8 Ways To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient This Summer

The onset of the summer holidays signals a time to relax, enjoy the bbq and some friendly backyard cricket.

And the start of the holiday season is also the perfect time to assess how well your home is faring in terms of repair, decoration and cost-effectiveness. And, just as we might clean out gutters, buy new outdoor furniture, re-stain the decks and replace old curtains and blinds to fix more of the cosmetic issues, it makes sense to look deeper into the building to ensure that It's not costing you cash where you can't necessarily see it.

So here's Harrisons Solar's guide to looking at ways to make your home more efficient this summer:

1. Lower costs with Solar: Summer is the perfect time to harvest the huge abundance of free energy from the sun. Installing a photovoltaic Solar System during the summer allows you to generate your own electricity and cut the need to buy so much electricity from your regular power provider. Although the amount of power you generate is determined by the size of your System, by picking the right System to suit your household, usage and setting, you'll maximise your cost savings.
2. Turn summer sun into power: During the peak of the summer season, you can generate 6 to 8 times the System-rated size of power in a day and in some areas, even more. All this sunshine and energy can equate to 30KwH to 40KwH in a single day from a 5Kw System. That is enough energy to run hot water heaters, the dishwasher and fridges, power the spa pool and more.
3. Adopt a Solar System-friendly lifestyle: Installing a Solar System is a good long-term investment, but you'll see the best energy efficiencies by fitting your lifestyle around the best times to generate power – namely, the daytime. This means that heating spa pools or swimming pools, doing the laundry or taking showers can all be powered using your self-generated, “green” energy. Add-on devices like timers and “Power Reducers” can automatically control various appliances, including Hot Water heaters, to maximise the free energy.
4. Re-insulate your home: Sometimes, updating a home requires more than a lick of paint and some new furniture. Many old kiwi homes were built before legislation specified levels of insulation and can be damp and draughty places. Of course, that might seem to matter little during long, warm summer days, but a well-insulated home can also stay cooler in the heat, retain a good ambient temperature well into the evening and keep your home warm and dry in the wetter winter months.
5. Heat pumps turn your home into a year-round retreat: As well as insulation, heat pumps offer an energy-efficient way to keep your home cool in summer and warm in winter. And that means you don't have to think about closing up for winter each year – rather, you can enjoy the rest and relaxation that comes with a home that can handle every season throughout the year.
6. Ventilate: To get the best out of your heat pump and help your home be as energy efficient as possible, it makes sense to have a good quality ventilation System. As well as dropping heating and air-con costs, a drier home is easier to keep at an ambient temperature and far healthier for the whole family. A summer kit can also put an end to sleepless, muggy summer nights by venting in fresh air from outside.
7. Future-proof your home: Energy efficiency at home isn't just about making immediate savings, It's about investing in Systems that will help you keep control of costs well into the future and dovetail with new innovations that further cost savings and growing environmental awareness. For example, Harrisons Solar Systems are designed so that they can be easily combined with incoming battery storage technology, and all our products come with excellent warranties, so you can trust their effectiveness.

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For more information about how you can start making savings on your home's power bill and to discover which System fits your household's requirements, you can contact Harrisons Solar on 0800 003354 or via the website.