If you did not get to read "Energy Audit Part 1: Energy Saving Tips that Keep Your House Cool," it listed the first three energy saving tips that can definitely help homeowners keep cool air in and hot air out! This is extremely important in areas like Houston, Texas that are experiencing extreme heat and drought. The article included detailed tips on (1) weatherproofing doors and windows, (2) being efficient when cooking, and (3) minimizing opening and closing doors; really simple and easy tips that can improve the temperature of your home drastically. Here are three additional energy saving tips that will help keep your home cool the smart way.
4. Natural Light and Solar Heat Gain
Opening the window to let the sunshine in can let in a lot of natural light and allow you to save money on your electric bills, but only if the natural light does not heat up a room causing your AC to work harder and eating up all that energy savings from not using your lights! Solar heat gain (also known as passive solar gain) is when the temperature of an area increases due to the sun or solar energy. Depending on where you live, windows can be strategically placed to either allow for solar heat gain (cold climates) or to mitigate solar heat gain (hot climates).
If you are a natural light lover in the south, there are tinted windows especially designed for warm climates that lower the amount of heat that enters the home. These tints, films, and glazes can be applied to existing home windows to directly reduce the amount of solar gain while still allowing natural light to grace a room (and allowing you to turn off the lights!). You can also strategically plant certain types of trees, shrubs, and vines that will shade windows during the warm seasons and lose their leaves to allow for heat gain during the winter months.
5. Light bulbs and Radiant Heat
The sun is not the only radiant heat source; many types of light bulbs also emit extreme amounts of heat in a room. There are a number of less traditional light bulbs on the market that are more energy efficient and emit less radiant heat than others more typically found in a home. Inspect your home light bulbs for heat emissions by putting your hand a safe distance from the bulb; some of the brightest burning bulbs are often the worst offenders emitting the majority of energy they consume as heat instead of light. Filament light bulbs such as incandescent and halogen and some of the worst as up to 80% of the energy they use is turned to heat and not light!
If you are using track lighting and it is heating up a room, changing fixtures to compact florescent or light emitting diodes (LED) could drastically reduce the amount of heat present in a given area keeping you cooler! There are also regional rebate programs for qualifying homes and businesses like the Power Saver program at Austin Energy; they actually offer incentives for businesses to retrofit their high intensity discharge (HID) lighting with fluorescent alternatives.
6. Dryers and Radiant Heat
A dryer turns into a metal hot box that just exudes radiant heat. Some of the easiest ways to mitigate the heat put off by this large metal radiant heater is to seal off the laundry room from the rest of the house and to make sure the dryer's exhaust is properly sealed so that hot air is not escaping into the room. You can also limit when you use the dryer to the times in a day where your AC can keep up with the demands of your house; avoid the peak temperature hours when your air conditioner is already bearing a heavy load to combat the sun.
It is hard to imagine since hang-drying clothes has long been phased out in the US, but the majority of the world still hang dries their clothing! Using clothes lines to dry clothes is the most energy efficient and cool air saving way to dry your cloths; and if you think line drying leaves your cloths too stiff, you can always tumble them on the "air dry" setting in your dryer to fluff them and relax those fibers.
One of the best energy saving tips is to contact an AC repairman/electrician to come to your home and perform an energy audit. An energy audit could pinpoint with exact precision the areas of your home that are the worst offenders for warming your house. Use of a thermal imager by professionals can detect where heat exchange is occurring and provide a thorough inspection and review of your homes energy conservation and cool air saving needs.
Author Resource:
If you live in the Houston metro area, On Time Electric is an electrician Houston that would love to help you stay cooler this extremely hot summer! On Time Electric and Air is located at 1111 Rusk #5, Houston, TX, 77002 . Call them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 832-466-8463.
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