Today is Earth Day and I am seeing a lot interesting tips on how to live more environmentally friendly which in turn can also save you a lot of money. The main topic that caught my attention the most was how making your home more green may become a necessity if you want to keep the value of your home high in the future should you decide to sell it.
It’s very similarly to buying say computer items that use less electricity as the savings you will incur make the item more valuable and only makes sense to buy products that use the modern day technology. So imagine in the future if your house is extremely inefficient. You are probably going to sell to sell it at a much lower price compared to others. The tips were interesting too.
High Efficiency Gas Furnace –
The first one was to implement a high efficiency gas furnace which can end up saving you hundreds of dollars a year. I saw a link at http://www.saskenergy.com/Residential/Appliances/furnace_comparison.asp that gives you a nifty calculator to estimate your savings.
Insulated Attic –
Insulating the attic was another tip that I though was interesting as apparently 20% to 60% of your heat energy is lost through there. I found this interesting BC Hydro video that explains more about this at http://www.bchydro.com/guides_tips/green-your-home/heating_guide/Add_and_Upgrade_Insulation.html
Dimmer Light Switches Option –
There was then a mention about having light switches in the house that give you the capability of making the light dimmer. It’s almost like lights that many studios have. I thought this one would actually make your house cooler too in terms of functions in general. Sure makes sense to adjust the lighting to lower levels instead of having it always on full blast. There is a link on How Stuff Works that explains about this: http://home.howstuffworks.com/dimmer-switch.htm
Rain Barrel Irrigation –
This one seemed like it would take more work while not creating too much immediate benefit for the return. This is more targeted at gardening it seems and what you are doing is essentially capturing all of the water from your roof downspouts into a barrel of sort. Afterwards you can re-use the water for things like watering the plant. I found some interesting information from the site “This Old House†that I thought was useful for people that are implementing one: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,1180779,00.html
Insulating Hot Water Tank –
The last tip I saw was that implementing a hot water insulation system can reduce energy as well as this will help keep the water warm even if you are not using it. Technically it should reduce the time it takes to initially heat the water up as well as saving water too. The BC Hydro site had an article on this at http://www.bchydro.com/guides_tips/green-your-home/water_guide/Improve_your_water_heater_s_efficiency.html
After reviewing all of this it sure made me think how stone age a regular house can look in comparison. The savings can definitely add up too. Once again this Earth Day has been very educational for me and hope that it helps others too.
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