With the weather warming, gardens going into the ground and 2015 off to a promising start, spring is a great time to focus on making your home life a little better. Focusing on energy improvements to turn your house into an energy efficient home can help keep you cool through the spring and summer and save you money year-round. Here are five ways to go about it:
- Use your ceiling fan. When the weather warms, a fan in its forward direction will cool you directly by creating a wind chill effect. Just remember that ceiling fans only cool people, not rooms, so turn them off when you leave the room.
- Install a programmable thermostat. When you’re out of the house for school or work, and when you’re tucked in bed, you don’t need the house at a temperature comfortable for activity. A programmable thermostat can remember to set the temperature for you when you come and go.
- Change out your air filters. Spring is pollen season, and that can clog up your HVAC system’s air filters faster than usual. Keep the filters clean in order to keep air circulating without impediment.
- Know your passive solar heating. If you’ve got west- and north-facing windows, you may want to use curtains to keep out the evening sun. Or you could plant trees to shade your windows, reducing your need for cooling when the weather gets hot.
- Check your home sealing and insulation. Temperature changes can cause materials to degrade, so if you’ve caulked and weatherstripped your doors and windows or added insulation to ductwork and pipes, you should check it again when the seasons change.
If you want to learn more about how you can create an energy efficient home in Oak Park, Warren and surrounding communities, visit us at Aladdin Heating & Cooling.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Warren, Michigan about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about energy efficiency and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
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