There’s been a lot of talk in recent years of “green” architecture, energy audits, and weatherizing homes to reduce the use of fossil fuels and electricity and do the environment a favor.
But as much as you might want to do the right thing for the world and for your children and grandchildren, it can be hard to justify the expense of investing in these things.
But here’s the best part. Instead of costing you money, making sure your home is well-insulated will ultimately save you money. Here’s how.
Energy Star
You’ve certainly seen the labels on appliances, but do you know what Energy Star is? It’s a program that certifies energy-efficient products, helping identify the best choices for customers who are trying to cut their energy use and save on their utility bills. But they also compile a great deal of information about how Americans use energy, and how we can do better. Here’s some of the information they have to offer.
The Average American Home
In order to understand how much money can be saved by cutting home energy usage, we first need to consider what we mean by home. Energy Star uses the results of the Residential Energy Consumption Survey done by the US Energy Information Administration to define a typical home.
On average, an American home was built in the 1970s or 1980s and has four bedrooms and 1700 square feet of living space. You may be surprised to hear that 23% of the conditioned or heated air from furnaces or AC units in the average American home is lost through holes in its ductwork.
Average American Energy Usage
In 2021, the average amount that an American household paid for a month’s electricity usage was $121.01. Of course, that amount varies a great deal from month to month over the course of a year, and here in Florida, our peak energy usage is in the summer, when our air conditioners are working hard to make our homes cool and comfortable.
But that average monthly amount means that a year’s worth of electric bills would come to $1452.12. Now, a very significant portion of that cost is due to heating and cooling the average American home, but some of it is used for other needs.
Electric Bill Reduction from New Insulation
When that average American home gets new insulation, which keeps conditioned air in during the summer and heated air in during the winter, use of electricity for heating and cooling drops by 15%. Of course, new insulation won’t reduce other electricity needs, like charging devices, keeping the lights on, or running appliances.
So overall use of electricity will only drop by 11%. This means cutting that monthly bill by $13.31, or saving $159.73 every year. But if your home is larger, older, was never very well-insulated to begin with, or has insulation that was particularly damaged by anything from rodents to moisture, new insulation could save you even more money each year.
If you’d like to cut your energy use, keep your house at your ideal temperature more easily, and spend less every time you pay your electric bill, it’s time for insulation services in Ferry Pass, FL.
Contact the team at Commander Air Inc. Your hometown heating and cooling specialist for three generations.