Now that Memorial Day has come and gone, you’ve already likely dusted off your grill, gotten your backyard in order and are ready for summer fun. The weather is certainly warming up.
With the warmer weather and hot summer days just around the corner, now is the perfect time to be thinking about and preparing for ways to limit your energy use. Winter certainly isn’t the only time to be thinking about energy savings in your home. So, in this blog post series we’ll lay out some helpful tips to assist with limiting your overall energy consumption this summer. Part 1 is below – enjoy!
- Be smart about your indoor appliances during the warmer days. As you probably already know, it can be a challenge keeping heat out of your home during the summer. Having your home at peak performance when it comes to energy efficiency will definitely help keep the warm air out and the cool air in. However, when you have heat sources inside your home, it can sometimes seem like a losing battle. Dryers, dishwashers and especially ovens can all add a great deal of heat to the inside of your home when they are operating on these warmer days. Even heat-generating incandescent lights can warm up the inside of your home. It’s a good idea to find alternative times to operate these appliances if possible. Also, that grill we mentioned in the intro? Use it! Keeping your cooking outside whenever possible will keep that heat outdoors where it belongs in the summer.
- Have your central air unit inspected, tuned up and cleaned. Just like your furnace should be inspected each year to ensure its highest possible performance, your central air unit should be inspected, cleaned and tuned up so it is ready to perform for the summer. Regular maintenance and checkups will keep the unit running efficiently, even during high and regular use. Have a qualified contractor come check on the unit and perform the tune up for you. It will be well worth it.
- Keep your pool efficient. If you’re lucky enough to have a pool, you probably know that it can be an energy hog during the summer. The filtration systems in pools tend to use a ton of energy and run almost constantly. However, reducing the amount your pool filtration system runs can mean a huge savings. Test this over the course of a few days—increase the time between filtration cycles. If the water remains clear, you’re good to go a bit further. Taking the time to figure out the right balance can save you big.
Summer is a time for fun in the sun. We should just make sure we’re keeping the heat outdoors where it belongs as much as possible if we don’t want to see our energy costs heat up. We’ll be following up with more summer energy tips shortly. Contact us directly if you’d like to chat about a personalized plan for your home when it comes to summer energy efficiency.
