If yours is a typical family, then you are spending somewhere around $1900 on the utility bills for your house. However, the worst part of having to pay that much money on energy is that a lot of it is simply wasted. You may not know it, but your single family home actually emits more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and uses more fossil fuels that two average automobiles.
Now that you know the facts, there are steps that you can follow for improving the energy efficiency of your home and lowering your energy bills. In fact, you can start doing so right away if you and your family can start a plan to make the home energy efficient. Your home is made up of interdependent parts that make up the whole energy consumption system. That is how you need to start looking at it if your energy savings plan is going to have good results.
For example, your home's heating system is not your furnace. The furnace is where the energy delivery begins, but there are pipes and ducts that form part of the delivery network also. Your heating system is made up of pipes, ducts, walls, doors, windows, attic, crawl spaces and/or basement, etc. They will waste a great amount of energy if they are not properly insulated, sealed and regularly checked for leaks.
Your lighting is also a great energy waster if you have not already begun using CFLs. Once you do, this will be the fastest way for you to start saving energy and decreasing your energy bills. You are spending about 11% of your energy budget on lighting if you have an average household. ENERGY STAR qualified lighting actually uses around 75% less energy than standard bulbs, and this can really be a considerable savings. Consider the fact that a single CFL can save you as much as $30 on your electricity bill during the life of the bulb.
By the way, according to the people who run the governments ENERGY STAR Program, one way for your CFL to last as long as possible is to have them installed in fixtures that are on for more than 15 minutes, on average, or several hours throughout the day. If they are turned on and off too frequently, it shortens their lifespan.
Another excellent way to save money on energy is to make sure you check that your home has proper insulation. This is actually considered one of the most cost-effective manners to reduce energy waste and make good use of your energy dollars.
Make sure your windows and doors are sealed for leaks too, this will save on your heating and cooling bills. You should use your heating and cooling just enough to feel comfortable. The lower you set your air conditioning and the higher you set your heating, the higher your bills will go. Make proper use of your energy system and the integrated parts, and you will probably end up saving a lot of money. And by all means try to use equipment that harnesses the sun's energy as a way to try to cut down on your energy bills.
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