be unnecessarily high. Upgrading your

insulation to a thick and dense material such as foam will allow you to maintain better control of the temperature inside of your home during both cold winter and hot summer months.

3.  Maintain Your Home’s HVAC System

You need to have your HVAC system serviced regularly, not just when there’s a problem.

Preventative maintenance such as annual cleaning and calibration will help your system to operate more efficiently and consume less energy. In addition, you can help avoid unnecessary problems while also extending your system’s lifespan.

4.  Switch to LED Lighting

Compared to traditional incandescent lighting and even fluorescent lighting, LED light uses substantially less energy. In fact, most LED bulbs use 25-80 % less energy than incandescent bulbs, which can save you approximately $75 per year. LED bulbs’ operational lifespan is generally between 3 and 25 times longer than that of a traditional incandescent bulb, so you’ll need to buy new bulbs much less frequently.

5.  Run Your Wash Cycle on Cold

When you do your laundry, consider running your machine on cold. The energy used to heat your machine’s water typically makes up about 75 % of the energy used to run your machine. Even if you use an energy star rated washing machine, most of the power goes to heating the water in a hot water cycle. If you use a good quality detergent, running your machine on cold will make your clothes just as clean as hot water.

The most worthwhile home improvements and energy conservation strategies are those that offer you appreciable ongoing savings. Saving energy makes good financial sense, and you’ll be doing your part to live more sustainably.