Energy-Efficient Tips Every Homebuyer Should Know

If you’re considering purchasing a new home soon, checking how well it’s insulated is crucial. Not only does it contribute to saving energy, but it also reduces the consumption of environmental resources, aligning with long-term sustainability plans. Moreover, this is one of the ways to save energy at home, helping to decrease high electricity bills. Therefore, energy efficiency is an integral factor when choosing your dream home.

While the home’s basic design contributes to energy conservation, you can reduce energy usage by adopting specific daily habits. Let’s dive into some practical energy-saving tips:

1. Fill Your Garden With Trees

If you have a garden, this is one of the most essential energy-saving suggestions. Here’s why:

• Shade your outdoor AC units in the garden to boost their efficiency.
• Plant deciduous trees for shade during summer and sunlight in winter when they shed leaves.
• Plant evergreen trees on wind-exposed sides of the house to act as natural windbreaks.

2. Use Electronics Correctly

Devices plugged in can consume power even when unused. A Natural Resources Canada study revealed that electricity bills increase by 5% to 10% when turned-off devices remain plugged in. To address this, here’s what you should do:

• Unplug all devices and chargers after using them.
• Control energy consumption via your smartphone to turn off sockets when the connected electronic device is not in use.

3. Adjust Ventilation Systems

Avoid relying on air conditioning units all the time. Instead, estimate the appropriate ventilation method based on the home’s and outside temperatures. When the weather isn’t too hot, rely on natural ventilation or ceiling fans to cool the house. During winter, you can use central heating to warm the entire house without running it all day, especially if the home insulation is excellent.

4. Swap to Energy-Saving Bulbs

One of the quickest ways to save energy at home is to get rid of those old bulbs! Modern LED bulbs offer the same lighting quality as traditional bulbs, often surpassing them. They can also reduce energy consumption and last longer.

5. Utilise Curtains

Curtains are more than decorative; they’re a great way to save on energy bills. Here’s how:

• In the summer: Close the curtains, especially on windows facing the sun, to keep your home cooler.
• In the winter: Open the curtains during sunny days to let in natural warmth, reducing the need to turn up the heating.

6. Check Your Home Energy Consumption

Examining your home’s energy consumption levels can help pinpoint wastage causes. You can hire a certified energy expert to conduct a comprehensive home inspection or do it yourself by checking the following:

• Air leaks can lead to reduced heating or cooling efficiency.
• Appropriate insulation levels to ensure efficient energy conservation.
• Efficiency of household appliances.
• Lighting bulbs (in terms of their energy consumption rates).
• Air leakage spots in and out of the house, such as doors, windows, plumbing openings, electrical switches, and more.

7. Replace Old Appliances

Older electrical appliances often lack the energy-saving features found in newer models. It’s a good idea to upgrade to modern smart devices. These newer devices use efficient inverter motors and can be managed from your smartphone, giving you control anytime.

8. Install Motion Sensor Lighting

Instead of remembering to turn off lights when leaving a room, install motion sensors. This ensures that lights are only on when necessary, reducing energy consumption.

9.Adopt Daylighting Techniques

Maximise the use of natural light in your home, reducing the need for artificial lighting. We recommend adding skylights or larger windows on facades that receive sunlight during early morning and sunset. Doing so will save on electricity bills and create a bright and warm atmosphere in your home.

10. Set up Solar Heaters

Solar water heaters are becoming more common worldwide, and they remove the need to heat water with petroleum or grid electricity. Installing a solar heating system is highly recommended to benefit from it during summer, spring, and autumn, and partially during sunny winter days. To get the most from the system, wrap the water pipes to keep the water’s temperature steady until it comes out of your taps.

11. Use Solar Panels

Solar panels are an efficient way to generate electricity from renewable sources. As their use becomes more common, the world is moving towards abandoning non-renewable energy sources like fuel. To get the most from this technology, it’s recommended to consult a specialised company for installation, choose the right number of panels based on your energy consumption, and maintain them to ensure continued efficiency.

12. Educate Family Members

The habits of the household members are often reflected in the energy consumption levels. To ensure optimum energy conservation in your home, it is crucial that everyone in the family understands the significance of energy conservation and actively participates in reducing energy consumption. You can achieve this by implementing these energy-efficient tips and keep discussing ways for energy conservation both in and out of the home.

With these energy-efficient tips, you can achieve a more sustainable and eco-conscious lifestyle. Sharing this vision, Aldar aims to contribute to a sustainable future. As part of our commitment, we recently became the first partner from the real estate sector to join the Clean Energy Business Council. Our goal is to reduce net-zero emissions and actively work towards establishing a greener and more energy-efficient real estate industry.