Ways to Make Your Home More Energy Efficient to Stop Climate Change

Last month, the United Nations released a daunting report on the environmental crisis. They said that it is “Now or Never” to fix the problems caused by climate change.

More people than ever are coming to terms with the need to fight climate change. The most recent survey from Gallup shows that 53% of Americans want to prioritize the environment over the economy, while only 42% feel the opposite.

However, many Americans are not doing enough to shift towards a green lifestyle. Many want to do more, but don’t know what they can do. Some think it is too expensive, which is not true.

One of the easiest things you can do to live an eco-friendlier lifestyle is by making your home more energy efficient. This will reduce your climate footprint to fight climate change. It will also be better for your wallet!

The Right Steps to Improve Energy Efficiency Can Help Make Your Home Eco-Friendlier

With the current climate crisis (which is causing a lot of distress) and cost of living crisis going on, it has never been more important or urgent for you to ensure your home is as efficient as possible. Not only will inefficiencies in your home be bad for the environment due to wasted resources, but they’ll also be bad news for your wallet as you pay for gas and electricity that just gets wasted.

So, now that you appreciate the need to make our homes more sustainable and efficient being this clear, what can you do at home in order to cut down on energy waste? We have looked into what you can do at home, so keep reading if you want to discover how you can save your money and the environment!

Insulate, Insulate, Insulate

You probably had no idea that your walls played a huge role in the energy efficiency and eco-friendly attributes of your home. However, minimizing heat loss through your walls is absolutely crucial. Around 35% of all heat loss in the average home occurs through the walls. You can try insulating your home to reduce heat loss, which will lower energy waste. This will in turn make your home eco-friendlier.

If you’re looking to make your home more energy and cost efficient, insulation is a great place to start. By having good insulation in your home, it will be better at keeping heat in during the winter months, which means that you won’t have to run your heating as high or for as long as you currently do to warm your home up.

In terms of how you can insulate your home, you have big options and small options. For the big options you can undertake large projects like installing cavity wall insulation or replacing old windows with new double-glazed ones. But if those projects are unaffordable to you, doing small things like installing insulating blinds on windows, placing draught excluders near draughty areas, or even just keeping internal doors closes can help reduce heat loss and help insulate your home.

Defeat Energy Vampires

Next up, we have another common cause of energy inefficiency in homes: energy vampires. No we’re not talking about Dracula vampires, but electronic devices that keep using electricity, even when they’re turned off. These devices on standby can make up to 16% of the average Brit’s energy bill, meaning you’re wasting energy and your hard-earned money keeping these devices on standby mode.

The simple solution here is to turn off these devices at the wall when you’re finished using them, rather than just putting them in standby mode, but unfortunately with how much tech is in homes nowadays it can be a hassle to unplug every device after use. An easier solution is to invest in smart plugs, which can be remotely turned off, shutting off power to devices without you needing to unplug them from the power outlet.

Replace Old Light Bulbs

Did you know that old style filament lightbulbs are incredibly inefficient? They actually generate more heat from the power they’re given then they do light, so by having old style lightbulbs in your home, you are wasting money and electricity every time you turn them on.

Luckily though, more modern lightbulbs like halogen bulbs, compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs)and light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are much more energy efficient and usually last longer than old style bulbs. Just by swapping from a traditional light bulb to a new LED bulb will see you using far less energy to light your home.

Make Your Home More Energy Efficient to Help the Planet!

There are a lot of things that you can do to live an eco-friendlier lifestyle. One of the most important is making your home more energy efficient. This will lower your carbon footprint and help slow the progression of climate change.