Is it possible to both be more green and save money from the comfort of your own home?
If you want to have a carbon neutral home, and some save money but don’t know where to start, we can help. While obviously we think solar is a great way to save money and use clean, renewable energy at home, there are a few easy options to cut down your carbon footprint at home.
The great news is that you can reduce your home’s carbon footprint easily. Continue reading to learn about the three different ways to make the switch towards a carbon neutral home.
Carbon Neutral Home Tip 1: Monitor Your Home Temperature
One of the easiest ways to move towards a carbon neutral home, and an easy way to save some money, is setting your thermostat closer to the temperature outside your home.
If it’s a sunny 85 degrees outside, it might be tempting to crank your air conditioner up and drop your thermostat to a chilly 62. But if you nudge that thermostat up to 68 or 70, you’ll still be comfortable. You’ll also use less energy because the air conditioner or HVAC system in your home won’t need to work for as long to cool the house down.
The same idea applies to heating as well. Just nudging your thermostat down a bit should be enough to create a noticeable savings on your electric bill.
Since heating and cooling are generally the biggest sources for electricity use in a home, being mindful of how we use our heaters and AC units can make a big difference in both our power bill, and our impact.
Carbon Neutral Home Tip 2: Use Energy Efficient Appliances
Using more energy efficient appliances is a great way to lower your carbon footprint at home as well. According to Bob Villa, things like fridges, water heaters, and washers and dryers can actually be huge energy hogs.
When it’s time to replace an appliance in your home, it’s worth making sure you’re getting one that’s energy efficient. For instance, an EnergyStar refrigerator is an excellent option because they use less energy and save money. They’re about 9% more efficient overall than other appliances.
Especially if you’re powering your home with clean solar energy, saving energy and money with appliances that use electricity efficiently is key to a low- or no-carbon home.
Best of all? Switching from your current appliances to more energy efficient appliances will save you more money as soon as you start using them, and for years to come.
Tip #3: Switch to Solar
One of the biggest ways to reduce your footprint and go carbon neutral at home is to switch to solar.
Curious how much using solar rather than rented electricity from a power company that uses natural gas or goal compares in terms of carbon emissions? Solar releases about 50g of CO2 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) during it’s first years of operation. Natural gas and coal powered electricity is about 20 times more than the carbon released from solar powered electricity sources.
Even better, it only takes 3 years of using solar to power your home to hit the point of being fully carbon neutral. After that, solar panels generally last over 25 years, meaning you’re stopping a significant amount of CO2 emissions out of the air. All with one little change.
Going solar is an amazing way to save money (especially with a lower flat payment that never goes up with Purelight Power solar), reduce your carbon footprint, and have ownership of your power generation.
Get a Carbon Neutral Home with Purelight Power!
Ready to go carbon neutral at home with simple and affordable solar? With Purelight’s zero down program homeowners go solar for nothing out of pocket.
See if your roof qualifies for our $0 out of pocket program today.
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