Eco Friendly Real Estate Blog: 5 Cost and Earth Saving Tips YOU Can Use in Your Home Today

- Going Green, Asheville Style - 5 Cost and Earth Saving Tips  YOU Can Use in Your Home Today

~from Asheville's Greenolina-- The Real Estate Journal~ Asheville NC- Mountain Homes and Land- For Sale- ECO Asheville Style

Things aren't the same as they were way back when. Certainly people bought homes. But they weren't  energy efficient. What if your home today has this challenge?

Even if your home today lacks eco-friendly pizzaz,  you can take  a few simple steps right away to  make your home  more comfortable-while saving you $$$!.

Here are five (5) of Earth-friendly  remedies that have the added benefit of cost savings for savvy homeowners.

ECO-Friendly Cost (and Earth) Saving Tips   #1-5


Tip 1:  Take the Do-It-Yourself  Home-Energy Audit : Did you know that most homes can save 25% to 50% or more energy? A home energy audit can help point the way to savings by investigating the general condition of heating and air conditioning systems,  looking at  insulation, and the degree of outside air infiltration, the operation and condition of lighting, and reviewing the efficiency of water heating systems and appliances. You may choose to ask  professional auditors to come on over to do the audit. They might bring some handy instruments with them like blower doors  to measure the extent of leaks in the building envelope... and/or infrared cameras  to reveal hard-to-detect areas of air infiltration and missing insulation. But sometimes it takes a while before the auditor can get to your home, So in the meantime, you can start right away with a do-it-yourself home energy audit found right here: . http://www.eere.energy.gov/consumer/your_home/energy_audits/index.cfm/mytopic=11160 

Tip 2.  Get Your 101 ECO-Friendly  Plan Together with this   instant access to free tools and resources. You can start saving on monthly electricity bill right away.  http://www.kilowattours.org/energy-bill-savings.php  The average family can save $600+ a year on electricity by taking a few simple steps. In my home town of Asheville, North Carolina, the Average Home energy bill is $1594 while the bill for an energy-efficient home is $1003 with a potential  Savings of $591.   What are the figures in your area? 

Tip 3.   Find Leaks. Use a spray mist bottle for this one. Get the gang together for the indoor mist test. Spray your arms and hands. They will become the  fast and ready tools to tell you where air leaks may be found in your living spaces.  Hint: look around electrical outlets ,switch plates, window frames, baseboards, weather stripping around doors ,fireplace dampers, attic hatches, wall- or window-mounted air conditioners, dog doors , pipes and wires, electrical outlets, foundation seals, and mail slots. There are a lot of places to look. That's why I suggested getting the gang together.

Tip 4. Find More Leaks. Teamwork pays off on this one, too. You may want to wait for a nice sunny day then venture outside to inspect all the places where two different building materials meet...like the  exterior corners, the places where siding and chimneys meet and the places where the foundation and the bottom of exterior brick or siding meet. You don't have to be a professional to notice where you need to  caulk holes or penetrations for faucets, pipes, electric outlets, and wiring. Look for cracks and holes in the mortar, foundation, and siding, and seal them up neatly.

Tip 5. Change Your Lights, Sparky. Energy for lighting accounts for about 10% of your electric bill. So it's always a good idea to check out the wattage on your light bulbs in your house. 100-watt bulbs use more energy than 75 watt bulbs do and you may not need all that wattage. I like the idea of replacing incandescent light bulbs with efficient  compact fluorescent lamps for areas where lights are on for hours at a time. Don't worry, the new fluorescents don't moan and flicker like the old ones did. ... give it a try. Start with your five most frequently used lights. Annual Savings: $60 (for upgrading your five most frequently used lights) 662 pounds of coal.

Resources:

Find the best ways to save energy in YOUR home with this calculator!
 http://hes.lbl.gov/

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf
/content/ClimateScienceFAQ.html

The Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center
http://cdiac.esd.ornl.gov/pns/faq.html

The United Nations Environment Programme/World Meteorological Organization:
http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/cover.html

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(*)/'(*)   ________Asheville NC Real Estate Journal. Mountain Homes and Land Legacies-  - Asheville NC Real Estate  © 2011.  GREEN-FRIENDLY HOMES:: Did you know that 81% of homebuyers would prefer to buy an eco-friendly home rather than a standard home, even in a down economy? On the Road HOME, CONTACT ME about Residential Market Reports plus LAND Gems News,  plus Asheville real estate market stats plus  my picks for top creative retirement and green-friendly neighborhoods in the Asheville NC Area.I hold: NAR GREEN®, EcoBroker®, Eco Certified ®Real Estate Consultant. 

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