With energy prices inching up every year, many homeowners are looking for easy, inexpensive and creative ways to lower home energy consumption -- and that monthly electricity bill. Fortunately, lowering home energy usage and making living spaces more comfortable can be as simple as rearranging the furniture or buying a new set of drapes.
Lowering Energy Costs through Decorating
Decorating isn't just for good looks anymore -- and it also doesn't have to break the household budget. Smart, energy-efficient design and lighting ideas can be used in any room of the house to make it more comfortable and welcoming, too:
- Hanging a tapestry on an outside wall helps reduce heating and cooling costs, and the texture will liven up the room.
- Placing a bookcase against an outside wall also helps to insulate the room in any season.
- Light-blocking curtains are an excellent, inexpensive way to keep out unwanted light and heat in the summer, and keep heat inside the room in the winter. (Drapes that block the bright summer sunlight are also a smart addition to children's rooms, making it easier to get them into bed on time when sunset is after bedtime.)
- Area rugs add color, texture and personality to a room while keeping heat from escaping through the floor.
- Using CFLs (compact fluorescent lightbulbs) or LED light bulbs conserves energy costs in 2 ways: these bulbs use less electricity, and also give off less heat than traditional incandescent bulbs -- so they won't heat up a room. LED bulbs, while very expensive at the outset, more than pay for themselves over the course of their long lives through the energy they save.
Energy-efficient Color Schemes and Insulating Paint
Warm colors like oranges and yellows make a cold room seem warmer, while cool colors like blues, violets and greens make warm areas seem cooler -- not to mention the "psychological warmth" a good decorating scheme can bring to a room.
But paint can also serve as permanent insulation when a nontoxic, ceramic powder is mixed into the paint. This intriguing insulation product is sold as "insulating paint" or "ceramic insulating house paint additive."
Bigger Energy Savings, Small Redecorating Costs
Moving bookcases, hanging tapestries or adding area rugs to a room's decor are all great tips for greener living and lower energy costs -- but if the budget allows, a good carpet pad and wall-to-wall carpet can increase energy savings even more.
And of course, switching off the lights when not in use (even if they are CFLs) doesn't hurt, either.
Natalie Cooper - Natalie Cooper is a freelance writer and mother of three small children, which has given her experience with not only parenting, but ...
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