It doesn’t matter how beautiful a home you build; it doesn’t serve the purpose unless it is energy efficient. You may not have thought about this aspect while beginning your construction; but there are always certain techniques that you can adopt to save on your energy costs. Here are a few ways that you can follow to make your home energy efficient:
Install a Solar Array
Installing solar panels atop your roof could be one of the best ways to reduce your electricity expenses and also reduce pollution. Even if it might seem a little expensive during installation it can save you a lot of money in the long run. Also, there are many green energy tax credits, incentives and rebates through which you can recoup those initial expenses to a large extent.
Install a Solar Water Heater
Water heaters can use up a lot of energy, thereby increasing your electricity costs. Installing a solar water heater could be a great way to reduce your energy costs. Moreover, the expense of installing a solar water heater is much less when compared to the costs that are associated with the installation of an entire solar array for power generation. So you can recoup your initial expenses faster.
Install a Wind Generator
You don’t have to invest in a huge windmill farm to generate power for your home. All you need to do is buy yourself a small home wind generator. Although expensive it can reduce your home energy costs by about 90%. If you have the time, you could even build one by buying a few off-the-shelf parts from your local hardware store. Or you can purchase a kit and then hire a professional to install it for you. Such kit-based generators can help reduce your home energy costs by about 10 to 15%.
Get a Rainwater Harvesting System installed
A rain collector system can help you store the rain water and use it for non-potable purposes such as flushing toilets, irrigation or for watering plants. If you are looking at something inexpensive you can purchase and assemble all the rain collection equipment all by yourself. Even if you do hire a contractor to install one, it may not cost you more than a few hundred dollars.
While these are definite ways of making your home energy-efficient you can also adopt a few other ways such as insulating your house to prevent energy escape, investing in double pane windows, or installing an energy monitor to track your energy costs. Take a look at the NYC energy code for guidelines on how to build energy efficient homes.
