Daily Home Renovation Tips

Editor’s Note: To view the 240+ different energy conservation tips for the home we have collected, simply access our Un-Official Guide To Home Energy Conservation.

Yesterday we wrote about the low cost, and the day before that the no cost  suggestions for reducing your home’s heating and cooling utility bills within our Home Energy Conservation series.

Today we start our look at how the average home owner can reduce their winter home heating costs by undertaking steps which will, again, cost nothing to do. In these turbulent economic times, we really do need maximum effect for our efforts.

Here is the Un-Official Guide to Home Energy Conservation ’s listing of air heating energy conservation tips:

Some houses are designed with the attic access of a pull down stairway from the ceiling. Insulating the attic access when it is a stairway is more involved than when the access is simply by pushing aside a square board in the hole in the ceiling. However, pull down stairway access can still be insulated (#29), it’s just that it’s more expensive than the simpler type of attic access.

One of our contestants in last month’s home energy conservation tip contest suggested selecting the paint colour to be used on the outside of the house to meet the environmental needs of where you live. If you live in an area which never / rarely gets snow, consider painting the outside of your home (could also go for the colour of roof shingles too!) in a light colour to help repel the heat from the sun’s direct UV rays. However, if you live in an area where heating is a greater cost than air conditioning over the course of 12 month, consider using a dark colour to attract the sun’s heat (#30).

Ceiling fans inside the house are great to help keep the home feeling cool in the summer and help with drawing down warm air in the winter. If you do not have one, then it will cost you a little to purchase ($100 to $300+) and then have installed by a licensed electrician in your home (#31 & 35).

Did you know that there is now available insulation for heat ducts (#32)? Who knew? I only found out when we installed a flexible heat duct for our solar air heater. This insulation can be pricey but help to keep the heat (in the winter) or coolness (of air conditioned generated cool air in the summer) within the actual duct to be blown to various parts of the home. 

Consider having storm doors on the outside of all of your exterior doors to help keep the heat inside in the winter and the cool air inside in the summer (#33).

Infra-red temperature gauges, like the one above, cost around $50 on sale or around $99 regular price. However they can be great devices to check exterior walls for any inadequate insulation or air leaks in the home’s ‘envelope’ that need to be addressed for the conservation of home heating / cooling bills (#34).

Increasing the insulation of your attic (#36) can be one of the quickest financial payback you achieve when spending money on energy conservation in the home. The ecoENERGY Residential Retrofit program offers hundreds of $$$ for increasing attic insulation. Increasing wall insulation or installing insulation on bare basement walls can also help reduce the amount of heat needed to keep a home warm in the winter (#37).

Finally, remember that windows in a home are really nothign more than holes in the wall. When you have to replace your windows, never a cheap undertaking, consider having ENERGY STAR rated windows installed for the maximum insulation of these holes in the exterior walls of your home (#38).

There you have it. Over the past week or so we have published and dissected our numerous energy conservation tips to reduce either just your home heating bills or both your home heating and home air conditioning bills … the majority of which cost you nothing or next to nothing to do. You just need to, well, just do it!

Next time, we take a look at another collection of home energy conservation tips.