Kitchens, bathrooms, and flooring have been the typical areas to target but things are changing! Don’t get me wrong, those areas are very important, but with heating oil at well over $4/gallon it is important to focus on maximizing your homes efficiency. There is a whole slue of options out there that don’t cost an arm and a leg to do and there are also ways to spend large amounts of money.
Below are two fairly budget sensitive options.
- Tankless Hot Water Heaters–On demand hot water forever. This is an excellent option if you don’t have oil heat. I have one in my house and it is remarkable, plus it resulted in around a 10% savings in my heating cost. Check out their website Here
- Energy Audit–A certified technician can come to your home and calculate where your primary heat loss on the property is and help you determine what you can do to solve this problem. Typically it comes down to adding more insulation in the attic, basement and garage (if attached). A great NH contact for this is Gretchen Tillson from GDS Associates in Manchester NH. 603-656-0336 www.gdsassociates.com
If you’d like to invest a bit more into your home the following options can get big results
- Solar panels for your hot water. This of course requires solar panels and then you need to have a hot water storage tank. I am a big fan of Viessmann Boilers and products so check out their solar product line Here.
- When was the last time you had your heating system serviced? You know, that thing lurking in your basement that you only notice when there’s a problem? This is a great area where you can make a huge improvement on your heating costs if you have an older outdated system. Viessmann has a wall mounted condensing boiler that’s only slightly larger than the tankless hot water heaters I mentioned above. This boiler gets a 95.2% efficiency rating which is huge considering most peoples systems are typically in the 70 to 80% range. Here’s its page and this link will take you to the rest of Viessmann’s product line
- Appliances–If you have older appliances buying some energy star rated systems can be a great start. I’m personally a fan of the Kenmore product line..here’s their page on Sear’s website. Beyond the great looks of new appliances you can expect you electric bill go go down slightly, plus buyers with love it.
If you are considering new construction an excellent site to check out is Green Builder Mag. They have tons of information on Green Products and energy efficient systems and materials for your home.
