{"id":8635,"date":"2014-04-15T14:06:56","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T18:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/?p=8635"},"modified":"2014-07-09T13:23:26","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T17:23:26","slug":"earth-month-tip-of-the-week-heating-and-cooling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/earth-month-tip-of-the-week-heating-and-cooling\/","title":{"rendered":"Earth Month Tip of the Week: Heating and Cooling"},"content":{"rendered":"

April is Earth Month and each week we are giving you tips on how to improve your home\u2019s energy performance. This week, we tackle half of a typical home\u2019s energy bill, heating and cooling. Heating and cooling your home can comprise half of your home’s energy bill, but maintaining that system can save you money and improve your home\u2019s energy performance<\/a>. Here are a few things to think about when you are using your home\u2019s heating and cooling systems.<\/p>\n

Check for Air Leaks <\/b><\/p>\n

One of the first steps to reducing energy waste and saving up to 20 percent on your heating and cooling bills is to check for air leaks. This will increase the comfort of your home and save you money by not letting the hot (or cold) air escape.\u00a0 You can seal air leaks by caulking or installing weather stripping, you can even install an energy efficient door<\/a> or storm windows.<\/p>\n

\"Cherry<\/a>
The Cherry Creek house plan<\/a> is an ENERGY STAR\u00ae rated house plan with lots of features on homeowner\u2019s wish lists. Among the highlights in this house plan are large bedrooms with walk-in closets, secondary bedrooms with private dressing rooms and vanities, and a kitchen<\/a> with an over-sized island and eating bar. This house plan also features a dining room<\/a> to accommodate a large table arrangement perfect for entertaining and a see-thru fireplace<\/a> that shares a wall with the living room.<\/figcaption><\/figure>
\n
\nInvest in a Programmable Thermostat<\/b><\/p>\n

Programmable thermostats are ideal for people who are away from home at set times throughout the week. A properly programmed programmable thermostat can save you about $180 a year on your energy bill.<\/p>\n

\"Nest<\/a>
Installing a programmable thermostat such as a Nest\u00ae<\/a> can save you up to 20 percent on your energy bill. Substantial savings when you consider heating and cooling compromises half of your home\u2019s energy costs. Their Nest Leaf\u2122 appears when you are saving energy, so you never have to guess about your thermostat’s energy efficiency.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Clean or Change Furnace Filters<\/b><\/p>\n

A dirty filter will slow down air flow and make your heating and cooling system work harder to keep you warm. \u00a0A clean filter will also prevent dust and dirt from building up in the system, which can lead to expensive maintenance costs and early system failure.<\/p>\n

Ideally you should check your filter every month, especially during the winter and summer when they are in heavy use. \u00a0At minimum your filter should be changed every three months.<\/p>\n

\"Energy<\/a>
The Energy Demonstration Home <\/a>is a two-story Craftsman home is designed with energy-efficiency in mind. The designer set out to create an\u00a0energy-efficient, healthy, green home that addresses severe weather concerns that residents of the Southern states have.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Keeping your heating and cooling system maintained is a great way to save on your energy bills<\/a>. Building an ENERGY STAR\u00ae rated home can also help you save on your energy bill. An ENERGY STAR\u00ae compliant home can reduce your home\u2019s energy cost by 20 to 30 percent and The House Designers ENERGY STAR\u00ae rated house plans include all the calculations you need to meet the stringent ENERGY STAR\u00ae standards in your local area.\u00a0 Browse our collection of ENERGY STAR\u00ae rated house plans<\/a> and see if you can find your next green home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

April is Earth Month and each week we are giving you tips on how to improve your home\u2019s energy performance. This week, we tackle half of a typical home\u2019s energy bill, heating and cooling. Heating and cooling your home can comprise half of your home’s energy bill, but maintaining that system can save you money […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85],"tags":[332,565,566],"class_list":["post-8635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-house-plans","tag-earth-day","tag-green-building-practices","tag-heating-and-cooling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/58"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8635"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8768,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8635\/revisions\/8768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thehousedesigners.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}