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What steps can home- and business-owners take to make their buildings more energy-efficient?
In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Barack Obama proposed that 80 percent of America's energy be supplied by clean or renewable sources by the year 2035. To support this effort, government at the state and local levels have programs incentivizing home- and business-owners to make their buildings more energy-efficient. What steps can home- and business-owners take today, tomorrow and this year to make their buildings more energy-efficient?
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2 Answers
There are a number of things you can do to make your buildings more energy efficient :
Add insulation, especially to exterior walls and the ceiling/roof
weather strip around doors and windows
replace older inefficient doors and windows with newer, better insulated versions ( ie, double/triple pane windows in place of old single pane, insulate hollow garage doors, etc )
seal air leaks around common openings
switch plates, electrical outlets, ceiling fan plates, etc
replace old inefficient appliances with modern energy saving versions ( ie, old refrigerators, dish washers, etc )
ensure and verify that HVAC filters are changed on schedule
install zone controls for HVAC to minimize effort to maintain temps in infrequently populated areas
replace incandescent lighting with CF or LED technology
Not all of these methods are inexpensive, so the real task is to find a *cost effective* way to become more energy efficient.
Erica, I'm glad you chose to focus on energy efficiency before engaging renewable energy projects. Too many homeowners and businesses get so distracted by shiny solar panels and wind turbines that they neglect to make their building as efficient as possible before pumping in clean renewable energy. There's a big push in the green community for 2011 to be the year of Renewables.
The short answer is: GET AN ENERGY AUDIT. To keep the long answer from getting too long, here's a list of relevant posts from our blog:
- Get an Energy Audit, Then Pick a Green Tech Project: http://www.greentechbuyer.org/blog/get-the-energy-audit-then-pick-a-green-tec...
- Top 10 Fixes from a Home Energy Audit: http://www.greentechbuyer.org/blog/top-10-fixes-resulting-from-a-home-energy-...
- Efficiency before Renewables = Function before Fashion: http://www.greentechbuyer.org/blog/efficiency-before-renewables-function-befo...
- Should I Get a Free Home Energy Audit?t: http://www.greentechbuyer.org/blog/should-i-get-a-free-home-energy-audit.html
- How to select a Home Energy Solutions Company: http://www.greentechbuyer.org/blog/energy-conservation-selecting-a-home-energ...
I could go on forever, but this is already probably over-stepping what's appropriate for this forum. There are plenty of additional whitepapers and case studies on our Resources page: http://www.greentechbuyer.org/resources, and you can feel free to contact us directly with further questions.
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