Why it's important

We spend a large amount of our energy and money heating or cooling the outdoors through poor home design and maintenance. More than half of a home's energy usage comes from its heating and cooling systems. Much of this is wasted energy because most people live in homes that were built when energy was so cheap and abundant that wasting a bit of it was not a large concern.

Unless you live in one of the rare areas of the world where the temperature and humidity outside are what you want the inside of your home to be year round, you likely spend a lot of energy and money climatizing your home. Every little step you take to seal up your home through either filling cracks, improving insulation, or putting in better windows and doors will reduce your energy and financial heating and cooling costs. Because of the way heat moves, every little bit you do can have a large impact on your heating and cooling loads. You can get to the point where your home is so tight that you actually need to work to bring air into the house just to keep it fresh.

Even without making any changes to your home, simply adjusting the thermostat or getting a more advanced thermostat that can adjust itself can save 3% of your heating costs for every degree the setpoint is lowered. This change, at its simplest, requires almost no investment, except perhaps in an extra sweatshirt or two, and can save you about $50 a year just by turning down the temperature 3 or 4 degrees, on average.

You can use the tool below (coming soon!) to see just how much each little thing you can do to your home will save in energy and money.