How GREEN Is Your Denver Home?
T here are various ways to make your Denver home more green and they range from low to high up-front costs. Today, there are a lot of subsidies from various sources at the federal, Colorado, and local levels of government and utility companies to "green" your home, which we’ll write more on soon. Here are easy, low-cost ways to get started making your Denver home or condo more energy efficient .
10 Low-Cost Ways to Increase the Energy Efficiency of Your Denver Home or Condo
- Use compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) or LED bulbs in your home
- Install low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators (check your local hardware store for more information)
- Start a compost pile for organic waste
- Plant trees for passive shade to keep your home cool (find out about our Arbor program )
- Insulate hot water heaters with a insulating blanket
- Weatherstrip and caulk doors and windows (instant energy saver!)
- Replace filters on your furnace and air conditioning systems to maximize efficiency and increase your air quality
- Install a programmable thermostat to adjust temperatures when you’re asleep or not home
- Plant native plants (see xeriscaping for more information ) to reduce water usage and keep your yard looking great!
- Place appliances and equipment such as entertainment centers and computers on efficient powerstrips to reduce "phantom loads".
Stay tuned for our post on medium cost improvements for your Denver home that start paying for themselves over the lifecycle of the tip. Don’t miss this post, subscribe to our Mile High Urban Living blog to be automatically updated of new content (look to the right of this post). Here’s to GREEN!
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
One thing I’ve done that has hugely reduced my electric bill is to install LED lights instead of the old bulbs or even CFLs (LEDs are much more energy efficient even than CFLs and of course a lot safer since CFLs have mercury and are very poisonous to us if they break and to the plant too).
I have tried a bunch of different LEDs now, and also tried the ones from the local stores as well as the ones I could get online. I will tell you my favorite LEDs and where I got them because I’ve discovered – the hard way sometimes – that not all LEDs are pleasing to the eye, and not all places you can buy them have good prices or good service. Buying LEDs you definitely want both.
LEDs can be expensive, but they are coming down in price a lot. I don’t recommend buying your LEDs from Costco or Sam’s Club/Price club etc.. Those LEDs are very low light and weak and we didn’t like them at all.
* edited to remove sales content *
Thanks for your great blog on living. Blessings, Katia
With regards to low flow faucet aerators keep in mind there various levels of low flow. Typical low flow starts at 2.2 gallons per minute but goes all the way down to .5 gallons per minute. They all cost about the same at the hardware store.
Katia and Greg, thanks for the feedback on faucets aerators and LEDs! Derec
Great information Derec, this will be terribly important as this Era in our pocket of time seems to be coming to an end. Moving forward these examples need to become mandatory. Not only are they more efficient and better for the planet, it is cost effective in most cases!
Mike, thanks for your comment. I’m definitely a supporter of being efficient and doing small things to make a difference. These tips are the easy ones to do and recognize a savings pretty quickly. We’ll be posting a medium cost list of tips soon that recognize savings over a longer period of time but they’re pretty neat. The costs of a lot of these measures are coming down with advances in technology.
I’ve done five of these, perhaps 6 or 7 (not totally sure on a couple). I’ve also dugg it…but we’ve gotta talk about your Digg strategy, Derec.