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Have you heard about going green? Homeowners across the country have started to embrace a greener lifestyle, but what’s in it for them? Here are just a few of the reasons why homeowners should be concerned with energy conservation!
Energy Efficiency Improves Your Quality of Life
Everyone wants to feel comfortable in his or her home, and energy efficiency can help homeowners reach a new level of comfort.
Do you have to snuggle up under blankets to stay warm or turn on a ceiling fan for extra cooling? Do you have to wear socks around the house because of icy cold floors? These problems can easily be fixed with insulation, which will reduce your energy use and make you more comfortable.
This is just one way energy efficiency can improve the quality of your life. The opportunities to make your home more comfortable are endless, which is why so many homeowners love tackling green home improvement projects.
Energy Efficiency Saves You Money
Perhaps the main reason why homeowners start to conserve energy is to save money.
Most homeowners spend around $2,000 a year on home energy bills, but this can be reduced by 20–30% if you make energy efficient upgrades in the home.
The less energy you consume, the less you will have to spend on water and electric bills every month. This means you will have more money in your pocket to allocate towards your mortgage, savings, or paying down student loan debt.
Energy Efficiency Helps the Environment
Society can save valuable natural resources as homeowners cut back on energy consumption as well. Energy conservation can also reduce air pollution—everything from cars to power plants contribute to air pollution—so the less you rely on these things, the more you can help keep the air clean.
Energy Efficiency Benefits the Economy
Energy efficient projects, such as installing solar panels on the roof of a building for example, can build jobs. In fact, in 2010 alone, there were over 800,000 jobs in America related to energy efficiency.
As more homeowners begin to conserve energy, manufacturers are forced to adjust to this new type of consumer demand; thus, conserving energy sparks innovation. If every homeowner made an effort to be more energy efficient, the results would be huge and far-reaching!
Now that you know why you should care about conserving energy, are you ready to start living green? Here are a few easy ways you can get started:
- Switch to energy efficient light bulbs, which use 25–80% less energy than traditional bulbs.
- Install a power strip. Leaving devices on can waste energy, but did you know that devices plugged directly into the wall can still waste energy while they’re off? Plug as many devices as you can into a power strip, and then turn the entire strip off when it’s not in use to cut energy off at the source.
- Install a programmable thermostat, which can help you make sure you are not unnecessarily heating or cooling your home and wasting energy when no one is there.
As you can see, it doesn’t take much to start conserving energy in your home, so why not start today?
M/I Homes takes many steps to ensure that your new home is energy efficient. We build all of our homes to our Whole Home Building Standards, and we always work to make sure that our homes are up to the best energy ratings.
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