Five steps to keep your home energy efficient

Close to 90 per cent of home-buyers consider energy efficiency to be important when looking for homes, it’s been reported. This puts the onus on home-sellers to make their homes more energy efficient to attract buyers.

Obviously, sellers don’t want to spend too much money because they are selling their homes. However, a few green tips can help them achieve improvements without costing a fortune. Following are five tips to get home-sellers started in the right direction:

1. Household fixtures: Showers, sinks and toilets can waste a lot of water if they are not fitted with energy-efficient controls. Fittings to control the flow of water are fairly cheap to buy and, in most cases, you can install them yourself. The advantage of having these low-water control fittings is you don’t waste water and you will notice the difference in your water bills when they come in. That’s something you can point out to a potential buyer.
2. Electrical appliances: Many of the electrical items you buy these days will have already been adapted to be energy efficient. However, appliances that came as fixtures with your house might not be quite as up to date. Check your dishwasher and see if it has energy- and water-efficient stickers on it. These stickers are found on items that have already been adapted for maximum energy efficiency. You might find, if your house is a few years old, that fixtures like your water heater do not meet eco-friendly standards. Replacing it with an approved Energy Star-rated heater will result in savings on your power and water. So whilst you may not want to spend any money, you could save more in the long run by having a more energy-efficient water heater installed.
3. Insulation: You would be amazed at the difference proper insulation makes to your home. Instead of sweltering in summer or freezing in winter, having good insulation puts back some control over the temperatures in your house. Insulation doesn’t necessarily have to be expensive, either; many DIY stores sell insulation that you can install yourself. Even if you want to fix only some of the small areas that let in draughts, such as round doorways and windows, you’re still adding value to your property.
4. Floors: Polished wood floors add that extra bit of appeal to a home, which accounts for their popularity with many home-buyers. But wood floors are expensive both to buy and install. An environmentally friendly alternative is bamboo. You still get the natural wood effect in your house, but with less expense and the added bonus of being a natural, eco-friendly product. Bamboo is extremely durable and suitable for most rooms, and can be purchases in tiles, strips or planks for easy installation.
5. Thermostats: Not always an obvious consideration when looking at energy saving, but one well worth thinking about. Being able to program your thermostat and maintain constant temperatures throughout your home will make a huge difference to your power bill. If you are at work in the day and don’t want to waste energy and money keeping your house cool, you can set your thermostat to automatically start cooling or heating your home at a time that suits. Programmable thermostats are reasonably inexpensive to buy and can be purchased from most of the larger hardware stores.

It’s also a good idea to have a talk with your real estate agent and get his or her suggestions on green tips you could use to improve the value of your home and save you money in the meantime.

Editor’s note: This article was written by William Eve, who writes about saving money, investment loans and real estate for Home Loan Finder, which also provides information for first-time home-buyers and those looking to refinance.