The Most Important Energy-Saving Upgrades You Can Do During Your Home Renovation

Did you know that modern households spend almost half of their annual energy on heating and cooling systems? Wouldn’t it be great if we could find some ways to reduce this by making energy-saving upgrades to our homes?

Making your home more sustainable by spending less on electricity, gas, and water is exactly what this article is all about. This will not only have a positive impact on the environment, but it will also decrease your monthly costs for utilities and other bills. Even if you only implement some of these upgrades, they will make a huge difference and will take you one step closer to making your home more energy-efficient.

What to Do Before You Start Making Energy-Saving Upgrades to Your Home?

After reading this article, you’ll probably start thinking about all the improvements you can do to make your home more energy efficient, however, you first need to do your research and plan a budget for the upgrades.

It’s useful to check what incentives your community has for making upgrades and what utility providers offer to people who want to make these changes. Maybe you’ll find that you can get a rebate if you recycle old appliances or your municipality has an incentive for people who want to make energy-efficient upgrades to their homes, and so on.

Next, you’ll want to see how big of a budget you have for these types of upgrades since some of them can be very costly. It’s a good idea to prioritize some and keep others at the bottom of the list, just because some of these upgrades will save you significant amounts of money, while others will just scratch the surface.

Which Appliances and Electronics Use the Most Energy?

We know that residential energy is among the top five consumers of energy in the world, so it’s a good idea to learn which appliances use the most energy in your home. From top to bottom, here’s a list of the biggest energy users in your home:

• Cooling and heating use 47% of the annual energy
• A water heater uses 14% of the annual energy
• The washer and dryer use 13% of the annual energy
• Lighting uses around 12% of the annual energy, depending on which light bulbs you use
• A refrigerator uses 4% of the annual energy
• An electric oven uses 3-4% of the annual energy
• The TV, DVD, and cable boxes use 3% of the annual energy
• A dishwasher uses 2% of the annual energy

A computer uses 1% of the annual energy

There are some appliances and electronics that use energy even when they’re off, and because of this, we call them “vampire appliances”. Some of them include:

• Digital cable and satellite TV
• Computers and laptops (laptops use more energy compared to desktops)
• Printers (multi-use and inkjet technology spend the most)
• DVD and VCR
• Central heating furnace
• Modems and routers
• Landlines and answering machines
• Gaming consoles that stay plugged in
• Television (the bigger the TV, the more electricity it uses)

Microwaves (especially those with a clock on them)

Now that we’ve identified what spends the most amount of money and energy in your home, let’s see what energy-saving upgrades are a good idea.

Energy-Saving Upgrades You Can Do During Your Home Renovation

As we’ve established, cooling and heating your home requires the most amount of energy, so if you choose one thing to upgrade, it should be that. Below, we’ll discuss how you can reduce the amount of energy you spend on cooling and heating, and much more.

Installing Solar Panels

Solar panels are becoming one of the most popular items that increase the energy efficiency of a home. They allow homeowners to produce their own energy and, by doing that, limit the amount of energy they have to buy from energy providers.

With the help of solar panel technology, you’re able to get your home closer to being a net-zero home while still generating a significant amount of energy. You can also reduce the overall expenditure of energy by combining solar energy with other systems that save energy, and further reduce the overall amount of energy that your home uses.

Even though solar panels cost a lot when you initially install them, they also increase the overall value of your home. Just keep in mind that your home needs to be air sealed and adequately insulated so the generated energy doesn’t go to waste, which brings us to our next topic.

Insulation

If you decide to spend a big chunk of your budget on getting solar panels, you should also improve your home’s energy efficiency by adding enough insulation and adequately sealing every nook and cranny. By properly insulating your house, you’ll keep the warm air outside during winter, and the cool air inside during summer, thus decreasing your cooling and heating costs. Insulation is efficient only if all the areas in the home are covered, and that includes basements, attics, and other crawlspaces, otherwise, it’s all for nothing.

Replace or Seal Old Windows and Doors

Did you know that windows are one of the main culprits of energy waste which can total about 25% of your heating bill? So, if you have really old, single-pane windows, maybe the time has come to replace them.

If you decide to do that, opt for windows that are double-paned and have good insulation properties. However, if you don’t need to replace your windows entirely, you should make sure to replace the glass of the old windows, or maybe even add storm windows and properly seal them.

Repair or Replace Old Roofs

Even though you’ve adequately insulated your home, if your roof isn’t performing as well as it should, it’s all in vain. Because if you think about it, the roof is the part of the house that’s most exposed to seasonal changes, such as hot temperatures during the summer and freezing temperatures during the winter.

So, if your roof is leaking, is older than 20 years, or you have a lot of cracked shingles on it, it’s time to replace it. When making the new roof, consider implementing materials such as sheet metal or clay that have the ability to reflect the heat and reduce the temperature in your home. Finally, if your roof is in good condition, you can always just add cool roof coating that will help the roof reflect heat.

Home Heating and Cooling

We’ve mentioned that one of the places where you spend the most energy is heating and cooling, so once you’ve installed your solar panels, you can use them to heat and cool your home. Solar heating and cooling (SHC) systems work by collecting the thermal energy of the sun and then using it to heat and cool your home, provide hot water, and heat your pool and any other places that need heating or cooling in the house. And if you have an HVAC system that’s older than 10 years, it may be time to upgrade it.

Smart Thermostats

Once you’ve installed a new cooling and heating system, it’s a good idea to also install a programmable thermostat to achieve optimal temperature at a lower cost. This device enables you to turn down the temperature at night or whenever nobody’s home and turn it up remotely when necessary. You can even program it to alter the temperature at specific times of the day without having to adjust it manually all the time.

Shading and Shutters

You can further reduce heat gain in your home by installing shutters, blinds, or other shading systems. You can also install external blinds that will minimize the amount of heat that enters your home during summer, but keep them open if you have a south-facing window during sunny days in winter.

Another way to add some shade to your house is by planting some deciduous trees that will help you decrease the temperature around your windows, but also let some light come into the home.

Ventilation and Ceiling Fans

A common way to maximize the cool air in summer and the hot air in winter is by adding a ceiling fan. During the summer months, when you turn your ceiling fan on, you optimize the use of your air conditioner and decrease the temperature for a few more degrees. In winter, on the other hand, the ceiling fan helps you blow back the hot air that gathers at the top of the room back down.

Energy-Efficient Lighting

Energy-efficient lights and power strips can decrease the energy you spend on lighting the house, but they also last much longer than your standard light bulb. Swapping all your standard light bulbs with Energy Star-certified light bulbs can save you about $55 in electricity costs for one single bulb over the course of its lifetime. And remember when we talked about how certain household electronics spend electricity even when they’re off? Well, light bulbs are also part of that group of appliances that use “vampire power”, so if you change them with LEDs, you also decrease the amount of energy they spend while they’re turned off or dimmed.

Upgrade Your Appliances

As we’ve mentioned above, swapping most of your appliances with Energy Star Seal appliances will drastically reduce your electricity bill as the washing machine, fridge, and oven are some of the appliances that spend the most amount of energy. It’s also important to know that most appliances become less energy-efficient towards the end of their life span, so keep this in mind when thinking about when to replace them.

Efficient Water System

Water-saving is just as important as energy-saving, so you can also save on monthly costs by decreasing the amount of water you spend. Opt for low-flow plumbing fixtures, such as toilets, faucets, and showerheads that use the least amount of water. Opt for energy and water-saving dishwashers and washing machines instead of inefficient appliances.

Tankless water heaters are another great idea since they use less energy because they don’t keep the water hot around the clock. Even the standard water heaters have come a long way and are more energy-efficient than the traditional ones.

Finally, you should even pay attention to how much water you’re spending on your lawn. If possible, you can replace your water-hungry plants and outdoor grass with fewer water-hungry plants. You can also opt for decorative plants and greenery if you don’t want to take care of plants, but want to have a nice-looking yard.

Do You Need to Add Energy-Saving Upgrades to Your Home?

Everything that we’ve mentioned throughout this article will not only save you energy on a monthly basis, but it’ll also increase the value of your home. And if you’re unsure whether you need any of these improvements, you can always call an efficiency inspector or call your energy provider and ask them to send an expert from their company. This will either be a free service or you’ll have to pay a small fee.

The energy efficiency inspector will inspect your home and all your appliances and give you recommendations about what they think you need to upgrade to improve the efficiency of your home. After the expert gives you the report, you can then decide which upgrades you want to make when you take your budget into consideration.