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8. Helping Your Energy Efficient Home Stay Green
from:If you have a neat looking home then the prerequisite is that it should be an energy efficient one. This stands good for the present and the future as your home is a comfort zone like no other especially during the vagaries of weather. If your home is new and your architect has ensured all the modern fool proof systems of insulating and protecting it as well as giving it the latest in modern appliances then managing it isn’t quite a difficult thing at all. However, in case your home is quite old and there are innumerable ways through which the energy costs are eating into your income then it is high time that you become practical and taken a few important steps in making your home energy efficient.
The first thing that you as the owner of the house should take into consideration is that the initial costs always looks slightly disturbing. However, in the long run the savings in the energy bills would not only cover up these costs, but can also give you a nice saving too. Again, it is usually seen that it is the lower energy expenses incurred on homes that really qualify for larger amount of loans. Thus, in order to manage an energy efficient home there must be higher degree of insulation than the existing one, less of air leakages, controlled ventilation, good quality doors and windows and above all highly efficient heating and lighting system. Here again managing energy efficient homes can be done with the minimum of expenses or it can be entrusted in the hands of a contractor. This depends upon individual choice and the budget you have allocated for making your home energy efficient.
The low cost ways are usually do-it-yourself and includes caulking and weather stripping and can be done by the owners of the house themselves. The most popular ways of doing this is to locate leaks by moistening your hands and then feel for cool draughts of air and then identifying that area of the leakage and then seal it. You may also burn incense and locate the leak by watching the smoke wavering at a particular spot and then plug the leakage. These methods could be undertaken when the house doesn’t require any extensive maintenance for making it more energy efficient.
In a more professional way you may identify the leakages with modern diagnostic equipments. The walls, floors, doors and windows and the ducts which form an integral part of the forced air system must be determined properly and effectively checked especially in case of larger houses. In such cases for home insulation you must look for R-value as it is seen that higher R-value the better the insulating power. For windows and doors it is the U-value while for lighting system it is the number of watts to be used.
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