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My House is an energy black hole

I guess that seems a little harsh considering this really is my wife and I’s first family home.  But after being here for a year we have both realized the house was built for comfort and attractiveness.  It’s a large single home with three bedrooms, 2.5 baths and an open concept kitchen family room.  The ceiling in these rooms varies from about 12 feet up to about 17 feet.  The living dining rooms have 9 foot ceilings as do the rest of the house except the master bedroom with peaks at 13-14 feet.

Now, why is any of this important?  It’s not like I’m selling the thing.  We love our home.  THIS HOME SUCKS UP ENERGY and is nowhere close to being green.  We are so on the grid that we should probably get more of it. WE NEED MORE GRIDS!

Ok, maybe not, but winter is coming and I need to take action. What am I going to do immediately (in the next 5 days) to lower the tax we are putting on the environment and my wife’s wallet?:

• 1) Program the thermostat properly and change it by at least a degree. Cool daytimes and nighttimes.
• 2) Improve the air tightness of the home. Re-caulk all the windows and put the plastic window wrap to reduce air flow. Make sure all outside doors fit tight and if not go to your local hardware store and get a repair kit.
• 3) Changing old light bulbs to Energy Star Compact Florescent Lamps (CFL’s)

I think this a good start to prepare the home for winter.  And some of these even allow you to get grants from the Canadian government.  Check out http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/energystar/english/consumers/products.cfm?PrintView=N&Text=N  to see what you can do to qualify.

 And I know there is more to do, and it’s exciting.  If feels good to know that we are making a small improvement to our world as well as our wallets.

Do you have any winter heat saving tips?  Drop us a line!!

- Jo e k

Tags: efficient, energy star, home, winter

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 2:55 am and is filed under Green Living, Shopping. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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