What Homeowners Can Do To Save The Environment While Saving Money On Utilities

Homeowners today are often concerned with how they can lessen their home's impact on the environment and how they can save money on utilities. The good news is that homeowners can often do both with a few simple changes around the house and just a small investment. Saving the environment typically means saving energy and conserving natural resources, and doing both will mean spending less on your utility bills every month. Consider a few ways you can do this in your own home:

1. Install low-flow toilets and urinals

Toilets probably use the most water of any other appliance in the home, so installing low-flow toilets and urinals can save on water overall. Low-flow toilets use a small amount of water with each flush and urinals use only a few ounces. As a result, they're becoming very popular options for new construction and renovation projects.

2. Insulate the windows

Adding another layer over the windows can mean keeping in heating and air conditioning throughout the year, so you spend less on both. Window films can also block out the sun's rays during summertime so your home is cooler and you run the air conditioning less often. Adding a film on the windows is much more affordable than having the windows replaced with thicker panes, but it can save on the cost of utilities year-round.

3. Use blown foam insulation

Fibreglass insulation can often shrink over time and it may not actually fit into corners and crevices. Blown foam insulation is much more effective in that the foam seeps into all corners and cracks in walls and ceilings, and it doesn't shrink or degrade over time. This can mean better insulation for your home and in turn, less spent on air conditioning and heating.

4. Use solar power

Solar panels can mean using very little (if any) electricity provided by your city, and this in turn means clean energy. Energy plants create pollution as they create electricity, whereas solar power does not. If you cannot afford solar panels to power your entire home, you might choose solar hot water. This is a solar panel that is connected to your hot water heater only, so that you use little to no electricity for this appliance. A solar panel for a hot water heater is more affordable than solar panels that connect to your entire home's electrical system, but it can still save you money on electricity overall. For more information, contact a company like Solar Repairs.