How can homeowners save money just by sitting on their couch? Its simple, by conserving heating and cooling energy just before you sit down. There are a number of easy and inexpensive things that can be done as do-it-yourself projects that will save hundreds of dollars per year. The easiest money saving strategy is to weather strip doors and windows with a V seal type weather stripping. The opening of the V should face towards the outside of the home. This will reduce draft in the house and retard heated or cooled air from escaping the house. And the longer the treated air remains in the house, the less the cost to treat the air. Caulking around window and door frames and caulking around base boards will also retard the loss of treated air from the house. This strategy again will reduce the homeowners heating and cooling bill. Both of these techniques can be accomplished as one weekend project. Do yourself a favor and save money, then grab a refreshment and sit down on your couch. To ensure that you save energy and money, there are a number of other things that the homeowner can do. Removing the door and window frames and removing the baseboards will expose small and seriously large gaps in the building fabric. By holding your hand over these gaps or using a smoke pencil, you will likely feel and see the extent of the draft. Filling these gaps with fibrous materials and/or caulking will drastically diminish uncomfortable drafts, reduce homeowner heating and cooling costs and therefore save you serious money. This project will likely take two to three weekends at minimal cost to you. Window glass is also a significant source of heating and cooling loss to the homeowner. You could replace your present windows with high efficiency windows at a great cost, or you could cover your windows with commercially available clear plastic sheeting. This is especially great in the winter; and you will achieve a substantial reduction in heating costs. With the savings in energy costs attributed to these easy to do strategies, you could probably by a new couch. |
