An energy-efficient home saves you money on energy bills and helps protect the environment. The U.S. Department of Energy and Environmental Protection Agency created the Energy Star program to help Americans reduce emissions and energy usage. The Energy Star Yardstick is an online tool that measures your home’s efficiency and gives suggestions to help you decrease your energy use.
The Yardstick form is simple to use. It requires you to know the square footage of your home, the home’s fuel sources, and your home’s energy bill information for the past year. You input this information into the Energy Star Yardstick form, and the form scores your energy use score along a “ruler.” It also tells you how much energy you use per year and what your costs are.
Once you use the Yardstick to calculate your home’s recent energy efficiency, you can use the form to calculate how much you would save by reducing your home’s energy usage by different percentages. As you know all too well, heating costs can get high during cold winters in Connecticut, and proper winter preparation can save a lot on energy costs.
After filling out the Yardstick form, the Yardstick website recommends strategies to help reduce your energy usage. Programming your thermostat to conserve energy and setting your home up for energy efficiency are two ways to reduce energy usage and costs. The site recommends keeping your thermostat below 72 degrees during winter and above 76 degrees during summer to prevent excess energy usage. It’s also a great idea to have your HVAC system serviced at least once a year for maximum efficiency and reduced chances of breakdowns when you’re least equipped to deal with them.
For help with weatherproofing your home, installing energy-efficient heating and air conditioning, and servicing existing HVAC systems in the Connecticut area, contact Glasco Heating & Air Conditioning.
Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about energy star and other HVAC topics, visit our website.
Glasco Heating & Air Conditioning services South Windsor, Connecticut and the surrounding areas.