5 Energy Conservation Techniques You Can Implement In Your Utah Home Today
Hoping to cut down on your energy bill and reduce your environmental impact? There are many ways you can conserve energy in your Utah home to do just that! Read on for our top tips on energy conservation in the great state of Utah.
Energy Conservation vs Energy Efficiency
You may have heard these terms thrown around in conversation about saving on the energy you use, and while similar, they do mean slightly different things.
To put it simply, energy efficiency saves energy by reducing the amount of energy electrical processes need to function. When you swap out incandescent bulbs for LEDs, for example, you are choosing an option that requires less energy and is, therefore, more efficient.
On the other hand, energy conservation is actually about your behavior: the choices you make that stop electricity from being used and thereby save energy. It’s energy conservation that we’ll be focusing on in this article.
Here are five tips to improve energy conservation in your home!
Set Your Thermostat Back
The greater the difference between the temperature inside your home and outside your home, the more energy is used to maintain that inner temperature. The closer you can get your house to the temperature of the outside environment, the more energy you will save.
Of course, in Utah, where we get chilly winters and summers that regularly blaze over 100°, the prospect of a home that feels like the great outdoors is not appealing. There’s no need to sacrifice comfort in the name of energy conservation, but there are some small ways you can change your habits that have a surprisingly significant impact!
Setting your thermostat back is one of those ways. Did you know that setting it back just 8° to 10° for 8 hours a day can reduce your annual energy bill by 10%? Setting a timer is a great way to control the temperature while you’re away: in summer, allow a higher temperature in your home while you’re away during the day and also at night, when it’s cooler outside.
In winter, there’s no need to keep the heat running when you’re out of the house. For more advice on the best temperature to keep your Utah home at in the winter months, check out our guide here.
The department of energy suggests that you do not go below 78° when you are setting your thermostat in the hotter months. There are things you can do to help reduce the temperature in your home without keeping the AC working hard all day. Ultimately, these will help your energy conservation by reducing the energy you use to cool down your house.
Use a Humidifier
One of the things that makes the heat so hard to handle here in Utah is the dryness of the air. A humidifier will help inject more moisture into the atmosphere of your home, which helps you to feel cooler at higher temperatures.
Close Your Curtains
Being strategic about when you allow the sun into your home can go a long way to controlling the temperature. Keeping curtains closed in the middle of the day will stop the sun from heating up rooms directly and will help to prolong the coolness of the morning.
Open Windows In the Morning
Air out your home in the morning before it gets hot and allows for some fresh circulation. This will contribute to your energy conservation by helping your house to cool down naturally. Just be sure to shut the windows before it heats up, to keep all that cool air inside!
Run the Cold Cycle
One way to help your energy conservation is to avoid heating up water unless you really need to. Plenty of clothes don’t require a hot cycle to be properly cleaned, so make it a practice to run your washing machine on cold washes. You can also do this on your dishwasher if you like. Decreasing hot cycles means your boiler has less to do, which saves you money and aids in energy conservation.
Air Dry Laundry
The dryer uses a lot of energy compared to other appliances, and so reducing the number of times you use it in a week is a great way to contribute to your energy conservation. Making sure you have full loads before you run it is one way to do this, but it’s even better if you hang out your laundry to air-dry.
Even opting to do this a few times a month will eventually add up to energy conservation, so give it a try! Many people appreciate the fresh smell that open-air drying gives their laundry.
Insulate and Caulk
If your windows allow air currents to enter or escape, your heating and cooling systems will have to work much harder to maintain the temperature in your home. You might not think that this makes a difference to energy conservation, but actually, periodically refreshing the caulking in your windows and maintaining your insulation will not only maintain your property value but also take a chunk out of your energy bill in the long game!
Keep Your Filters Fresh and Vents Clear
Over time, your vents build up dust and dirt and sometimes other kinds of debris - you won’t believe the kind of things we’ve found in people’s air vents. This means the air doesn’t circulate as easily, and so heating and cooling take longer. Ultimately, that’s extra energy you are paying for.
Make sure that the filters on your AC and your furnace are fresh, and make sure your vents are clean and clear. For a filter replacement, duct cleaning, or free consultation on any of these services required in your home, get in touch. Good filtration and air circulation is a key part of energy conservation in Utah.
Final Thoughts
There you have it - five techniques to improve your energy conservation! Hopefully, this has set you in the right direction and shown you that little changes can make a big difference.