If you are keen to be as environmentally friendly as possible, then you will be aware that the place you need to start is at home. As long as you are being green at home, it’s likely you are making the biggest difference that you can, so that is absolutely the best place to begin. Of course, it’s one thing to know that you want to make such a difference, and another to know how to actually go about doing so, and that is something that many people find to be extremely confusing indeed. Fortunately, there are some incredibly simple ways in which you can hope to make your home more energy efficient this year, and in this article we are going to look at just a few of the best which you might want to take on board. Consider any of these, or a combination of them, and your home will be much more energy efficient in no time at all.

 

Use Less Water

 

Conserving water is one of the most powerful means by which you can hope to use less energy, and yet it is one that people seem to forget about or not really know about well enough to do so. If you think about it, it is always going to use energy to transport water to your home, and so the less you use, the less energy is being used. That is before we even get into the fact of conserving water being a good idea for the planet in its own way, too, so it is absolutely something you will want to think about. And if you can also reduce the amount of hot water you use, you will be saving even more energy, as it obviously takes energy to heat the water too. So you know that you need to reduce your water consumption, but how can you actually go about making that a reality?

 

Once you start to try, it’s not too hard to make this a reality. The best way to reduce the amount of water you use is to first become aware of it. Rather than mindlessly going to the tap or taking long showers, pay attention to how much water you are using, and think about what you might be able to do to reduce it. You will soon find that you have developed a few key ideas for using less water, and that they are probably easier than you had thought. It could be as simple as taking one less shower a week, or reducing the time in the shower by five minutes. Or maybe you need to try and be a little more efficient with your laundry system, so that you are not washing clothes quite as often. Finally, if you have a garden to tend to, remember that it is always best to install some water butts and use that water caught that way, rather than running to the tap all the time. That will save a huge amount of water alone, and you will be doing the very green thing of growing a garden at the same time. As long as you use less water, you will be doing much to help reduce your impact on the planet.

 

Replace Your Windows

 

One of the main parts of the home where heat is lost is through the windows, and this is especially the case when you have older windows which are not so well designed, or which otherwise have just become less efficient over time. It can be as simple as a small crack in the sealant around the edge – and that can be enough for the window to suddenly be letting heat out where it used to hold it in. That is all a waste of energy, as you just need to keep heating the house in winter to keep it all in more. So the better quality your windows are, the more tightly they fit, and the thicker they are, the more likely it is that you will be able to conserve a lot of energy in your home. In order to really be sure that your windows are doing the right thing for your home, you will probably need to think about replacing them relatively regularly, or at least if you know that you have not done so for many years. And when you do that, you should be sure to go for specifically energy efficient windows such as those sold by the Window World of Boston. Those kinds of windows are designed to hold the heat in much more effectively, and you will find that it makes for a much more energy efficient home in no time at all.

 

Insulation

Obviously, the insulation that your home has is a reliable indicator of how energy efficient the building is. The better the insulation, the better the heat is being kept in, so make sure that you have the best you can afford, and that there is actually enough of it for the home to be insulated properly. There are a few spots around the home which are especially likely to lose heat, most notably of all being the roof, so you will need to ensure that your insulation is particularly good there. If you feel that it needs replacing or adding to, then make sure that you have that done as soon as possible. This will make an enormous difference, as it will help to keep your home warm in winter and cool in summer, and in both cases will save you energy. If you fail to have proper insulation, however, then you are only going to slowly but surely use more energy than is strictly necessary, and that is not what we are going for here.

As long as you take these things on board, you should find that you can create a much more energy efficient home in no time. That will mean that you are doing your part to help the planet, but you will also find that you have lower household bills too – so it really is a win-win.