A major way of making the most of your investment in solar energy is to simply cut power use, i.e. make your home energy efficient. Even if you don’t install solar power, you will save money on your electric bill and reduce environmental impacts of energy use. The energy that enters your home is consumed in two fundamental ways:
1. It is used by the electrical loads (appliances, lights, etc.) in your home.
2. It escapes to the environment through gaps around doors, windows, plumbing, etc.
The path to energy efficiency therefore inciudes both reducing power used by electrical loads and by reducing pathways for energy to escape your home. Energy Star has numerous strategies for making your home energy efficient.
HOME ENERGY AUDIT
The first step toward energy efficiency is diagnosing the trouble spots in your home by performing a home energy audit. This is essentially a series of tests that determine where the energy is escaping from your home. You may do this yourself or better yet, hire a professional to go through your home. Your local utility company may offer a free or low-cost audit so check with them first. If they don’t have such a service then you will find that typical rates for a professional home energy audit are around $300.
TAKE ACTION
Once you know how your home is using and losing energy, there are some simple tasks you can do to make improvements:
- Apply insulation, weatherstripping and caulk around the leaky spots in the home.
- Exchange incandescent light bulbs with the new compact fluorescent bulbs.
- Use an energy meter to determine which appliances draw power even when off and plug them into a power strip that is turned on only when you use these appliances.
- Consider replacing older appliances, e.g. refrigerators, with newer energy efficient (Energy Star) models.