The average homeowner saves 33 percent a year on energy costs after making the recommended changes from an assessment. Stop wasting money, if you’re ready to save hundreds of dollars a year sign up for an energy audit today.
Insulating your home can cut heating costs by 60 percent, according to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. If you live in an older home, odds are you need to add insulation and that may also be the case with some newer homes. But before you add insulation, you need to know where and what kind. The easiest way to find this information is to hire a professional energy auditor. There are ways to uncover the information on your own; builders should have the information for newer homes but if you live in an older home you will need to inspect the insulation. The Department of Energy has detailed instructions for inspecting your insulation.
Check out these programs that can help pay to weatherize your home.
Unsealed air ducts can make your energy bill skyrocket. If your ducts leak heat into unheated places, we’re talking about potentially thousands of dollars a year in unnecessary heating costs. Some minor repairs can be made on your own but you may need to hire a professional.
1. Look for obvious holes and separations.
2. Seal your ducts with mastic, butyl tape or foil tape (look for tape with the Underwriters Laboratories logo).
3. Hire a professional for more in depth repairs.
If you have high utility bills all year long and rooms that are difficult to heat then your home may be suffering from poor ducts.
Check out these programs that can help pay to weatherize your home.
Sometimes you need to hire a professional to get the job done, and that’s the case when you want to give your heating system a checkup. Take the advice of your heating system’s manual on how often it should undergo regular maintenance, this will prevent problems in the future.
Check out these programs that can help pay to weatherize your home.
Fireplaces are a huge source of heat loss, especially if you leave the flue open all the time. We all know warm air rises and it will fly right up the chimney if you don’t shut the damper.
If your fireplace is more for style than warmth, consider plugging and sealing the chimney flue. If you love to spend cold evenings snuggling by a fire there are plenty of ways to trap the heat inside. Check to make sure the damper is tight and keep it shut when you’re not using the fireplace. If you don’t already have one, buy a top-sealing damper, it keeps heat in more efficiently than other models. Also, add caulking around the hearth. More expensive investment options include upgrading to glass doors and buying a heat-exchange system.
Check out these programs that can help pay to weatherize your home.
Say bye, bye to the dust bunnies. A thin layer of dust will reduce your bulb’s brightness, forcing you to turn on additional lights to get the same effect. Adding a fresh coat of paint in a light color can also brighten up the workplace.
Instead of just swapping out your bulbs, consider investing in new lighting fixtures. Incandescent and fluorescent lamps can lose up to 30 percent of their output overtime.
Most Alaska workplace buildings have outdated HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) systems. Modernizing your system with digital controls, an Energy Management System, and more efficient fans, motors, and controls can cut your energy bills by about $200 a year.
Whether it’s old or new, keeping your HVAC system in tip-top shape will save you in the long run. Have a contractor come in annually to perform tasks like lubricating moving parts, checking the thermostat and pressure, and inspecting the controls.
What would you buy the office if you were saving thousands of bucks a month? Stop dreaming and make it happen. After businesses make the changes recommended after an energy audit, the average company saves up to 30 percent a year.
Don’t let empty cubicles waste money. Be sure to unplug any computers, printers and lamps that are not being used.
Printing double-sided not only saves energy, it will save you money and paper.