Important Reasons to Have a Home Energy Check Up

Are you aware of how important and beneficial a home energy check up can be? Let me tell you indeed how significantly it can help you to save on your energy bills.

The home energy check up is an evaluation of your home that you can do either by yourself or by hiring a professional to do it. This evaluation is really important when you are trying to saving energy as it helps you determine the exact areas your home that can be improved and made more energy efficient.

In order to make the check up as effective as possible it is best completed when your whole family is present. They all need to understand and be a part of implementing the changes that need to happen. If you have younger kids it is your responsibility to help them value the energy used around the house and therefore learn to use it wisely and efficiently.

Today more and more people want to save energy around their house but they want to do it their way. Unfortunately only a few of them actually take advantage of the resources and tools available to them. Some of those are the home energy check up, the home energy yardstick and government incentives, as well as many others.

As a family unfortunately your individual efforts may be offset by another member of the family's irresponsible actions. That is why everyone in your household must be a part of the check up and work together to implement the changes. 

Here are 5 basic energy saving techniques:

1. To switch off lights when you're not in the room is an easy energy conserving technique, yet not many people take advantage of it.

2. Turn off your electronics instead of letting them sit on standby. You may assume that standby has the same energy saving potential to switching the item off but that's simply not true. The truth is that a TV on standby still consumes around 60% of the energy it uses while it is on. Off uses no energy.

3. Use the new energy efficient light bulbs. These light bulbs have a number of advantages over the typical incandescent bulbs. They last 10 times longer, consume 25% less energy, and produce a brighter, whiter light. They operate cool which means they don't waste energy in the form of heat.

4. Improve the exterior of your home. Get rid of all sources of drafts of cold air coming into your home by eliminating any cracks and holes, this can save a lot of energy. You can do this with caulking or spray foam and weather stripping.

3. Use the sun's natural heat to help heat your home. You can do this by opening your window curtains during day time and closing them at sunset. This allows your home to gain daytime heat from the sun and keep it in during the night.

Saving energy at home is not that difficult to do, yet many people are still not taking advantage of these common sense ideas that can save them money. There could be many more reasons that you need to know about your home that would make a home energy check up worth your efforts.

By completing a home energy check up you will know what you need to do to improve your home's energy efficiency. That along with the list above will allow you to make the changes necessary around your home. It is important that you realize that it is dependent on you to do the work.

Source: http://goarticles.com/article/Important-Reasons-to-Have-a-Home-Energy-Check-Up/4314796/