smart homes

Since about 5% of your home’s bill electricity will come from light usage, it’s wise to use bulbs energy that are efficient. Not only to traditional incandescent bulbs use more energy and have a shorter lifespan, but the heat they produce can increase the indoor room temperature, causing you to use more energy to keep your indoor space cool during the summer. Using compact fluorescent lamps and light emitting diodes where possible reduces the heat lost that’s produced from lighting and provides more efficient lighting, leading to all-around energy savings.

Traditionally, the best way to control lighting and temperature in indoor spaces was to constantly turn the lights on or off and adjust the thermostat. Aside from potentially forgetting to change or forgetting to turn the lights off, this constant adjustment is tedious and not very effective, especially if you leave for vacation or are returning from work. Why cool or heat a space that you’re not using and why suffer until the space changes to an ideal temperature?

Smart homes equipped with smart thermostats can be synched with a wireless device such as a phone or laptop or pre-programmed so that your indoor spaces will be cooled or heated when you are there, with less energy being used when you are not. Likewise, you can program lights in your home to be timed to go on or off, preventing lights being accidentally left on or off. Smart lighting systems also incorporate intensity controls such as dimmers that allow you to control the intensity of the lights when they are, maximizing their efficiency.

An energy efficient home is not just how the home is built but also how the appliances in your home operate. Energy efficient appliances not only use less energy to operate, but they also work more efficiently so that you won’t have to provide any remedial energy, such as can happen when dishwashers don’t work efficiently.

More importantly, efficiency leads them to have longer lifespans that require you to invest less in appliances. Such appliances as refrigerators can provide climate-controlled areas in your refrigerator tailored to specific food groups to maximize food storage without excessive cooling, while appliances such as stoves, ovens and microwaves can provide direct and quality cooking heat without wasting excess energy and without ruining your food.

No one wants to heat or cool the entire neighborhood, which is why a properly sealed home is key to energy efficiency. A properly sealed home can save up to 15% on your bill electricity. This comes from preventing unwanted air from going into or out of your home, which lowers heating costs.

In order to make sure that your home is properly sealed, check your windows to make sure there aren’t any gaps when it is closed and that it is properly caulked inside and outside of your home. Also, check doors to make sure that they close properly and that there is not too large of a gap where the door meets the threshold. If there is, using trim or insulating strips can help to reduce drafts and unwanted heating or cooling expenses.

While insulating and sealing your home is important to making sure that your home is energy efficient, it can only do so much. And, in the case of improving insulation, it can be difficult to adjust unless you are completely remodeling your home.

With one of the largest footprints of any component of your home, your roof plays a critical role in determining your home’s energy efficiency. Energy star roof shingles provide exceptional reflection of the sun’s rays while also lowering the overall roof temperature. This can substantially decrease the heat that enters your home, lowering your home’s overall energy bill while keeping you cool in the process.