One of the most expensive ongoing monthly expenses for homeowners outside of their mortgage payment is their utility bills. There are some affordable and easy adjustments you can make throughout your home to cut back on many utility expenses.
Home Exterior
- Energy Star certified windows can shrink energy bills an average of 12%.
- Installing insulated vinyl siding can cut down on drafty wall studs, which account for up to 25% of the homes wall surface.
Bathroom
- To optimize water flow, select shower heads and faucets with a flow rate less then 2.5 gallons per minute
- Fixing common water leaks can reduce energy bills by 10% and prevent costly water bills.
Family Room
- Turning your thermostat back 7-10 degrees for 8 hours a day from the normal setting can reduce hating and cooing costs as much as 10% a year. The easiest way to achieve this on a regular basis is to install programmable thermostats that allow you to program your daily temperatures.
- Energy efficient lightbulbs use 25-80% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs and can last 3x to 25x longer. The typical incandescent bulb lasts about 1,000 hours, while a 15-watt CFL bulb lasts 10,000 hours and a 12-watt LED bulb lasts 25,000 hours.
Kitchen
- Meals cooked in a toaster oven or convection oven require from 1/3 to 1/2 as much energy as a full size oven.
- Only running the dishwasher when you have a full load maximizes efficiency.
Laundry Room
- With an Energy Star certified washing machine, you can save over 7,000 gallons per year and cut consumption by 40%.
- Energy Star certified dryers use about 20 percent less energy than conventional. They do this using innovative energy saving technologies, such as moisture sensors that detect when clothes are dry and automatically shut the dryer off.
- Reducing the target temperature of your hot water heater can save between 3 to 5% in energy costs. For maximum efficiency, set water heaters to 120 degrees.
Lauren Bunting is a licensed Associate Broker with Bunting Realty, Inc. in Berlin, MD.
Lauren Bunting is a Broker with Keller Williams Realty of Delmarva in Ocean City, Maryland.
