How Much Can You Save by Installing Energy Saving Improvements?
Saving money is a huge motivation for making energy saving improvements to your home. But, it’s extremely important to understand just how much you stand to save by making certain investments so you can improve your home with confidence that these improvements will ultimately pay for themselves. To determine that, you need to know just how much you stand to save when you make certain energy-conserving updates to your home.
Light Bulbs and Fixtures
If you only replace the five most frequently used fixtures or bulbs in your home with those that are designated as Energy Star items, you can save up to $75 every year – according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Imagine the savings if you replace all the bulbs and fixtures in your home.
Other considerations, if you make the switch to LED bulbs are the savings you’ll enjoy by replacing bulbs less frequently since one LED bulb can last up to 11 years. LED bulbs also burn cooler preventing you from needing to crank up the air conditioning in the summertime to compensate for your bulbs.
Energy Efficient Windows
House Logic reports that you can expect to save as much as 15 percent per year on your utility bills for installing energy-efficient windows with low-E coatings on a 2,600-square-foot home. Of course, these savings vary according to the climate where you live and other contributing factors.
Other Energy-Saving Improvements You Can Make
There are other, less expensive energy-saving changes you can make to your home that will offer an incredible bang for your buck. The Department of Energy suggests that simple things like installing power strips for electronics and turning them off when not in use can net you 12 percent savings on your electric bill each year. Planting shade trees can shave the costs of cooling your home by anywhere from 15 -50 percent per the same source.
One big change you can make for the sake of your home that will yield surprising energy savings results is installing a whole house fan. Lifehacker states that a whole house fan can save up to 10 to 20 percent on electricity compared to a central air conditioner and even more savings when compared to the costs of operating a window air conditioner.
The key is to combine low and higher cost methods of conserving energy to maximize your savings overall. These are fabulous changes to begin with.