Energy efficiency at home has been a challenge to many homeowners and thankfully comments on reviews platforms like reviewsbird.co.uk has shown practical steps on how home technology helps in trimming energy usage.
Read on for a few tips on how to improve your home’s energy efficiency, save money, and reduce your environmental footprint.
Step 1: Run The Numbers
The first step to reducing your energy use is finding out how you’re using it. This is very important as various opinions on energy providers indicates that the high cost of energy won’t be reduced anytime soon and serious actions need to be taken to reduce cost on our part.
To find out how much energy is being used, a local energy auditor or online tools can be used to take note of lifestyle habits at home and give personalized recommendations.
Most people use the thermostat which can indicate the electricity cost per kilowatt-hour, get an estimate of your monthly electricity bill, and set goals to reduce it. Just like any habit-forming app or step-counting wearable, you can quickly course-correct if you see yourself failing in real-time.
Step 2: Work On Your AC and Heating
Air conditioners are a significant source of the heat island effect, where cities become noticeably hotter than the surrounding environment. Heat can’t be destroyed, only displaced elsewhere, so the heat your AC removes from your home is pumped outside.
For environmental reasons, there’s a strong argument to reduce your reliance on air-conditioning. Reversing your ceiling fans in the winter helps blow warm air, which collects near the ceiling, down into the rest of the room. Equipping your smart thermostat with sensors in different rooms can also help you save energy. The sensors let the thermostat automatically adjust to different conditions.
Step 3: Washing, Drying, and Water Tips
Most of the energy consumption of washing clothes comes from heating the water, so washing in cold water can make a big difference; some detergents are specially formulated for cold water. If your water heater and washing machine are older models, it might also be worth investing in a smart leak detector to save money from wasted water and to keep them from dribbling all over the basement floor.
Unfortunately, it’s a lot harder to save energy with a clothes dryer. If you’re disinclined to string up a clothesline, or you live in an area where that’s illegal, you might consider setting the dryer to an automatic cycle (rather than a timed one), which will stop the dryer once the moisture sensors determine the laundry is dry.
Keeping the lint screen and dryer duct clean will also help the dryer run more efficiently, as will tossing in a few wool dryer balls to help agitate heavy sheets or towels.
Remember, the best energy-efficient fixes are the ones that don’t require you to develop any new habits at all. Let your home do the work for you, while you get back to the important business.
