The best way to save money on energy is to not use it in the first place. Passive home designs take advantage of environments that are naturally thrifty when it comes to using energy, and incorporate them into the home. Areas that naturally use less power are cheaper to run, and usually easier to maintain. Even if you already have a home, it’s possible to retrofit passive design elements into your house in order to realize big energy savings, and a home renovation is the perfect time to consider installing some of these elements into your home design.
Landscaping
In environments such as South Florida where cooling is a much bigger issue than heating, keeping out the warmth is the largest use of power for most home HVAC systems. Houses stay naturally cooler inside if the warmth of the sun doesn’t hit the interior. One of the simplest ways to achieve this is by planting smart landscaping around any exposed windows, especially on the ground floor. Bamboo is notoriously fast-growing, and vines on lattice installations provide attractive coverage throughout the year. Both design ideas can shade out the worst of the hot sun in a small amount of time.
Insulation
Keeping your home insulated isn’t just for northerners who need to keep the heat inside against the winter chill. Florida homes need to keep the cool air inside, leaving as much heat outside as possible. Installing an upgrade on your home’s insulation during a home remodeling can help to keep the right environment inside your home, saving you power and money by lowering the need for air conditioning throughout the day. Look to your attic insulation as well as that in the walls when deciding on where your insulation dollars will do the most good.
Heat Distribution
One of the worst culprits for power usage is in rooms that gather and hold the heat. Having a system to distribute and spread the heat around throughout the house helps to keep energy costs low. After all, one extremely hot room in your house is enough for most air conditioning systems to kick on until that room has cooled. Add a series of ceiling fans through your house during your home remodeling. Your electrical contractor can easily add them to the design plan, and during a renovation is the ideal time to include a major addition such as large ceiling fans.
Solar Panels
There’s a reason they call it the Sunshine State. In Florida, the sun shines down for a portion of almost every single day. Passive solar energy panels are among the most intelligent additions you can add to your home, when looking for passive energy savings. Once they’re installed, you don’t have anything else you have to do in order to realize massive savings on your energy bills. Some users even create so much energy from their solar panels that they are able to sell power back to the energy company. Speak with a licensed electrical contractor to make a plan to install solar power panels on the roof of your home, garage, or other buildings. This one change alone can make enough difference to pay for itself in just a few years, giving you free power for years after that.
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