As most homeowners will tell you, cooling an entire residence during the summer months can be financially strenuous. The hotter the weather, the more you can expect to pay in utility costs. This is particularly true for households that run their AC around the clock – which can not only prove expensive, but also detrimental to the environment. Fortunately, it’s entirely possible to effectively cool your home while reducing your family’s carbon footprint. As you’ll find, creating an energy-efficient summertime cooling apparatus is well within the abilities of any homeowner.
Get Rid of Incandescent Light Bulbs
For decades, we’ve been told to stop using incandescent light bulbs and upgrade to energy-efficient ones. However, as a result of people being averse to change and incandescents having slightly lower price tags, a staggering number of us have yet to make the swap. While it’s true that many of us grew up with incandescent bulbs and that they cost less upfront, the disadvantages of sticking with them couldn’t be more apparent.
For starters, incandescent bulbs consume far more power than their energy-efficient counterparts, thus facilitating higher energy costs and a larger carbon footprint. Secondly, incandescents have much shorter lifespans, meaning that although you save a little upfront, you ultimately will not get more for your money. Thirdly, incandescent bulbs give off a lot more heat, which is liable to be felt particularly hard during the blisteringly hot summer months. So, in the interest of lower power bills, a diminished environmental impact and a cooler residence, replace any incandescent bulbs in your home with energy-efficient ones.
Upgrade Your Doors and Windows
Unbeknownst to many homeowners, we lose quite a bit of cool air through our doors and windows, regardless of whether or not they happen to be closed. Unsurprisingly, the more air that escapes, the harder your central air conditioning system will need to work, thereby increasing energy costs and your household’s environmental impact. One way to nip this problem in the bud is by upgrading to energy-efficient doors and windows. As the name implies, these doors and windows are created with energy efficiency in mind and designed to minimize escaped air. Since they’re composed of much thicker, more resilient materials than standard doors and windows, they tend to be a bit pricier. However, as is the case with energy-efficient light bulbs, the long-term savings should more than make up for the slightly inconvenient upfront cost.
Properly Insulate Your Home
In the absence of proper insulation, a fair amount of cool air can escape your home and a fair amount of warm air can enter. Conversely, good insulation helps seal in indoor air and minimize the amount of outside air that’s able to find its way inside. So, if your home’s current insulation is lacking, consider replacing it with a higher-quality type of insulation that’s better suited to your needs. If you have little to no experience working with insulation, you’d do well to leave this task to a seasoned professional. Proper insulation – like energy-efficient doors and windows – can prove helpful and cost-effective year-round, not just during the summer.
Install Reliable Ceiling Fans
Reliable ceiling fans should play a prominent role in your home’s summertime cooling apparatus. For one thing, they can take some of the strain off your central AC by efficiently distributing the cool air it produces throughout your entire abode. Additionally, ceiling fans whose blades have been adjusted to turn counterclockwise can produce refreshing cool breezes that flow downward.
Since ceiling fans are available in a huge array of types and sizes, finding the right fans for your home shouldn’t prove particularly challenging. For instance, if your home doesn’t have much ceiling space to spare, you should start shopping for small ceiling fans.
For many homeowners, simply getting through the summer can be a trying experience. Although continuously running your AC can provide consistent relief from the brutal heat, it also stands to stretch your finances thin all summer long. Furthermore, while convenient, this approach to home cooling isn’t particularly good for your household’s environmental impact. That being the case, homeowners looking to do right by the environment and save money on utility costs would do well to incorporate energy efficiency into their summertime cooling efforts. With the help of the measures discussed above, creating an energy-efficient cooling apparatus can prove to be an easy – and highly rewarding – endeavor.
For more tips on summer home tips, check these out.
11 Ways to Save On Your Energy Bills This Summer
