As a homeowner in Miami, FL, you are always looking for new ways to improve your home, including ways to lower utilities and energy consumption. In your attempts to find better ways to lower your home’s energy usage, you may have stumbled across two different terms: energy efficiency and energy consumption. While these sound similar, they are quite different. Energy efficiency betters your home’s usage through the use of technology, using present or installable appliances and parts of your home. Energy conservation requires you and your household to take active steps in order to lower your energy consumption. Many people naturally use energy conservation techniques, such as turning off your appliances and setting your thermostat at a stable temperature, using this technique alone may not be enough to lower how much power you use. It depends on the individual to remember to follow certain steps, which is not always possible. On the other hand, increasing efficiency through the renovation of the home or replacement of appliances guarantees you a set rate of consumption that you can always predict.
What Are Some Benefits of Energy Efficiency?
Of course, many people choose energy efficiency for its ability to save one money and regulate the amount of energy used, giving their homes more predictable energy costs. However, improved energy efficiency does more than just lower your home’s utility bills: It can give you benefits that you never even considered. Many of the changes you can make to your home will ensure that you and your family are comfortable year round, preventing heat loss in the winter and retaining cooled air in the summer. They can also increase the quality of life within the home, lowering the chance of illness and pollutants within the home.
How Can We Improve Our Energy Efficiency?
While it may sound daunting, there are several ways you can improve your home’s energy efficiency. These can include home renovation projects and more simple actions. Some things you can do include:
- Upgrade your appliances: Newer appliances now come with an energy rating that can directly inform you as to how much energy they will use, giving you the opportunity to choose the best one to fit your needs. Even air conditioners come with an EER rating, telling you what you can expect for those hot days!
- Consider new insulation: Insulation does more than fortify your roofing system. It actually helps control conditioned air loss in the home and prevent the outside from affecting your home. Getting it replaced or replenished will ensure continued air retention.
- Repair or restore your roof: If your roof is damaged, it may allow a slew of potential hazards as well as a loss of efficiency to affect your home. Quality repair can ensure this doesn’t happen. If your roof needs a little more than repair, restoration can renew your roof and even offer you reflective roofing through coatings. Reflective roofing repels UV rays away from your home, stopping your home from heating up.
- Change your lightbulbs: Even if your bulbs do not need replacement, consider looking into new bulbs for your lighting systems. Certain bulbs are rated to use less energy such as LED lights, meaning just by flicking on a light you will still save.
Why Is It So Important to Be Efficient?
When it comes down to it, many people do not know that energy efficiency can actually help the community and environment as well as their bills. Using less energy means that the already produced energy by power plants can go to power other homes in your neighborhood. This means the energy company will not have to utilize more natural resources in order to create extra energy. By choosing to be more energy efficient, you are taking a big step in not only helping yourself but others as well. To learn more about our roofing services, call 305-900-8297 today! Big Al’s Roofing is always available to assist you.