Saving Energy at Home

Check your insulation
Though not an easy improvement for existing homes, a good layer of insulation around the exterior walls (including ceilings and floors) can shave roughly 10% off of that energy bill. Insulation works during the winter by keeping warm air in your house, as well as during the summer by not allowing that warm air in during those 100-degree-days thanks to global warming and killer greenhouse gases. When selecting insulation, it's important to know the required R-value for your region. Basically, the higher the R-value, the more the insulation will resist the transfer of heat.

One way to drastically improve your heating and cooling costs is to check your attic's insulation. If your attic's fiberglass insulation is less than 7 inches thick (6 inches if it's made of cellulose - a more dense type of insulation) then you may see some savings by adding more insulation. Generally speaking, insulation is a do-it-yourself job when being installed in the attic (depending on the pitch of your roof), however you may want to call in a general contractor if you would like to install insulation within exterior walls of your house.

Above in pink are areas that you should consider installing insulation in if there is none there already. Click on the image to view a larger size, if desired.

Search for air leaks around your house
There are many areas in your house that maybe leaking money into the outside world - air leaks. Air leaks are commonly found around areas that allow access to the outside world such as chimney flashings, door frames, duct work, water heater and furnace flues, window frames, electrical outlets and switches, plumbing and utility inlets, recessed lighting, and drop ceiling. All of these areas maybe causing your heating and cooling bills to go up.

If you wish to test and see if these areas are problematic in your house, simply take a lit incense stick (Preferably a scent that you like) on a windy day and place it near the area you suspect to be allowing air into and out of your house. If the smoke begins to travel parallel to the ground, then you know you have a problem. Fixing air leaks isn't as difficult as you would think, thanks in part to some new inventions out there that can be purchased from your local hardware store for a reasonable price. Such inventions consist of expanding foam, caulking, and weather stripping.