Why Energy Efficiency is So Important
Our environment is being affected every single day by the lifestyle that we choose to adapt. Global warming has been steadily increasing over the years, and our average household has a big part to play in it. Energy efficiency does not only save you money, but it also enables you to contribute toward protecting the environment.
Common household mistakes that waste energy
There are a lot of common mistakes that people make in their households that lead to a lot of energy being wasted. Avoiding these would mean having simple solutions to saving energy and being energy efficient. One of the major ones is not having a properly insulated house, which means air leaks keep affecting the performance of heating and cooling appliances. One of the places that are often ignored is the attic, which is a significant source of air leak. These air leaks are also found at doors and windows, which is an obvious place to insulate.
Another area that’s often overlooked is idle load, i.e. the energy a home uses even when it’s supposedly “doing nothing.”
Invest in energy efficiency buildings
The fact that people usually spend around 80% of their time inside buildings means that having energy efficiency building is something that should be seriously taken into consideration. Buildings include a person’s home.
Energy efficient buildings use less energy, meaning their cost of operation is quite low. Further, they emit fewer greenhouse gasses, which is important for the environment, especially given our current global warming crisis.
Energy efficiency saves money
Evolving the thermal features of your house by adequately insulating and weatherizing it, purchasing all modern technological appliances and using current methods of saving energy has the potential of saving around 30 percent of utility bills that you pay every month, with the possibility of an even higher savings rate.
Moreover, it will also need less electricity during summers for air conditioning. If you invest in more energy efficient appliances such as those that have energy star on them and do small things like installing timers, it will greatly lower your utility bills, and you can see the difference in just a month!
Energy efficiency enhances comfort
Do you ever get irritated by that draft of cold wind that makes your feet freeze during the winter, and you can never figure out where it’s coming from? Or when in the summers that AC has been on for an hour but the room is still not cold enough? Both things happen because there are unidentified air leaks in your house. If you insulate and air seal your house, it will help you in keeping your house warm in the winters and cold in the summers in a much more effective way. Similarly, in summers your air conditioning will work like magic and ensure that your home is properly cooled.
Energy efficiency benefits the environment
Global warming has been steadily worsening in the past few years, and one big contributor to this devastating phenomenon is power plants that create electricity. More than half of all greenhouse gases that are found in the environment come from power plants and by using natural gas. These plants, along with our household usage of heating oil or natural gas emit greenhouse gasses in massive quantities. These gases pollute the air and contribute to the peril of a global climate change.
By making a conscious attempt to use less energy, you directly contribute to the fight against global climate change. Another thing you can do is decreasing the kinds of air pollutants that are considered to be unhealthy to inhale. The quantity of water that water power plants need to make use of also decreases if we become more energy efficient.
Energy efficiency increases resale value
Buildings that are energy efficient usually possess extended lifecycles, cheaper maintenance costs, and require less money overall to operate. Where rental properties are concerned, they are more convenient to be lived in, get occupied promptly, and have been recorded to have a lower tenant turnover measure. The abundance of natural light, temperatures that are comfortable, and an elevated indoor air quality that these energy efficient industrial buildings contain directly results in improved staff fecundity.
Moreover, people who have energy efficient houses also profit from a progressive control over their energy bills every month, and from having a house that sustains their lifestyle wants.
We have not only given you the benefits of being energy efficient but also shown you different ways of implementing it. It is important for us, as individuals, to try and reduce our carbon footprint as much as we can so we give the next generation a healthier planet to live in!
