High performance homes are in big demand. People love to buy these types of homes, because they know that a certified high performance home will have the best heating and cooling efficiency, the best ventilation, and the best electrical efficiency. Many new homes are built to high performance standards from day one, but it is possible to retrofit too.
If you want to make your home a high performance superstar, there are a few steps you can take to make positive changes to your power consumption.
Get a RESNET Approved Contractor
The first step in transforming your home into a finely tuned electrical machine is to find a contractor who is RESNET approved. RESNET is the umbrella body that manages the HERS (Home Energy Rating System), and ensures that contractors who are performing HERS construction or upgrades are following best practices. There is a handy search function on their website, to help you find a contractor in your area.
Getting Your HERS Rating
Often, when working with an existing building, the first step in transforming your house into an energy efficient home is to get your HERS rating. This is a number, based on a variety of energy related factors, which indicates how energy efficient or otherwise your home is. It is a number that will either be above or below 100 (which is the benchmark for HERS ratings.)
If your home has a rating below 100, then that means it is more energy efficient than average, while ratings above 100 are less efficient.
Knowing where your home falls on the spectrum is important, so that your contractor can determine what changes need to be made to make your home as efficient as possible.
Improving Your HERS Rating
There are several things you can do in your existing home to make it more energy efficient, and to improve your HERS rating. Here are a few very simple changes that can make a big difference:
- Switch out appliances for energy efficient ones. If your appliances are older, chances are they are not as efficient as they could be, and you could save a considerable amount of energy by using newer, Energy Star rated ones instead.
- Upgrade lighting to be energy efficient. Switch out fixtures for LED or CFL friendly versions, and trade your regular garden lights for solar powered versions.
- Improve your insulation. Even though you probably do not need the heating benefits in Florida, you can cut your cooling bill considerably, including the power required to run your air conditioning units.
- Replace windows with energy efficient versions. These windows have an invisible film on them that prevent the entry of a percentage of solar rays into your home. Again, this can make your home cooler and save energy and money.
- Upgrade your water heater and fix dripping faucets. You may not think that plumbing upgrades would affect power consumption, but since heating water is a big chunk of your power bill, changes like this can improve your energy consumption and rating significantly.
There are many reasons to upgrade your home and improve its HERS rating. You can inspect and improve electrical protection at the same time, you will save power, and your home will be more energy efficient and less hard on the environment.
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