There’s a chill in the air, and that means more than just bundling up for the winter. It also means you can expect much higher costs on your energy bills for the season.
The home improvement contractors at Anderson Exteriors in Ramsey can work with you to help you find ways to reduce your energy expenses during the coldest and warmest months. With a few simple updates to your home’s windows, siding, and insulation, you may see drastically reduced energy costs.
Let’s discuss some of the top solutions for lowering your overall bills!
What Does Energy Efficiency Mean?
While energy efficiency and energy conservation are different, both have a similar end goal– reducing energy use. Energy efficiency utilizes technology to reduce or eliminate energy waste, while energy conservation means cutting back energy usage. Both efficiency and conservation are important to reducing energy usage during the winter while maintaining your comfort level.
Examples of energy efficiency changes you can make around your home include changing your light bulbs to LEDs, incorporating a smart thermostat, and managing your computer’s energy usage. Even turning off lights when you’re not in the room can help improve energy efficiency.
Why Is Energy Efficiency Important?
Energy efficiency does more than save you money during cold months. Energy efficiency is good for the economy as well as the planet. If you make positive, energy-efficient changes to your home, you can be a part of the effort to help reduce pollution.
In addition to saving money, energy efficiency helps cut carbon pollution, creates jobs, and improves our lives. You can help cut carbon dioxide emissions through efficient appliances, electronics, and home upgrades. If more people focused on improving their home’s energy efficiency, we could reduce as much as 550 million metric tons of CO2 emissions by 2050.
Americans are already contributing to the positive impact of energy efficiency. According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), U.S. energy usage is about the same now as in 2000, even though we’ve seen economic growth of 30%. It is possible to make a difference by making small changes.
5 Ways to Save Energy in the Winter
There are several ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency. If you follow these suggestions, you’ll see a decrease in your energy bills during the winter.
1. Start With Insulation Upgrades
One of the biggest costs in a home is quite literally overhead. More accurately, it’s in a home’s attic. When an attic is poorly insulated, it can cause heat loss in the winter and heat up a home in the summer.
In addition to the energy costs of a poorly insulated attic, it can also cost you in other ways. A badly insulated attic can help to form ice dams along a roof, which can end up damaging your home’s foundation, basement, siding, and interior. Upgrading your attic insulation should be the first move you make when you’re updating your home for energy savings.
2. Consider an Insultex Wrap
To help complete your home’s thermal envelope and maintain the internal temperature in your home without overworking your HVAC, consider installing an Insultex wrap. Insultex is a foam composite with a high R-value, creating a home that’s resistant to moisture and air infiltration.
Put simply, an Insultex wrap helps to eliminate cold spots and drafts, making your home more comfortable on the hottest and coldest days.
3. Update Your Windows
Updating the windows in your home is a relatively simple way to get better energy savings, especially if you’ve been living with outdated windows. Loose seals and thin panes are all culprits in high energy bills. We can upgrade your windows to better insulated alternatives complete with a higher level of UV protection to keep your floors, furniture, and art from fading in the sun’s light.
4. Replace or Install Weatherstripping
Keeping out drafts is a good way to save energy costs in the winter. Quite a bit of cold air can come through your doors and windows into your home, increasing the costs to heat your home.
You can replace or install new weatherstripping around windows and doors to help keep the cold air out. In addition, door sweeps or draft stoppers can help maintain your home’s temperature.
5. Consider Siding Replacement
It’s important to know that siding helps improve your home’s energy efficiency. If your home’s siding looks worse for wear, it might be time for a replacement. Efficient and updated siding can help maintain your home’s temperature during the winter.
Call Your Ramsey, MN Home Improvement Contractors Today!
If your winter heating bills are taking some of the fun out of the holidays this year, it’s time to nip high heating costs in the bud with home updates. Updating your windows and insulation will increase your home’s overall value while making your home more tolerable on the coldest winter days.
Contact our window replacement team at Anderson Exteriors for a free quote on your energy-saving upgrades. Visit our online gallery to check out some of our past projects, and then call our window replacement team at 763.323.0970 or contact us to learn more about how we can help you lower your bills.