HomeKeepr Blog

Now that the winter months are upon us, do you once again dread another season of sky-high heating and electric bills? Although you may blame this on inflation and other factors that are out of your control, as a homeowner, you have control over how efficiently your home uses energy. To use power more efficiently to save yourself a bundle on your bills, you must be aware of your level of energy consumption. You have to examine your habits and the function of your appliances to figure out where and why the loss is happening. Whether you do it yourself, seek professional help, or a little of both, the following tips can significantly reduce your energy costs while making your home more comfortable and environmentally friendly.

When it comes to improving the energy efficiency of your home, your garage might not be the first place that you think of. If you have an attached garage, though, you may be leaking warm (or cool) air from your home without even realizing it. While there are a few different ways that you can combat this, one of the most effective is by installing new garage doors.

In general, people tend to think about air conditioners as a way to keep a home cool and heating units as a way to keep it warm. There’s nothing wrong with this line of thinking, of course. If you’re only relying on heaters and air conditioners to maintain the temperature, though, then you may be spending way more than you need to keep your home comfortable.

It may seem like a small thing to replace your garage door. After all, it’s just a door, isn’t it? Well, according to Remodeling Magazine, which has kept tabs on the value common home repairs and remodels can return yearly since 2002, a garage door replacement is 2020’s second best returning project, recouping a whopping 94.5% of the costs involved. That’s huge! So maybe a garage door isn’t just a garage door after all.

Your thermostat plays an important role in keeping your home comfortable throughout the year. After all, the thermostat is the central hub for controlling the temperature you want to keep your home at regardless of whether it’s hot or cold outside. Unfortunately, the thermostat that you have now might not be doing as good of a job as you think, which could be costing you money. If you want to get the most out of your heating and cooling and save some money in the long term, it may be time to upgrade your thermostat to a model that’s a little bit smarter.

Home solar may be the energy solution of the future, offering clean, reliable energy without having to depend on power companies and their high energy rates. With new financing options in the works from some companies, getting into solar could soon be easier than ever before. If you like the thought of energy-independence, then picturing your home with its own solar panels might make you giddy. Before you get too excited, though, there are a few things that it’s important you know about solar energy first.

It’s been a busy year. It almost feels like we completely skipped over spring, summer and fall and found ourselves barreling head first into winter like a kid on an out of control snow sled. With those cold days just around the corner, now is the time to make sure all your heating equipment is safe to operate and ready to go when you need it. After all, you don’t want to learn that your furnace needs to be repaired by spending a freezing night regretting not having found out sooner.

Way back in 2012, the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 was being phased in. One of the most useful -- and controversial -- results was that old fashioned light bulbs had to be reinvented. All light bulbs manufactured after the phase out dates, which varied from state to state, had to use 25 percent less energy than their ancestors.

Green homes are becoming a really big deal these days. Whether that means that an older home is being retrofitted with energy-saving equipment or a brand spanking new one is growing up green, it is apparently much easier to be green than we’ve been led to believe.