Homemade Solar Cell

Energy is heat. Saving energy is mostly about heat management. Let’s cover 10 basic actions to reduce energy usage in your home. These apply to new construction and existing residences.

First, some basic science:

A. Heat naturally flows from warmer areas to cooler areas. Its speed of movement depends upon how much a difference there is between these two temperatures. The greater the difference, the faster the flow.

B. Heat flow can be reduced by insulation.

C. Heat can be pumped in the opposite direction – from cold to hot. Air conditioners and heat pumps do this. Pumping heat is cheaper than created heat – about 1/3 the cost or less..

D. Any heat that enters into a home during the summer must be removed using an air conditioning system.

E. Glass can act as a one-way check valve for the sun’s energy. It will pass that energy into the house but will not pass it back out due to certain physical laws. This is called the “greenhouse” effect.

F. When you install or provide something which operates without need for additional energy, this is called a passive operation.

Okay – so based upon these simple rules, here are 10 basic actions that will improve a home’s energy efficiency which will save you money. I’ll mention the rule and then what you can do:

1. Rule B – Insulate your home to the max. Few actions will give you a better cost to benefit ratio. This is also passive (rule F).

2. Rules D and E – Large overhangs – this reduces sunlight into the home which would have to be removed. This is passive (rule F).

3. Rules D and E – Windows on the west side tend to bring in the most heat from the sun. It is best to limit western exposure either by design or by blocking the windows with shrubbery. This is a passive action (rule F)

4. Rule E – Using reflective glass can be extremely helpful. Curtains and shades do not work because by the time the sun light hits them it has already entered the home (remember greenhouse). Any time something heats up in your home your air conditioner will have to remove that heat. Sunlight must be stopped before it goes through the glass. This is a also a passive method and will save both energy and money during the summer.

5. Rule A – Place foil on the bottom of the plywood roof sheathing of your home. This is easiest to do while building a new home. If your home exists, then consider a radiation barrier in the attic. This will keep the attic cooler. This is also passive (rule F)

6. Rule A – Ventilate the attic. This can be passive or active. It reduces the attic temperature which slows the flow of heat into your home. The active, but effective, way is with a powered fan system which operates only at high attic temperatures. An advantage is that this will not operate in the winter when you DO want heat flow into your home. The passive method of ventilation is by effective venting that operates when the wind blows. This is excellent in the hotter states. This requires good air flow both into the attic and out of the attic.

7. Rules A and B – To reduce heat flow into your air conditioning system you can insulate your air ducts. An even better way is to run the ducts inside the air conditioned space of the home. This is a passive way to reduce the strain on your air conditioner which will save energy and money (and wear and tear on the system).

8. Rule D – Water heaters should be outside of any air conditioned space. They leak heat. If they leak heat into the home then the air conditioner has to remove it. This action is passive.

9. Rule D – Dryers, ideally, should be outside air conditioned space for the same reason as water heaters. This action is passive (rule F)

10. Rule C – Water heaters heat their water with heating coils. This is the creation of heat and is relatively expensive. Alternatively one can take advantage of the savings of pumping heat by installing a system which takes the waste heat that is being pumped to the outside by the air conditioner and routing it into the water. This allows for the heat to be pumped into the water (which is cheaper) though, actually, during operation, it is totally free since the AC is pumping heat to the outdoors anyway. This is an excellent way to save energy and money.

Once you understand the basic rules you will be able to think of many other ways to save energy.

The Author is a Registered Professional Engineer specializing in building and Luxury Home Design. Designs should not only be beautiful, but should be well engineered for efficient use of all resources.