Everyone is talking energy conservation theses days. Solar power is becoming more and more popular, but where do you start? Go out and buy a bunch of solar panels and start installing them on your roof? No, first you have to analyze your house. Energy conservation starts with cutting down on your energy usage, finding out where your energy is being wasted, and then finding the best solutions.

Go through your house and find out where you might have air leaks. Air leaks cost a lot of money. In the winter you lose valuable heat and in the summer, your precious cooled air is escaping into the great outdoors. There are many easy and inexpensive measures you can implement to seal up air leaks. Simply caulking around windows and door frames, for starters, will make a huge difference. Closing your blinds or window coverings during peak sunlight hours will keep the sun from heating your house too much in the summer. And during the winter, you do the opposite; open blinds and coverings to let the sun heat your home.

The longer your heating and cooling system runs, the more money it will cost and the more energy you will use. Keep your system at the bare minimum for comfort. If it is 35°C outside, do you really need your home to be 20°C inside? You will be just as comfortable at 28°C. The same applies during the winter. Wearing a warm sweater and setting your furnace to 20°C will keep you just as comfortable as if the heat were turned higher.

Another very simple change is to turn off any lights not in use. You only need to have one light per person in use at any given time. You might not like to walk into a dark room and search around for the light switch, but you sure will like the difference this will make on your energy bill!