How to Conserve Energy Based On Season

Each season has its own nuances when it comes to energy consumption. One season may be more energy-demanding, whereas another may not. Fortunately, with each season there are different ways you can go about making your home more energy-efficient. At the heart of the green living lifestyle is the need to cut down on energy waste as much as possible.

As we do everything we can to reduce our carbon footprint, it’s important to take every little detail into consideration. Even the smallest steps can make a huge difference in your quest to achieve the highest eco-friendly living standards.

Here are some tips on how to conserve energy for each season throughout the year. Some of these are a little more complicated than others, but these extra steps can go a long way in not only minimizing your utility bill but also your carbon footprint.

How to Conserve Energy in the Spring

Install Skylights Where Possible

The Benefits of Having Skylights

Lighting is always a good way to start when brainstorming ideas on how to conserve energy. As the warmer seasons roll in and the days get longer, you now have more natural light which you can use to your advantage. There are many benefits to natural light, from the positive influence it has on our psyche, to the physical advantages of soaking up those sun rays. But one big advantage that natural light has over artificial light is that it is 100% free and consumes 0 energy.

So, a great way to save energy that you would have otherwise spent on artificial lighting is to bring in as much natural light as possible. This can be done in a variety of ways, from simple steps like opening up the curtains, to something more specialized, like installing bigger windows. But one of the most effective ways to brighten up a room with natural lighting is by installing a skylight.

Ways Natural Light Could Replace Artificial In Your Home

If any of your rooms are directly under a roof, then you can install a skylight right above them and allow the room to fill up with natural light. For hallways and areas deeper in your house that don’t have direct access to the roof, you can install sun tunnels. These are reflective tubes that collect sunlight via a small dome on the roof and transport it to a fixture on the interior. This green roof design provides your home with plenty of natural light without having to sacrifice any bit of insulation.

Skylights are the epitome of living green. As the days get longer and the sun gets brighter, natural light can be a perfectly viable option for lighting up your interior. 

How to Conserve Energy in the Summer

Freshen Up the Air Filters

Your AC May Be Working Harder Than It Should

Air conditioning is a lot more than cold air being pushed through pipes and grates. There are a lot of moving bits and pieces in ACs. In order to keep the air in your home not only cool but also clean, there are air filters inside the AC that gather the small nasty particles, keeping them from entering your interior and consequently your lungs.

There are various kinds of filters you can find out there for your AC. They all have their benefits and disadvantages. But as diverse as they may be, there is one thing all air filters have in common: they really like to get clogged up. With enough dust and other particles accumulating on the film of the air filter, some problems may arise among which is lower air pressure.

Why You Should Regularly Change the AC Air Filter

As a result of a clogged air filter, the air conditioner won’t be able to properly cool off the interior unless you turn it on the higher settings which is not a good way to be energy-efficient. ACs need a lot of power to run and leaving them on for hours can be a huge power drain. By simply replacing the air filter, allowing the air to flow seamlessly through the AC it will work far more efficiently. This way you reduce the energy consumption that would have otherwise gone to the extra power you would need to run the AC on higher settings.

Outdoor Kitchen

Outdoor Kitchens Could Make Your Life Easier

In hot summers with the scorching heat outside, if you’re having a big dinner party the last thing you want is a hot, stuffy kitchen. All that cooking, with all the burners and oven on will make the house really hot and the air conditioner will be working overtime to cool down the interior. Having the AC on the entire time consumes a lot of energy. A good way around this would be to organize a cookout so you can take all that heat outside and keep the kitchen and interior cool.

However, there’s only so much you can do with a grill. As tasty as burgers, steaks, and grilled veggies can be, you want to have more functionality when cooking outdoors. An outdoor kitchen may just be the kind of outdoor addition you need to streamline your outdoor cooking. Now, with an entirely functional kitchen outside you have the freedom to cook all your food without heating up the kitchen inside and then having to cool it off with the AC on the highest setting.

There Are Many Reasons Why You Should Have an Outdoor Kitchen

And this is just one of the many benefits that outdoor kitchens offer. You will have a lot of fun with your friends as you gather around the outdoor stove and countertops, cooking your favorite food, sharing cold drinks, and having some good laughs, all the while living the eco-friendly lifestyle. 

How to Conserve Energy In The Fall

Smart Thermostat

Make Life Easier With a Smart Thermostat

You likely know the stereotype of how parents like to have full control over the thermostat and hate it when someone changes the settings. Well, as much as we trust our parents’ judgment, especially when it comes to how hot or cold the house is, they can sometimes be wrong. Nature is very hard to predict, especially during the fall where it might rain one minute and the sun may start shining the next.

You can’t expect someone to stand guard by the thermostat and change the settings every time the weather gets better or worse. Instead, install a smart thermostat that takes into account the temperature outside and adjusts the indoor temperature accordingly. No longer will you have to worry and remind yourself to turn off the thermostat once the weather gets warmer, wasting a lot of energy on that heating that was not needed. Let the thermostat adjust itself and deactivate the AC or heating when they’re not needed.

Seal the Windows and Doors

There Are Many Ways to Keep Your Doors and Windows Insulated

Even if you think that your doors and windows are properly sealed, nature will find a way into your home one way or another. If you live in an area with a lot of strong winds, then that cold air has most likely made its way into your home through the tiny cracks and holes in the windows and doors. These crevices are very easy to miss at first, but upon closer inspection, you will find that your window and door frames are perforated with tiny gaps and voids.

To fix this you need to locate these gaps and seal them. Be it with sealant tape or caulk, cover up the holes and cracks to keep the cold air and moisture from getting inside. You may think that these holes don’t have much effect on your home’s interior temperature at first. But if you consider how all your doors and windows may be covered in these tiny cracks, letting cold air and water into your home, it really starts to add up. Once these are sealed, you will notice how much less you’ll be able to easily heat up your home even on the lower settings, thus lowering your energy consumption.

How to Conserve Energy In The Winter

Check Your Heating Pumps

The Importance of Regular Heating Vents Maintenance

As you regularly use your heating system, various parts are going to start getting weaker and less stable. Much like how AC filters and pipes get worn out and clogged up over time, the same goes for the heating pumps. With enough use and years of non-stop heating, heating pumps get weaker and no longer perform as efficiently.

This happens at different rates depending on the kind of HVAC system that is installed. But one thing to note is that you need to make it a habit to check on your HVAC system regularly. During the winter, you use the heating regularly. But if various parts are clogged up or worn out, you won’t get much heat out of it unless you use it on higher settings. This means extra energy consumption.

Regularly have your heating system checked by a professional. An HVAC specialist should inspect your heating system at least biannually and see what parts need to be replaced or fixed. This way your heating system won’t need to use up more power to optimally heat your interior and you won’t waste extra energy to keep your home nice and toasty. 

Update Your Windows

Aspects of a Window You Need to Consider For Insulation

This is the one window update you won’t need to restart your computer for. We mean a literal window update. Windows protect your home and what’s inside from the sometimes cold grasp of Mother Nature. Unfortunately, older windows are not as good at this. We love the classy look of natural wooden windows, but they are not sealed off enough to keep the warm air inside and the cold on the outside.

Luckily, there are some ways you can seal and insulate your windows to ensure that they insulate your home. Polyurethane foam, for example, is an amazing sealant that is installed with window frames. You can give the layer of sealant around your windows a refresher to ensure that they aren’t letting the warm air escape through the cracks that may have formed over the years. Glass panes also make a huge difference in how heat-retentive your home is. You can find double pane and even triple-pane glass windows that have low emissivity or low E levels, which means they are very good at insulating homes and keeping heat from escaping.

Then there’s the window frame itself. You will find all kinds of materials that are used to create window frames. Among the most energy-efficient are vinyl and fiberglass. Thanks to how dense they are, vinyl and fiberglass can keep the heat on the inside better than other materials. Install these window frames and effortlessly heat up your home during even the coldest winters.