{"id":203,"date":"2013-03-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-03-13T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/green-energy-and-what-it-means-for-your-future\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T11:18:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T11:18:20","slug":"green-energy-and-what-it-means-for-your-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/green-energy-and-what-it-means-for-your-future\/","title":{"rendered":"Green Energy And What It Means For Your Future"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Going green doesn\u2019t have to be hard on your wallet, nor be time-consuming. Making some simple changes to your house, can reduce your energy costs and benefit the environment. Read this article for ways to use helpful green energy!<\/p>\n<p>Replace old, energy-hogging appliances with new versions that are Energy Star rated. An Energy Star appliance is built to use less energy than non-Energy Star appliances. Refrigerators and freezers that are Energy Star rated uses approximately twenty percent less energy. While dishwashers and washing machines can save up to fifty percent on energy bills.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><small><b>TIP!<\/b> A geothermal heating and cooling systems might be a worthwhile upgrade for your home. Alternate HVAC systems require underground pipes that have water and refrigerant.<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Pay careful attention to rebates that may help you save money on renewable energy. In many cases, the electric company will pay for part of the upgrades. Other times, you may be eligible for credits or tax deductions from the federal or state government. You can lower the cost of putting green energy into your home by using these credits or rebates.<\/p>\n<p>If you are thinking of installing a solar power system in your home, you need to calculate the amount of power the system can produce using winter sunshine hours. As winter sunlight is much lower than summer, you will want to be able to plan for higher energy costs in winter. And even more exciting, on some plans, you can receive money from utility companies if you use less energy than you generate.<\/p>\n<p>If you have a dishwasher make sure you only run it when it is full. The dishwasher cycle uses the same amounts of water and energy, whether it is full or not. When you run a dishwasher, use the \u2018energy-saver\u2019 setting so dishes can air-dry.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><small><b>TIP!<\/b> Storm doors and windows can make air flow in the home better. Storm windows are good at cutting down on the cool air that tries to get in.<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Rather than using standard batteries for your electronics, switch to rechargeable versions. Regular batteries are used up then disposed of, sometimes they aren\u2019t disposed of properly and cause some harm to the environment. Save yourself some money and do the environment a favor when you recharge your batteries. This can save you a ton of money over time.<\/p>\n<p>A good tip for saving money and making your life a little greener is to reduce your water heater\u2019s temperature to 120 degrees F. This way, you can save up to ten percent on your energy bill for a four-person family. You will still get enough hot water and it will be safer for children as well.<\/p>\n<p>Save on water heating costs by using solar energy. Solar hot-water systems can reduce your energy bills significantly. There are direct circulation systems as well as indirect systems. If you have been plagued by frozen or broken pipes in the past, an indirect one could be for you.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><small><b>TIP!<\/b> Instead of using the dryer in the summertime, hang clothes outside in the warm sunshine. The smell of clothes dried in the fresh air cannot be topped.<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>You can use biofuel to heat your own home. Biofuel consists of vegetable or animals fats, wood and oils. If you have a propane furnace, you may be able to have a professional retrofit your furnace to work with biofuel blend. This would be about 20-99 percent biodiesel. Because this is a significant alteration, talk with a professional about the substitution before attempting to make any changes on your own.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to save energy, think about putting your freeze and fridge in a relatively cold location. Try to keep these appliances out of direct sunlight or heating vents, as this can raise the temperature, causing them to run for longer periods of time.<\/p>\n<p>When designing your solar PV system, try to locate the battery storage system as close to the PV cells as possible. This prevents power from getting lost in the cables. This also prevents long cables from casting shadows over the PV cells.<\/p>\n<p>Buy energy-efficient windows and replace your old ones. These types of windows will lower your energy bills as well as protect your home from outside noise and carbon dioxide.<\/p>\n<p>Buy a solar oven to provide for the needs of your kitchen. Solar ovens can be created with old windows, boxes, and foil. These ovens can be quickly assembled, and reach 300 degrees in temperature simply using the sun.<\/p>\n<p>There are a few ways to conserve energy when you do laundry. Use the setting on your dryer that will turn it off when clothes are dry. Use the high speed setting on your washer to make drying time shorter. Regularly look for blockages in your dryer\u2019s vent and clean the dryer filters.<\/p>\n<div>\n<div><small><b>TIP!<\/b> Being aware of the amount of lights that are used in the home can make a difference when embracing green energy. When the days are longer, leave your lights off as long as possible.<\/small><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Perhaps you can\u2019t power your entire home through renewable energy, but you may be able to start with a section. For example, you could just get panels installed that can be used to only heat the hot water for your home.<\/p>\n<p>Green energy can benefit anyone, whether they think global warming is real or not. You can save a lot of money each month just by making changes, such as turning off lights when you aren\u2019t using them.<\/p>\n<p>For those wanting to go seriously green, go with straw bale at home. Straw provides excellent insulation and is cheap to use. If you don\u2019t want to rebuild an entire home using straw, try building a smaller structure near your home to help you save energy costs part of the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Going green doesn\u2019t have to be hard on your wallet, nor be time-consuming. Making some simple changes to your house, can reduce your energy costs and benefit the environment. Read this article for ways to use helpful green energy! Replace old, energy-hogging appliances with new versions that are Energy Star rated. An Energy Star appliance [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":492,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[37,38,354],"class_list":["post-203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-energy","tag-energy-costs","tag-green-energy","tag-renewable-energy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/492"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=203"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":205,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/203\/revisions\/205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/sotero\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}