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Make Your House Energy Efficient

Make Your House Energy Efficient
In this instructable i will be going over some simple things you can do to make your house a more earth friendly place, and ways to help it run more efficiently. Going green is a key part in stopping global warming, and who knows you could save some money in the process!
 
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Step 1Lighting

Lighting
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Switching to compact fluorescent light bulbs is one of the easiest steps towards becoming more efficient. All you have to do is take out all or some of your incandescent light bulbs and replace them with the newer compact fluorescent light bulbs. Studies have shown that CFL's use 75% less energy than incandescent light bulbs.
One of the only drawbacks to these light bulbs is the fact that they contain mercury. Though this is true, there is only and average of 4 milligrams of mercury in each bulb which is a very minuscule amount, and as long as the bulbs are intact they will not release mercury in to your home.
These particular bulbs are 26 watts that are equivalent to 100 watts of incandescent bulbs and last 5 years.
Another way to light your home is using natural sunlight through windows and skylights. Skylights can be very useful for high traffic areas or rooms that tend to be very dark. Instead of putting up a light fixture you may want to consider a skylight.
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18 comments
Jan 24, 2012. 6:37 PMAuntJudy says:
I live in Virginia where we have lots and lots of Homeowners Associations and they actually FORBID clothes lines - yes, you read that correctly - why, because it's not pretty and we certainly wouldn't want any one to see our undies, but you better recycle your newspaper or else ! makes sense right?
Jul 21, 2009. 6:32 AMaasteveo says:
They now have LED light bulbs that can run on less than 5 watts of power!
Check out this site: http://www.goldengadgets.com/LED-Light-Bulbs/c12/index.html

One user said he replaced all the light bulbs in the elevators of his business and saved $3,000 a year on electricity!
Aug 23, 2011. 6:25 PMangrybater says:
Here i am
Aug 19, 2011. 9:46 PMCementTruck says:
CFLs, like any other Fluorescent have mercury. These bulbs are supposed to be returned to the manufacturer or local power company for proper disposal when they burn out . How many people actually do that?

I too have drank the CFL cool ade to try and save money, but the bulbs I've purchased have lasted just as long as any incandescent I've used. I've already replaced a few and am holding on to the burnt out ones.

In retrospect, I pay more for bulbs now than I ever did, and because CFLs will be the dominant bulb in the very near future there will be more of them in landfills...but I'll save 50 bucks on electricity this year.

Mar 27, 2009. 4:18 PMbaudeagle says:
Where can you buy this "Green Switch"?
Aug 22, 2011. 10:52 PMangrybater says:
YES you can
Mar 28, 2009. 10:45 PMChiana_Rei says:
you don't buy it per say, you wire your electrical sockets in a room through a properly rated switch so when the switch is off no power flows to the sockets, then the devices cannot draw extra power. Though it can screw up things with clocks and persitant settings that do not utilize a battery to power these circuits.
May 15, 2009. 8:23 AMsharlston says:
also i somethimes fall to sleep with the tv on stanby so i got this extension it has 8 sockets and when you turn your tv with the remote off it turns everything off it works from the sensor in the remote also use a fuel magnet for your car my dad has 1 and he has saved £35 in 3 months with the magnet
Aug 18, 2011. 11:48 AMPhantomOfHeat says:
The fuel magnet is complete bull it will and cannot change the burn characteristics of the fuel and it will not change the amount of fuel injected. However the placebo effect and driving more conservatively can save a lot of money over a few tanks.
Nov 9, 2009. 5:38 PMnickmarrone says:
Does washing your dishes by hand really save water? I've heard otherwise. You have to account for rinsing the dishes as well.
May 28, 2011. 7:42 AMpaxdonnaverde says:
The real issue here is the energy used to filter, neutralize, heat and pump the water that comes out of your faucet. Getting used water from your drain to city water facilities and back to your faucet uses 20% of the worlds energy.

We humans are terribly inefficient when it comes.

A dishwasher is a short distance closed-loop water filtering system. It can be efficient and simple because it is not required to filter out body waste, agricultural toxins, oils and the myriad of other things that enter a municipal water treatment plant.
A dishwasher uses a limited amount of water over and over again. Once it is heated it stays hot so it's not constantly drawing hot water from your heater that loses a lot of heat on its way to your sink.
Sep 20, 2009. 8:59 AMellislake says:
the simplest and cheapest insualtion is plastic bags. im gona get round to do my instrcutable on cheapest insualtion ever. all you need to do is collect plastic bags rather than throwing them away and scrunch them up a little and put them between the joists then put a flat piece of plywood over them as a floor. that way theres no issue with weight and the bagsd are free and not going to waste on a dumping ground this owrks by trapping air inside the bags and insulates the loft. its simple i have done it in my loft but only about 10% completed so far.i think i will ahve to do the instructable soon as i got some free time coming up soon what does everyone think
Apr 4, 2009. 11:30 PMMarcos says:
I must be feeling cranky today, but this looks like another bland list cribbed from the bland lists the big newpaper chains publish. Would it be posted here if there weren't a contest involved? I'd love to have a new Mac too, but I'm willing to work for it. Someone please tell me what's here that is new, innvative, creative and not common knowledge that you can find in the paper, in flyers that local communities and recycling centers send out! IMHO, this does not qualify as an instructable at all!
Mar 28, 2009. 2:33 PMfinfan7 says:
a couple random points: As for switching lightbulbs, you can do better than CFLs. CFLs do use less energy but they have the downside of being full of poison. LED bulbs, on the other hand, are not filled with deadly deadly poison, use even less energy and last even longer. Don't quote me on this but if I remember correctly I think CFLs are 5x better than regular lightbulbs and LED bulbs are twice as good as CFLs. As for the "green switch" I would suggest a clarifying note that a green switch is not a special kind of switch but just a switch with a specific wiring. Excellent Instructable even if I am being picky.
Apr 1, 2009. 11:16 AMEeeeeeeeeekz says:
your big windows and top view is AWESOME! just thought i'd share some love.

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