Tips to Reduce Your Monthly Energy Bills

Every American family spends a substantial amount of money (almost $2,000 on average) every year on energy bills.

But unfortunately, most homes face a lot of energy loss and wastage due to poorly insulated attics, leaky windows and doors, and home appliances that are not energy efficient.

There are measures you can take to prevent energy wastage and reduce your monthly energy bills. These will not only save you money but also contribute to helping the environment.

1. Adequate insulation

Many homes in America lack sufficient insulation in attics and walls. This results in high energy loss every month.

Research shows that cumulative wasted energy from an average home is equivalent to the energy loss you would witness if you left one window of your house open all year round.

If you are not sure of the amount of insulation your house would require, you can take help of your local utility company who can audit it for you and give you an “R value” that you need to save on cooling and heating.

2. Sealing leaks

A large number of American houses suffer from the “leaky duct” syndrome. If there are leaks in the ducts that move hot or cool air around your house, it will result in a huge loss of energy and of conditioned air.

Sealing leaky ducts can be done by yourself too if you are up for it. You will find many videos online that teach you how to do it yourself.

You may also approach professional companies to complete the task. If you hire auditors to gauge your home’s energy loss, they can suggest professionals for sealing leaks.

3. Weather stripping windows and doors

It is easy to detect leaks by running your hand across the edges of doors and windows. If you feel a cool draft anywhere, it means the door or window is not as water tight as it should be.

You must seal these leaks using caulking or weather stripping that is available at local hardware stores.

If you have faulty doors and windows that cannot be fixed, you can consider switching to energy-saving storm doors and windows or double/triple paned windows. Using insulating curtains is another option, although minute leakage will still exist.

4. A programmable thermostat

This is a cost-effective option that helps save energy easily. If you can program the settings of your thermostat to use less heating in winters and less cooling in summers, you can cut energy costs by almost half.

Thermostats cost about $50 to $150 but they help you save almost $100 to $300 per year.

5. Use LEDs

Incandescent bulbs use almost 10 times more energy than LEDs. So, replace them with LEDs, which although slightly expensive, last for many years and do not contain mercury.

Other energy saving measures like insulating your hot water tank, setting the water heater temperature to 120 degrees instead of 140, installing high-pressure shower heads and regularly maintaining your HVAC system will really help reduce your monthly energy bills.