There are a ton of great things about the summer, from enjoying better weather outside with friends and family to taking vacations, this is when most people find the time to relax. However, with more people home during the summer, and extreme temperatures, this is also a time of year when many homes are less energy efficient than they otherwise can and should be. In many ways, this is the reverse of the winter energy effect. In the winter, it’s cold so you use more energy to heat your home, which gets to be very expensive. In the summer, you use energy to stave off the heat. In turn, this makes the energy bill jump up and become much more expensive for you to pay off.
There are ways to avoid this jump in energy costs, though. So, don’t let yourself become the victim of a rising energy bill.
Make Sure Your Home is Properly Insulated
It’s easy not to think about the insulation in your home. After all, it’s not like you see it every day the way you do the floor and walls, but it’s still vital to the structure of your home. Home insulation is responsible for keeping your home cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Without proper insulation, massive amounts of the air conditioning you use in the summer will escape from your home, meaning that you’ll have to use more energy to produce more AC. This will then raise your energy bill.
So, by making sure your home is properly insulated, you will know if this is contributing to your high energy bill. And don’t be surprised if there is an issue with your insulation, particularly in older homes. Some older homes even used things like horsehair as insulation, while others more dangerously used asbestos. That’s going to need updating, either way.
Get Your Air Conditioner Serviced Before the Start of Summer
One of the most important things to do is have an HVAC company come out and service your air conditioner before the summer starts. This way, if there are any issues with the system, these AC repair services can have them fixed before the dead of summer when you become desperate for that air conditioning in your home.
Even if your residential air conditioning seems to be working properly, it’s good to bring in a home air conditioning repair service to take a look. That’s because there are often small issues that can be creating issues that could become major down the line. For instance, a clogged drainage line might back up and flood, which creates a major issue for your whole home. Other times, the issues that present themselves might be fairly minor. For instance, an old filter will need to be replaced. These old filters become dirty and ineffective, meaning they do need to be replaced every few months. Otherwise, air won’t flow through them properly, making your air conditioner less effective.
At the end of the day, you get this service done on your air conditioner not because any one thing is wrong with it, but to make sure everything stays that way. Furthermore, catching and fixing little details on the machine can make it run as effectively as possible. This, in turn, means you will have to use less energy to properly cool your home, which will help keep your energy bill down over the course of the summer when you need it to run as efficiently as possible. In other words, don’t hesitate to call air conditioning services if you’re looking to cut down on your energy bills.
Consider How You Use Lightbulbs
One of the biggest ways to waste energy, and cost yourself money on an electric bill, is by leaving lights on that you don’t need and aren’t using. So, get into the habit of turning them off. You’ll be shocked by how much money this little trick saves. Besides that, during the summer there is so much more natural light that you don’t need to use lights the way that you may need to during the wintertime. Pulling open the shades may even be more effective than turning on lightbulbs in rooms that you’re in and need to have light in at a given time.
Furthermore, by replacing the lightbulbs that you do have with LED bulbs you will be doing your energy bill a favor, as well as the environment as a whole. That’s because LED bulbs will burn longer and brighter than regular bulbs do, while using less energy than a standard light bulb. This makes using LED bulbs, coupled with making sure that you’re only turning on lights that you need to turn on at any given time, a great way to cut down on your bills during the summer months.
Replace Your Windows
A lot of people don’t consider the ways that energy escapes their homes, forcing them to use more energy than they would otherwise need to, so they can have a cool and comfortable home during the summer months. For some, this comes in the form of fixing the insulation. To keep the heat in during the winter months, this may take the form of repairing leaks to the roof. However, during the summertime, it’s vital that you make sure your windows are doing their jobs properly. At times, it may even be best to replace them entirely.
Windows make it so that a wall is going to lack the type of insulation that comes from a regular wall or the ceiling. So, they need to be sealed properly, as this will prevent any drafts. These drafts allow warm or cold air, depending on the season to get into your home. They also let your air-conditioned air within the home to get out. Because of this, you will need more energy to cool the house to the temperature that you need it to be.
Furthermore, depending on where your windows are located, you may need to use less energy on everything. Windows can be used to heat or cool a home, depending on where they’re located. They can also act as a source of light. So, installing or repairing the windows in your home is a great way to help save money on your monthly energy and utility bills.
If you’re considering a central AC install, or changing the cooling system to your home for one reason or another, start with making sure your windows are properly sealed.
Consider Installing Solar Panels
A lot of people like the idea of installing solar panels onto their homes, but they turn them down because of the initial installation cost. This is reasonable, especially if you’re trying to save money, however, solar panels are a solution to high energy bills that most people don’t think about. After all, once the panels are installed, the majority of the cost is done with. In other words, you don’t pay for solar panels monthly, like you do an energy bill. Furthermore, depending on where you live, there may be tax incentives and other financial benefits to investing in solar panels.
Once the panels are installed, you will see your energy bill go down exponentially. That’s because you won’t have to rely on electricity or oil from someone else to keep your home running. You can, instead, rely on those solar panels, for the most part, to make sure that there is no interruption in the flow of energy to your home.
While many people are turned away from solar panels by the initial cost of installing them, there are a lot of great benefits to choosing solar panels. This includes paying much less on your energy bills going forward. So, think of it as a long-term investment in paying less for energy. Furthermore, there are programs that will help you pay less for the initial cost of the solar panels, so there is less stress from the initial cost.
Turn Off the Air Conditioner When You Don’t Need It
Having a residential air conditioner is important during the summer months, particularly if you live in a hot and muggy region of the country. However, there are going to be times when you don’t need it. This may be when it’s cool in the nights, during a surprise cold spell, or when you go away for a trip. So, why use the air conditioner when you don’t need it?
Open windows or turn the system off completely when you don’t need the air conditioner. This will help to make sure that you’re not paying for anything you don’t need during the summer months. It will also help to limit your energy bill, which can jump up if you’re using your central air conditioning around the clock to keep your home comfortable.
Use Cold Water to Wash Your Clothes
A secret that most people don’t know is that there is next to no reason to use hot water to wash your clothes. It’s bad for the environment, means you can wash fewer clothes at a time, and forces the color out of your clothes, and can have a tie dye effect on loads of mixed color clothes. So, why do people use hot water? Well, there is not much reason to do it at all.
Cold water, on the other hand, allows you do to do more loads of laundry, while using less energy than you would be if you were using hot water. Considering, however, that around ninety percent of the energy used in washing clothes comes from heating up water, using cold water is a great way to cut down on your energy costs, while not worrying about issues from washing your clothes.
Furthermore, there are appliances that you can purchase that are designed to be energy efficient. By choosing one of these options, you will save even more money on your energy bill a month than you do by simply using cold water. It also goes to show that every little thing you do in your daily life will have an impact on your summer energy bill.
Make Sure to Keep Doors and Windows in Your Home Closed
To make sure that your air conditioning system is running as effectively as possible, it’s important to make sure that any doors in your home are closed. This helps to keep the cool air in the room that you’re currently in and will make it harder for that air to escape your home or apartment. This is especially true for keeping windows closed as well. After all, if you open up a window to the outside while you’re using your air conditioning, then you’re just asking that cold air to go outside.
By keeping as much cool air as possible inside the home or a specific room as possible, you will have less need to use a lot of energy to keep the home cool. Instead, you can rely on smaller amounts of energy and be comfortable. This saves money on your energy bills and speaks to the main thing you should be thinking about when it comes to making your energy bill affordable. That’s, what ways can I get the same production from things that require energy, while using less energy overall? It may be as simple as closing doors or turning on a ceiling fan.
Follow these tips, making sure to use professional HVAC contractors or air conditioning repair services when necessary, will help you lower your energy bill during the summer. This will free up more money to do the things you love during the summer months, such as going on vacation and spending time outside with your loved ones. Truly, you can’t afford not to be aware of you much you’re spending on those summer utility bills.
