With summer fast approaching, the likelihood of your energy bill rising is very high.  Using the right measures to help your house to be more energy efficient can help to reduce your bills and minimise your environmental footprint too. Making your house/office energy-efficient starts off with the little things commonly overlooked such as turning off appliances that aren’t used, ensuring your house is adequately insulated, and weather-stripping your garage door.  Outlined below are a few simple tips to assist in improving the overall energy efficiency of your home.

Get your Air Conditioner serviced

Much of your power bills are based on heating and ventilation.  While choosing a newer, more energy-efficient HVAC system may help cut down heating and air conditioning bills significantly, having your current HVAC system serviced regularly and well maintained can certainly make a huge difference. Among the best ways to ensure you’re A/C is operating at optimal capacity is having a certified and experienced technician service them at least once each year.

Spend money on energy-star rated appliances

Electrical appliances use a lot of electricity every day. This ranges from your refrigerator, TV sets, stereo systems, and HVAC systems among many others. Purchasing one of the most energy efficient electrical appliances in your own home can help lower energy bills significantly. Consider replacing that dishwasher/washing machine you’ve been using over the past decade by using a newer energy-star rated one.  The very best energy-star rated appliances use 50% less energy as compared with conventional ones used over a decade or more ago.

Maintain your house well insulated

Proper insulation is necessary to keep the heat out (during summer), or in (during winter).  Unless your house is properly insulated, you’ll then suffer from heat gain/loss, which may affect heating and ventilation significantly. Nevertheless, making sure every area of the home is properly insulated will help save energy at the same time. Be sure you look into the attic, basement, along with the garage for proper and adequate insulation to lower your energy use even further.

Use cost effective light bulbs

Lights too use up a lot of energy. Switching from incandescent bulbs to either economical fluorescents or LEDs should help trim down energy bills by over 40%. LED lighting fixtures are mainly suitable for they not just stay longer, but in addition use very little energy to produce the identical light intensity as incandescent.

These are only but several ways to cut down on energy bills. Other methods to help make your house more power efficient include using sunlight, buy opening windows every morning, using ceiling fans, bathroom fans, and installing programmable thermostats.

Contributed by Electrician Geelong