Baby Steps to Remodeling

So many folks have asked me what’s the first thing they should do to begin remodeling their homes to save energy cost. That depends on so many things such as: how old is your home, which appliance is draining the most of your money now, and would it be worth it to replace an appliance that is in good working condition with an Energy Star rating, how much money can you set aside each year to green up and how long to do plan on staying in that particular home. There are many tax credits available now for remodeling.

Simple fixes would be to install better insulation, unplug appliances such as toasters, blenders, t.v.’s, light fixtures that are not in current use, replace light bulbs with CFL’s, (compact fluorescent light bulbs) and plant trees that would eventually shade your home from the harsh sun in the summer months.

A note about CFL’s is that they do contain mercury (which is harmful) and no substitute has been developed at this time. These curly bulbs use 75% less energy and last much longer than regular light bulbs.
Think about this. If each home owner were to replace all of the light bulbs in their home (30-40 bulbs on average) they would save over $130.00 per year. Now if each American homeowner replaced just one bulb with a CFL, we could save enough energy to provide light to more than 3 million homes for one full year, adding up to more than $600 million in annual energy cost.

These are baby steps, guys.

But, honestly, if you are reading this, you probably have already replaced all of your light bubs and area moving on to more expensive remodeling projects. So here is a link to begin taking the bigger steps.
http://www.nahbgreen.org/ScoringTool.aspx