Whatever the season or outside temperature, boosting your home’s energy efficiency can save you money on your monthly bills. A home energy evaluation is the best way to find and fix some of the areas where you are losing energy or where some efficiency boosts can be made. Here is a brief guide to help you with your home energy evaluation.
- Find wasteful air leaks — Air leaks in your home’s structure can let hundreds of dollars worth of conditioned air escape unused. Look for leaks around windows and doors, around electrical switches and outlets, at wall penetrations for wires or pipes, and at spots where your attic floor and foundation make contact with the house frame. Seal leaks with caulking. Add rubber or foam weather stripping around doors and windows to seal gaps that create drafts.
- Improve your insulation — Insulation helps keep cool air in during the summer and warm air in during the winter. Make sure there is an adequate amount of insulation in the walls, floors, and ceilings of your home. Pay particular attention to the attic, since it can get extremely hot in the summer and let warm air escape during the cooler season.
- Switch lighting — Incandescent light bulbs use significant amounts of energy. Replace existing light bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) or LED bulbs.
- Change your habits — Determine where you use the most electricity at various times of day, then get in the habit of shutting off lights, televisions, and other energy-using devices when you don’t need them.
- Call in a pro — If you want the most thorough and accurate home energy evaluation possible, call in a professional energy evaluator with the advanced equipment and techniques for the job. Pros may use equipment such as thermographic scanners to find areas of heat loss and techniques such as a blower door test to find well-hidden air leaks.
Hansberger Refrigeration and Electric Company serves Yuma and the neighboring communities with top-quality heating, cooling, and electric services. Contact us today for more information on the benefits of a home energy evaluation or for help evaluating your home energy usage.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Yuma, Arizona about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about home energy evaluations and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 928-723-3183.
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