Saeed Torbati’s Tips for Clean Living on a Budget
When individual homeowners are looking for ways to save money on energy costs while helping the environment, they frequently turn to clean living through green and efficient energy. Replacing old and inefficient systems and appliances can help homeowners save money as well as positively impacting the environment.
Saeed Torbati, a Harvard-educated business expert, describes the steps that homeowners can take to make sure that their systems and appliances are efficient both where their use of energy and ongoing operating costs are concerned.
Choose Certified Appliances
One of the most important steps that homeowners can take toward environmentally clean living is purchasing energy-efficient appliances. The Energy Star program certifies many different types of appliances, from refrigerators to air-conditioning units.
Energy-efficient units reduce the need for expensive and potentially polluting energy sources like fossil fuels. Newer appliances are not only more environmentally friendly, but they also work more quickly, meaning that the household’s efficiency will be increased.
If you cannot afford all new appliances, make sure that the ones you have are running as efficiently as possible. It may be worth having a repair person come to the house to assess whether these appliances are losing money through inefficient use of energy. In the long run, it may make more sense to upgrade.
Use Sustainable Energy
One of the best steps toward environmentally friendly living is utilizing clean forms of energy like solar and wind power. If you install solar power systems at home, you can reduce your power bills a great deal. If you generate more power than you use at home, you can sell the excess back to the local electric company.
Wind power is harder to set up, but you may find that it is useful if you have a large property or a farm. This is another highly efficient means of producing energy.
Conserve Natural Resources
If you use energy-efficient appliances, you will be conserving important natural resources like water. New dishwashers and washing machines use a fraction of the water used by older models. Efficient heating systems also use less fuel and can help contribute to a clean environment.
Reduce Household Waste
While many people recycle their household waste, they should consider reusing or reducing their output as well. Recycling is not always an efficient process, and many people mishandle their recycling so that it is not usable when it gets to the recycling facility.
Reusing what you have on hand is always the best first step to take. Reducing what you buy is another key component of environmental consciousness. Shop locally and avoid the excess transportation costs that come from shopping online.
Reduce your purchases of single-use plastics like takeaway containers, plastic cups, and cutlery. Stop buying bottled water, refilling reusable containers instead. This will prevent the needless use of fossil fuels to make plastic.
Creating a Plan to Update Your Home
When you are planning to make your home more energy-efficient, you should take all of these points into consideration. If you cannot replace all of your appliances at once, do it gradually. Refrigerators, washing machines, and clothes dryers are three of the priority items when it comes to replacing appliances.
You will also want to look into the operation and energy-efficiency of your home heating and cooling systems. Keeping these systems well-maintained will keep you from wasting money on energy. Consider switching from oil to natural gas or electric systems fueled by solar power. Changing to another form of energy may be expensive in the short term, but it will save you money over an extended period of time.
Audit Your Energy Use
While you are planning for energy efficiency, it is important to be sure you have audited your energy use. Assemble a year’s worth of utility bills and statements to assess how much energy you are using at certain times of the year. This can help you budget for the seasonal changes in energy use that happen in especially harsh climates.
Your local electric or gas utility will be able to help you decide what changes you can make that will make the most difference when it comes to your utility bills. Many local energy utilities have programs in place to increase a home’s energy efficiency.
Encouraging Clean Living through Efficiency
When homeowners take care to manage and reduce their energy use, they can feel good about their energy efficiency. Clean living has many aspects and paying attention to all of these factors will ensure that homeowners are spending as little on energy as possible while encouraging proper care of the environment. Saeed Torbati reminds homeowners that green technology can help them save money and make their homes more efficient.
Originally published at https://www.sweetstartups.com on February 10, 2020.
