It’s no doubt that old homes have unique design and architecture that makes them stand out. But when it comes to electric power consumption, they tend to be more costly than newly constructed homes.

Since older homes are not as energy efficient as their modern counterparts, homeowners tend to spend more on utility bills every month. That has created a demand for energy-efficient systems to reduce electricity costs in homes.

Rebuilding or renovating an older home to convey modern architecture can be very expensive. If you own an old house, you can modernize its electric power systems to save on energy costs.

How to Making Homes Energy Efficient

The primary objective of building energy-efficient homes is to cut down on the costs of energy consumption. In this guide, we explore the five best ways to save energy in older homes while preserving their aesthetic value. Here's how to save on your energy bill.

1. Improve Your House’s Heating and Cooling Systems

In many homes, it's heating and cooling systems that consume most electric power than other electronics. You can lower the energy costs on temperature regulation systems by making the following adjustments:

Use Programmable Thermostats

Regardless of the year of building a home, a programmable thermostat can provide more control over your home’s cooling and heating appliances. The thermostats can automatically turn off the machines when not in use, saving a significant amount of money.

You can preset the programmable thermostats to regulate your home’s temperatures at different times of the day. When you are at work, you can adjust the room temperatures by 8-10 degrees celsius to save costs by 10 percent.

If you are using a conventional thermostat, you should turn them off when you are not at home or at night when you are sleeping. For every degree of temperature lowered, you will most likely save about two percent of your heating bills.

Replace Obsolete Air Filters and Conditioners

If your house air filters and conditioners are in a bad state and you can’t repair them, you should periodically replace them with new ones. Alternatively, you can use the ceiling fans in place of air conditioners to save on energy costs.

2. Insulate Your Home

Most old homes have poor insulation systems, making them lose heat faster during cold seasons like winter. Since there were no energy-efficient insulation options in the past, homeowners should upgrade their old houses.

If you don’t understand the amount of insulation your old home needs, you should consult a professional. They will determine the exact insulation that will work best for your comfort and budget for maximum efficiency of your house.

One of the best ways to save energy is by insulating your walls. That’s because older walls tend to have poor insulation properties. Also, you can insulate the attics in your old house to maintain a comfortable temperature while saving on energy costs.

3.  Seal Your Home

In the past, when there was no air conditioning technology, sealing a house was never a priority. If you own an older home and you need to use an air conditioner, you must seal your house to achieve maximum efficiency. Otherwise, the conditioned air will escape, consuming more energy.

You can ask a subcontractor to identify all the leakage points and seal them. If hiring a contractor would be costly, you can do it yourself. To improve your home insulation successfully, you should use a checklist to monitor your house condition. Record every mistake you note in a punch list to work on them together with your contractor. Read this blog post by Procore Technologies to get more information about punch lists.

Some of the common points where leakages may occur are attic hatches, air ducts, pipe inlets, doors, windows, wall cracks, and switch plates. In many cases, loss of warm conditioned air originates in the attics.

Identify and seal all the small and large holes in your house. For smaller holes, check the darkened areas where insulation is usually required like the attics. The darkened patches result from the dusty air filtered out through the small holes in the insulation as air escapes.

4. Replace Incandescent Light Bulbs

An average household consumes about 8-15 percent of its electricity budget on lighting. In older homes, you could find incandescent bulbs used for lighting. Out of the total energy that these bulbs consume, only 10 percent is used for light while the rest gets lost as heat.

If you are still lighting your home with incandescent light bulbs, you should swap them with new energy-saving lighting technologies. They include compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) and light-emitting diodes (LED).

CFLs and LED bulbs can use between 50-75 percent less energy than conventional bulbs. Besides, these new bulbs can last longer than the traditional bulbs. For instance, CFL bulbs can last ten times longer than incandescent bulbs.

To save more energy, you can also take advantage of natural daylight. Build large windows to allow enough light to enter and illuminate your house interior during the day.

5. Use Electronics and Appliances Responsibility