How to Reduce the Carbon Footprint of Pre-Existing Homes

One of the easiest ways to reduce your home's carbon footprint after it has been built is to make sure that it is filled with energy efficient appliances and that your family uses smart energy practices.

Most large appliances are clearly marked with an energy efficiency rating sticker in the showroom. These stickers will tell you how much energy an average family would expect to use with each appliance in a given year. By making energy efficiency a primary feature goal in the purchase of your appliances, you can cut your use of electricity dramatically. Appliances that should carry this rating sticker include: hot water heaters, refrigerators, stoves, dishwashers, freezers, air conditioners, clothes washers, and dryers.

You can go a step further by choosing the right type of appliance as well. The typical hot water heater works to maintain the temperature of a reservoir of water 24 hours a day. That means that while everyone is asleep, energy is being used to keep your water hot. The on demand hot water heater eliminates this energy waste. On demand water heaters only heat the water when you need it. They run the incoming cold water through a winding tube where it picks up heat from an enclosed heating element. By the time the water runs through the entire length of the tube, it is heated just as hot as any conventional water heater. With this kind of water heater, not only do you reduce your energy bill and lower your carbon footprint, but you also never have to worry about running out of hot water. This continuous on demand heating keeps the hot water flowing as long as you keep it running.

Once you have your energy efficient appliances installed, it's time to think about good energy conservation practices within the home. Some of these practices are common sense. Turn out the lights whenever you leave a room, even if it's only for a short time. If you'll be out of room for even ten seconds, it's worth turning the lights off while you're away. Schedule the use of batch appliances like the dishwasher and laundry appliances during off-peak hours. By lowering demand during peak hours, your utility company may not need to start up an auxiliary generating station to cover regional peak demand. In some high demand areas during the seasons when demand is greatest, moving your electricity usage to off peak hours can help prevent rolling blackouts.

One of the things few people know is that even when some household devices are turned off, they are still drawing considerable electricity from the outlet. This typically includes any household device with a transformer or a standby mode. Things like computers, televisions, DVD players, gaming consoles and the like, all draw electricity when they are turned off. Instead plug them all into a power strips. Then after powering the device down normally, flip the off switch on the power strip to cut electricity to the device.

These good energy practices can save as much as 30% of your electrical bill each year, and help reduce your carbon footprint.