Make Your Home Cozy and Comfortable
Save Money and Energy with Weatherization tips
Are you someone who turns off the light every time you leave the room or turns off appliances when you aren’t using them? Perhaps you keep your thermostat at a low temperature or even keep it off until there is extreme weather, relying on blankets and sweaters to stay warm.
If you take these steps but aren’t seeing a difference in your power bill, you may be living in an under-insulated home.
About 89% of single-family homes in the United States are under-insulated. Most homes 15 to 20 years or older are not properly insulated and can be slowly leaking out your temperature-controlled air and guzzling energy on your power bill.
In an ideal case, your HVAC pumps out temperature-controlled air, which then circulates throughout the home evenly and stays inside due to the thermal barrier or insulation of your home.
In most cases, however, the air circulates throughout the home and then leaks out through gaps in the insulation, such as windows, doors, roofs and ducts. As a result, your HVAC senses the temperature has dropped and starts another heating cycle, only for the process to repeat again and again.
This can significantly drive up your power bill and create a physically uncomfortable environment inside your home, especially during peak weather times.
Insulating or weatherizing your home can have a significant impact on your quality of life, energy efficiency and power bill. Residents can save between 10% to 45% on their power bills with successful home insulation projects. This can include ceiling, floor, wall, window and door insulation.
Weatherizing your home doesn’t have to break the bank. For a quick and budget friendly solution, try adding draft stoppers to all your doors, especially those that lead outside. Draft stoppers come in a variety of designs to fit your door and can be easily applied by sliding or taping them on the bottom of your door.
A budget-friendly solution for windows is a window insulation kit, available at most hardware stores. One of these kits typically includes double-sided tape and heat shrink window film, which can be cut and measured to custom fit your window. Once activated by heat, the film shrinks and tightens around your window, creating a seal that keeps out cold and traps in warm air.
Orcas Power & Light Cooperative members can install weatherization projects, including windows, doors and insulation, and pay with our on-bill financing program, Switch It Up. We also have residential rebates available to members for qualifying energy-efficiency projects.
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Check out OPALCO’s Energy Savings Hub at www.opalco.com/energyhub for details on qualifying projects or email energysavings@opalco.com.
