subject: Improving Your Homes Energy Efficiency [print this page] There are plenty of strategies for improving the efficiency of your home, but you have to take the climate in your area into account. For example, in a very cold place such as Anchorage adding better insulation may make the most significant improvement while in a hot city like Phoenix replacement windows might be the key to increasing your efficiency and lowering your electrical bill.
There are three primary dynamics involved in improving the energy efficiency of a home. First, where it is possible to generate electricity from a clean source, doing so will reduce a home's dependency on the power grid. Second, improving the efficiency of the lighting design at a home improves efficiency. Third, improving the way the home is heated or cooled can improve efficiency.
Your ability to generate power on your property will depend to a great degree on the climate in your area. If you live in a very sunny climate, you can use solar panels; those same panels are a waste of time in a rainy climate. If you live in a windy area you might be able to generate power with a windmill. Absent access to these energy sources, there is little point in trying to install power generating equipment.
One of the most universally useful ways to generate power is to use a geothermal well. A geothermal well generates power from the flow of heat between two ends of a rod sunk into the ground. The temperature under the ground is always fifty-six degrees Fahrenheit, so as long as the temperature above the ground is higher or lower than fifty-six degrees Fahrenheit there will be some heat exchange and some power production.
But producing power is only one way to increase efficiency. Reducing your homes consumption of power is just as important, and one of the most significant consumers of power is lighting. This can be changed by switching high efficiency light bulbs for the standard ones or by correcting bad habits. Simply turning the lights off when you leave a room can save a lot of electricity and substantially improve efficiency.
One aspect of the lighting of a home that is often overlooked is the way that a home can use (and reuse) natural light in order to reduce its dependency upon artificial light. Most older homes have small window spaces, but by opening those window spaces up and letting more light in, it is possible to reduce the amount of electricity required to light the home by a considerable margin.
Most people spend the most money on heating and cooling their homes, which means that heating and cooling use the most power. This can be mitigated by installing newer, more efficient equipment, as well as by improving the insulation of your home to bring it up to todays construction standards. The better insulated a home is, the less affected it is by the temperature outside.
In addition to re-insulating the home, replacing windows can demonstrably improve efficiency. The value of new windows has been well enough established that in hot places like Los Angeles and Phoenix replacement windows qualify for rebates from most utilities. Replacing the windows creates a good (and often subsidized) opportunity to expand the size of windows wherever possible, increasing the amount of natural light available inside the home.
