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Ten Energy-Saving Renovation Ideas for Your Home

As our society becomes more green-conscious, many homeowners are discovering the benefits of overhauling their homes with energy-saving renovations. In addition to offering eco-friendly alternatives to many home systems and appliances, these renovations can also help you save a lot of money over time by cutting down on your energy costs.

1. Make your home draft-proof. Contrary to popular opinion, windows and doors are far from the only culprits when it comes to heat loss in homes. Foundation walls, ceiling and exterior wall penetrations, attics, and basements are just some of the many places where your home can be wasting energy by losing heat. To remedy this, install spray foam insulation in problem areas to create a tight, heat-retaining seal throughout your entire home.

2. Switch to energy efficient windows. Insufficiently sealed windows are responsible for a large amount of air and heat loss in homes. By replacing your current windows with energy efficient windows, you can greatly reduce air and heat loss, combat condensation problems, and add to the comfort level of your entire house.

3. Replace your air conditioning unit with an energy efficient SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficient Rating) model, preferably with a rating of 12 or higher. Even though these models may come with slightly higher price tags, they can help you quickly start to save money by regulating the amount of energy required to run the air conditioner.

4. Just like with the air conditioning units, newer, energy-efficient furnaces and water heaters may be more expensive but they immediately start to pay for themselves by cutting down on your utility costs.

5. Look into replacing other older appliances with newer, more efficient models. Energy-rated models of appliances can even help you determine how much money they can save you in terms of utility costs.

6. Install a programmable thermostat. These devices can cut down on your utility costs by automatically adjusting your home's climate, even to the point of decreasing energy output when nobody is in the house.

7. Update your lights. New lighting systems are much more energy-efficient than systems from even a few years ago. In fact, newer fluorescent lights are easily capable of decreasing your lighting costs by over 60 percent. You can also consider renovations and interior design that take full advantage of available natural lighting, further cutting your energy costs.

8. Overhaul your water system. Things like low-flow toilets and low-flow faucets and showerheads can significantly reduce your household water consumption. Throw in a front-loading washing machine and you can save even more money in the long run.

9. Replace your traditional fireplace or wood burning stove with a newer, energy-efficient alternative. Older fireplaces and stoves are prone to leaky vents, allowing heat to easily escape and thus requiring more energy to heat the house. Newer models are far more effective when it comes to helping your house direct, regulate, and retain heat.

10. Finish your basement. If your home contains an unfinished basement, chances are that you're losing lots of heat on a daily basis. An unfinished and insulated basement is a breeding ground for humidity. As a result, moisture tends to collect heavily in unfinished basements which can suck a lot of the heat right out of the house. When finishing your basement, use green-friendly materials like spray foam for the insulation and woven bamboo fibers for the carpeting. These two items contain no dangerous chemicals and they provide a perfect way to retain heat in the basement.

No matter what kind of home you have, there are dozens of energy-saving alternatives waiting to be implemented. Although many of these home improvements require that you "spend money to make money" by replacing existing equipment with costlier, energy-saving alternatives, there are now many options available to a homeowners interested in making these kinds of reservations. You can now even gain financing specifically offered to promote green renovation projects, making it easier than ever to shoulder the initial costs of making your home more energy-efficient. As you start to embark on these projects, you're likely to find that these renovations can help you save money over time and greatly improve the level of comfort and quality of life in your home.

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