Looking to build your own solar panels? Before you go and try to get yourself totally off the grid, what you should do first is to cut down the amount of energy that your home uses.
This article is going over the effects that adjusting your home thermostat can have on your heating bill, and also give some more energy conservation tips.
The first, and one of the easiest ways to save money on your heating bill is to simply adjust your thermostat.
The closer you have your thermostat set to what the outside temperature is, the less energy you'll be using.
This means turning your thermostat up in the summer, and down in the winter.
In some climates simply changing your thermostat from 72 to 78 in the summer can save you 40% on your heating bill! Now that may be a big jump for you, especially during a hot summer, but what you can do is day by day, just adjust the temperature by a degree, so that you can find the ideal temperature where you are still fairly comfortable, and also paying less for heating.
Another trick you can use for your homes thermostat is to get a digital thermostat.
One of the great things about a digital thermostat is that you can set a schedule for how your home is heated or cooled.
For example, in the winter, you don't need your house to be as warm at night when you're asleep, so you can program your thermostat to drop down a couple of degrees shortly after your go to bed, and have it crank back up a half an hour before you normally get up.
You can also schedule your home to be a different temperature when you're at work and the house is empty.
Here are a couple other tips that you can use to save energy.
Making sure all of your TV's and computers are off for the night is a big one.
I knew a friend of mine who's computer would actually heat his office in the winter.
The more heat that an appliance gives off, the more electricity it's using, and my buddy definitely noticed a drop in his electric bill when just by turning his computer off at night.
Turning off the lights when you leave a room helps save electricity as well.
Have you ever thought about how much heat escapes your house through the windows? Do you have those old single pane windows? Replacing your windows with newer double and even triple pane windows can save you a ton in electricity costs! The more panes that a window has, the more insulation it provides, and the less heat you will lose through the windows.
On a cold day, you can feel that it's colder the closer you get to the windows.
That cools down your entire home, makes your heater work overtime, and drains your bank account at the same time.
All in all, if you're looking at getting your home off the grid by using alternative energy, if you can lower the energy usage of your home, it'll make the process of getting off the grid much easier and you can do this by simply adjusting your thermostat, getting a digital thermostat, turning off your lights when you leave the room and your computers at night, and by getting better insulating windows.
This article is going over the effects that adjusting your home thermostat can have on your heating bill, and also give some more energy conservation tips.
The first, and one of the easiest ways to save money on your heating bill is to simply adjust your thermostat.
The closer you have your thermostat set to what the outside temperature is, the less energy you'll be using.
This means turning your thermostat up in the summer, and down in the winter.
In some climates simply changing your thermostat from 72 to 78 in the summer can save you 40% on your heating bill! Now that may be a big jump for you, especially during a hot summer, but what you can do is day by day, just adjust the temperature by a degree, so that you can find the ideal temperature where you are still fairly comfortable, and also paying less for heating.
Another trick you can use for your homes thermostat is to get a digital thermostat.
One of the great things about a digital thermostat is that you can set a schedule for how your home is heated or cooled.
For example, in the winter, you don't need your house to be as warm at night when you're asleep, so you can program your thermostat to drop down a couple of degrees shortly after your go to bed, and have it crank back up a half an hour before you normally get up.
You can also schedule your home to be a different temperature when you're at work and the house is empty.
Here are a couple other tips that you can use to save energy.
Making sure all of your TV's and computers are off for the night is a big one.
I knew a friend of mine who's computer would actually heat his office in the winter.
The more heat that an appliance gives off, the more electricity it's using, and my buddy definitely noticed a drop in his electric bill when just by turning his computer off at night.
Turning off the lights when you leave a room helps save electricity as well.
Have you ever thought about how much heat escapes your house through the windows? Do you have those old single pane windows? Replacing your windows with newer double and even triple pane windows can save you a ton in electricity costs! The more panes that a window has, the more insulation it provides, and the less heat you will lose through the windows.
On a cold day, you can feel that it's colder the closer you get to the windows.
That cools down your entire home, makes your heater work overtime, and drains your bank account at the same time.
All in all, if you're looking at getting your home off the grid by using alternative energy, if you can lower the energy usage of your home, it'll make the process of getting off the grid much easier and you can do this by simply adjusting your thermostat, getting a digital thermostat, turning off your lights when you leave the room and your computers at night, and by getting better insulating windows.