Energy efficiency is the leading way to reduce your impact and make your home energy efficient. Learning about the ways that can result in more energy efficient home is critical to reducing your sewer, water, and electricity bills as well making your home greener. This strategy is a winner for both your wallet and planet.

Houses with greener features have recently emerged as the most sought after in the market. Therefore, learning how to add green features that will help you benefit from lower costs, and make your house more marketable is crucial.

Energy Star Appliances

ENERGY STAR has emerged as a common sign for energy-efficient appliances. Though you may be familiar with this symbol, you may still not know that ENERGY STAR is a government initiative that was initiated to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The outcome has been a trusted and easily identifiable system that helps consumers to choose the most energy-efficient appliances for their houses. For ENERGY STAR appliances to earn the label, they must meet a certain list of criteria put by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Through these appliances, significant energy and water savings (typically 10 to 50 percent) are made without compromising the performance.

Often, ENERGY STAR appliances are priced comparably to other less efficient products. Pricing is one of the criteria for earning the ENERGY STAR label. If the ENERGY STAR product is expensive than a standard product that offers the same features, the rating for the ENERGY STAR is only awarded should the consumer make up the extra cost in the water or energy bill savings (in a reasonable period of time).

Energy-efficient Windows

Sometimes, replacing windows on an already existing home is not a good idea as it can be expensive and only results in an energy bill savings of about 7 to 15 percent. Nonetheless, if you are building a house, it would be better to choose energy-efficient windows to provide enough energy savings to meet the added cost per window (mostly $15).

There are a few things you need to keep in your mind if you decide to have a greener window option for your home. Notably, you need to understand the solar heat gain ratings and the thermal transmission (U-factor). Solar heat ratings measure the amount of heat lost during winter and the amount of energy gained during summer. The lower the recorded rating, the more your house is energy efficient.

If you still do not have an idea on how to go about this option of energy efficiency, you need not worry. ENERGY STAR has a system for rating for windows. Interestingly, if you are looking for the ENERGY STAR label, you will get a good, eco-friendly product. Moreover, ENERGY STAR even breaks windows based on climate zones to help you locate a window that will work better in your house. Note: ENERGY STAR products are always at the same price point as the other standard windows.

Green roofs and Benefits of Roof Insulation

Green roofs are the other popular way to make your house energy efficient. Notably, painting your house roofs white is an easy technique to reflect heat and save costs during the summer. But more interesting is planting gardens on rooftops, resulting in a greener environment just like in the surroundings. The gardens at the rooftops are critical to insulating the buildings in the winter and soak up stormwater, minimizing water pollution from the urban runoff.

In recent times, green roof tops have emerged popular in some areas because of the associated benefit of energy efficiency. Areas such as Portland, New York City, California, and Kankakee, Ill., have almost turned green. Though green roofs are associated with a plethora of environmental benefits, the major driving force for most house owners is the economic incentives brought about by this technology.

There are many benefits associated with roof insulation. Though it is common to link roof insulation with winterizing your home and making your home warmer, insulation is beneficial for year-round comfort. Roof insulation prevents all heat from moving through it, even if the heat is on the outside of your home or the inside of your home. In other words, this implies that during the winter, insulation will prevent heat from escaping and during the summer, insulation will prevent heat from entering into the home.

Tankless Water Heater and Low-flow Plumbing Fixtures

You can add many features to your home to make conserve water as well as cut down water bills costs. The tankless water heater conserves energy by providing hot water as it is required. It does not produce standby energy losses as in the storage water heaters. On the other hand, features such as shower heads, toilets, and faucets are some of the common low-plumbing features that you can add to your home to conserve water.

Conclusion

In sum, making your home energy efficient is one way you can cut a lot of costs that are associated with poor energy consumption. Nonetheless, it may be difficult to have energy efficient homes if you lack some basic tips. Luckily, with the above-highlighted tips, you can make you home energy efficient without a hassle.