Five Ways to Save Money by Making Your Home Green
Making your home greener or more environmentally friendly isn’t just about preserving the planet, even though that’s certainly a plus. In most cases, doing so can actually save you money in the long run. Most homeowners are familiar with the popular methods, like adding solar panels or digging an artesian well, but these usually require a hefty upfront investment which takes years before any savings are realized (they’ll still save you a lot in the long run).
There’s a surprising number of energy-efficient additions to your home that are light on the wallet initially but save big in the long run, and those are what we’ll be focused on in this piece. Taken together or even one at a time, they can easily reduce your energy costs as well as your carbon footprint, which is a win-win all around.
Energy-efficient lighting can save you hundreds per year
As incandescent bulbs go the way of the dinosaur, energy-efficient bulbs are pretty much the norm these days anyway. In terms of upfront investment vs. overall savings, switching to energy efficient lighting is the easiest and cheapest way to save big on your power bill. Incandescent bulbs for only $1-$2 apiece right now, but if you have 40 60-watt incandescent light bulbs in your home running about three hours per day, you’d spend roughly $360 per year in energy costs.
CFL (compact fluorescent light) and LED (light-emitting diode) light bulbs only cost a few dollars more than incandescent bulbs but they last much longer than incandescent bulbs and use less power.
If we used the above example for CFL bulbs, running 40 of them in your home for three hours a day would put you on track to spend about $80 per year in energy costs, which isn’t bad for a bulb that costs around three dollars apiece.
LED bulbs are even more efficient and last much longer than CFL bulbs, but you can expect to pay a little over $4 each. It’s worth the extra expense, though, because 40 of them in your home running three hours a day will only cost around $55 per year on your utility bill.
Your water bill can be a silent, ever-increasing expense
Most people don’t pay much attention to their water bill, because water is necessary for most at-home activities, from gardening to cooking to bathing to drinking. It tends to be one of those expenses that just gets paid every month without much thought.
But you could be missing out on some large savings. By taking a few simple steps with water use, most of which don’t cost much if anything at all, you can save quite a lot over the course of a few years.
Low-pressure shower heads can make a huge difference in your water bill each month. The average shower uses nearly 20 gallons of water, aided by an average output of 2.1 gallons per minute. If you have a large family who needs showers after soccer practice every day, halving that output with a low-pressure shower head can lead to noticeable savings.
If you live in drier areas, you’re probably no stranger to water ordinances that allow you to water your lawn only during certain hours. This is to encourage efficiency in water absorption by banning watering during the hotter hours. You can save on your water usage – and water your lawn less often – by doing so during the early morning or evening hours (evening tends to be better, since as the day gets hotter any water on the surface will evaporate).
Is your insulation actually energy-efficient?
Your home is probably insulated, but is it a high-efficiency kind of insulation? The higher the number on the type of insulation you buy, the better its insulative properties. If you live in an area with extreme climates, it’s probably a good idea to upgrade your insulation against the elements.
Just doing your attic, for example, can make a huge and noticeable difference. Not only that, but your HVAC unit won’t have to work quite as hard, extending its longevity.
In a cold climate, for example, upgrading to R-40 or higher insulation can save you as much as $600 per year on heating costs, and that’s not chump change. There’s a higher upfront cost to this relative to the other examples in this list, but you can also save about half in total initial costs by installing the insulation yourself if you can. After a few years, the investment will pay off.
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- Get It Right Solutions