There are many reasons homeowners are working harder and looking for more creative ways to reap the benefits of an energy efficient home. The most obvious benefit is the reduced monthly expenses.

The average homeowner will spent over $2000 each year on their energy bills. This can be significantly higher depending on a wide range of factors including the quality of your windows, doors, insulation, and heating and cooling equipment. There are many ways that homeowners can reduce their energy expenses when it comes to these factors.

For example, it is recommended to have between 12 and 15 inches of insulation in the attic. This will prevent drafts and the loss of heat through the attic. Drafts and loss of heat will cause the house to be colder and the furnace to work harder in order to maintain a comfortable temperature. This increases the monthly heating expenses while also reducing the lifespan of the furnace. An easy way to fix this is to add insulation to the attic and crawl spaces. The better insulated the home is, the better it will be able to maintain temperature.

Old windows or single-pane windows also cause instability in the interior temperature of the home by adding to heat loss and creating drafts. Energy Star qualified windows are windows that have been tested and proven to provide a higher degree of insulation of the home. Studies show that these windows can reduce energy expenses by 7% to 24% overall.

The same goes for doors. Older doors or doors that do not provide proper insulation are going to directly impact the home’s ability to maintain a comfortable temperature. Ensuring that you have newer, well-insulated doors will also help to maintain the temperature of the home and reduce energy costs. The long-term savings of upgrading insulation and replacing doors and windows will far exceed the cost of the job.

Heating and cooling equipment also directly impact home energy costs and usage. One studies reports that improperly installed furnaces or air conditioning units can increase energy expenses by up to 30%. As the cost of electricity and natural gas continue to rise, controlling expenses where you can will become increasingly more important.

Regularly scheduled preventative maintenance is also a vital part of controlling energy costs. The more efficiently the HVAC system is working, the more money you will save as the home owner. Many may see preventative maintenance as wasted money, but you have to look at it as a long-term investment into the life of the home.

One of the other benefits of an energy efficient home is the environmentally conscious decisions made going into it. Whenever you are working to save energy, you are directly or indirectly impacting the environment. While saving energy alone is a positive decision, you can take it a step further by using environmentally-friendly materials. House insulation is a great example of this. There are many different options in insulation and some are more environmentally friendly than others.

In order to truly reap all the benefits of an energy efficient home, you need to be aware of the multiple factors that can make a home more or less efficient. For example, you can’t just replace the windows and expect a dramatic drop in your costs. Likewise, simply buying a new HVAC system won’t mean your house is running at an optimal level. The equipment, windows, doors, and insulation work together and individually to protect and maintain the temperature of the home.

You can also look to smart technology to make your home more efficient. Smart home technology can help you to control the temperature of the home at all hours regardless of the time of day or who is in the home. This will prevent you from cooling an empty house or not providing enough heat in the winter to ensure pipes don’t freeze while you are away. the ongoing benefits of an energy efficient home do not stop at the monthly heating or cooling bill. It continues on into the life of the home and the long-term expenses.