Approximately half of the energy consumed by the average household is due to heating systems and cooling systems, and temperature control makes a sizable impact on the environment as well as budget.
But living in an area with extremely cold winter weather and brutally burning summers, minimizing the cost of heating plus cooling is a must.
I’m constantly searching for new ways to tighten up the apartment plus prevent energy waste. I’ve managed to substitute every single window in the apartment with a thermal pane, Energy Star rated window. Every year, I caulk plus weatherstrip around doors and windows. I’ve installed ceiling fans to help push the heat down toward the floor in winter, and encourage it up out in the summer. Just now, I realized that I needed to replace the insulation in the attic. Although my husband and I insulated when we first moved into the home, that was nearly eleven years ago. As time passed, moisture, rodents plus settling had ruined the integrity of the insulation. It wasn’t providing an effective barrier against the harsh weather anymore. We had some troubles with ice dams building up on the roof and icicles hanging off the edges. So we were conflicted as to what to do. We ended up hiring a licensed cooling expert to complete the task. The cost of materials plus labor was not too expensive plus neither one of us was eager to crawl around in that cramped attic. The HVAC contractors completed the attic insulation in a matter of hours. They did a good job, with little mess. The improvement in comfort and efficiency of the apartment was drastic. We observed that although the air conditioner wasn’t running as long or actually working as hard, we benefited from more even temperature from room to room. When winter arrived, the cost of running the furnace was a lot lower.