Keep your indoor environment comfortable and healthy with regular HVAC inspections and tune-ups. Discover why they're crucial for every Sacramento home.

Going green is a popular way of life that might begin with a solar panel installation. Learn the correlation between solar panels and a greener life here.

You have options when it comes to heating your home's pool. Click here to find out how to choose the best solar pool heater for your pool.

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Anyone interested in reducing their carbon footprint and electric bills at the same time should invest in solar energy . It's easy to generate energy throughout the day and can raise the value of your home. You can also find tax breaks that help reduce the cost of installation. However, you can further save the environment by researching and implementing passive heating and cooling. Instead of wasting your energy on things like air conditioning, you can put that energy towards more important appliances. Here's what you should know about cooling a home with passive methods. What is Passive Heating and Cooling? When people see the cost of heating, they often tend to forgo it to save money. They don't know that there are plenty of ways to cool and heat your home if it's made with a sustainable design. Passive heating and cooling involves using these design features to reduce the need for traditional HVAC systems. While you may still use them from time to time, you can go longer without them during the more mild months. Passive Heating and Cooling Techniques There are a few different techniques implemented when making sustainable homes that use passive heating and cooling. These involve installing sufficient insulation, special types of ventilation, and shading your home. Insulation First of all, you'll need to insulate your home to prevent heat transfer between the inside of your house and the outside. Some affordable ways to do so include hanging heavy curtains, adding weather stripping, and shading your windows. Cross Ventilation Cross ventilation circulates cooler air from outside your house with the air inside. You can accomplish this by opening your windows and allowing in fresh air. This is best done during the cooler hours, such as first thing in the morning or late at night. Stack Ventilation Hot air naturally rises to the top of your home throughout the day. As such, stack ventilation uses solar chimneys to draw that air up and out of your house. That allows cooler air to more efficiently move throughout the space. You can also keep this in mind when you turn on your fans. Most fans have a feature that allows them to reverse and pull up warm air rather than push it down. Night Flushing Night flushing involves ventilating your home at night when it's the coldest outside. You can let out all the heat you accumulate during the day and prepare it for the next. However, you'll need to make sure to remember to close all your windows before it starts to heat up again. Support Your Solar System Passive heating and cooling is one of the best ways to support your solar system and reduce your overall energy use. It'll help your system work more efficiently, and you won't be as reliant on your air conditioning and heating. Infinite Energy Home Services can help set you up with a home energy audit to find out where you can improve. We can also help with things like roof repairs, electrical upgrades, and more. Contact us today to find the best solution for your next project.

Have you seen your utility bills soar to new heights in recent months? Installing doors and windows with the Energy Star ratings, replacing incandescent light bulbs with CFL or LED varieties, and adding insulation behind your walls can help slash your electric bill. However, it's best to understand the root cause behind your skyrocketing utility bills before you spend money trying to turn things around. Getting a home energy audit done can help you make the right decisions regarding your residence. Here are six reasons to get an energy check. 1. Spend Less on Cooling and Heating Expenses Getting an energy audit is the first step towards saving on cooling and heating costs. As a homeowner, it can be difficult to pinpoint problems independently. The service provider will perform the assessment, explain how your home performed, and recommend ways to increase energy efficiency. You'll have the information needed to make informed decisions that can save you money. Consider that between 25% and 30% of residential cooling and heating energy use is attributable to windows that are worse for wear. If your windows are at the end of their lifecycle, replacing them can lower your utility bills. The company performing the energy audit can, if windows are a problem, recommend the right type of windows for your home. It might also recommend other things that can make a big difference in lowering energy consumption. Rather than potentially throwing money at the problem blindly, you need to know all of the energy consumption issues in your home. 2. Increase Interior Comfort When you book a home energy audit in Sacramento, you'll be well on your way toward enjoying better comfort inside your residence. If you have single-pane windows rather than double-pane or triple-pane, your home won't be as energy efficient as it could be. You'll also be at a disadvantage if you lack a sufficient amount of insulation behind your walls. When it's hot enough to warrant using your air conditioner, you'll want to be able to efficiently cool your residence. That'll be difficult if, for instance, your old windows are letting hot air seep indoors and cool air seep outdoors. Finding out what issues you need to correct will ensure your HVAC won't have to work too hard to maintain the temperature you set on the thermostat. You'll also save money on utility costs if your air conditioner is functioning efficiently. Better interior comfort means you'll enjoy being home even more, and you won't have to wear a sweater in one room while stripping down to a tanktop in another. The interior climate will be consistent from room to room. 3. Boost Your Home's Valuation Investing in energy efficiency will also help to increase the worth of your home. Let's say that you decide to put your home up for sale. Prospective homebuyers may request information on how much you're paying for utilities. If you can show proof of upgrades to the windows, HVAC unit, insulation, and other things, prospective homebuyers will take notice. They'll be even more impressed if you provide data demonstrating lower-than-average utility bills. When you spend money to make improvements, you can render your home move-in ready. That means the buyer won't have to worry about undertaking measures to boost energy efficiency and make the space more livable. You'll make your home more valuable and desirable for people who put a premium on features that translate into better home energy efficiency. 4. Nip Problems in the Bud A home energy audit will uncover problems that, if not tackled right away, become more severe issues that end up costing an arm and a leg. The inspector performing the energy audit knows what warning signs to look for. What might not seem like such a big idea at first glance can quickly become a more worrying situation. You'll be able to ask the inspector questions so that you can be proactive rather than reactive. Being the former is in your best interests since you'll be able to save money and lower your stress level by nipping problems in the bud. 5. Become a Better Steward of the Environment More and more consumers are growing aware of environmental issues and how their actions can impact the environment for better or worse. By getting an energy audit and quantifying energy use in your residence, you'll be able to take measures to be more energy efficient. Knowing what to do will help you lower your carbon footprint and become a more responsible environmental steward. Without hiring a company to perform a home energy audit, you won't have a true picture of the energy efficiency improvements that can be made. Choosing the right service provider will open up options that can greatly increase the energy efficiency of your home. For instance, you'll be able to choose from things like getting solar power or replacing your roofing system. 6. Enjoy Healthier Living Space During an energy audit, the inspector will assess things like your air conditioner and furnace. The inspector will let you know if any issues may jeopardize the air quality in your home. Air quality issues can be dangerous, especially for anyone with respiratory problems. You can enjoy cleaner air in your home and keep your household safe. Do You Need an Energy Check? Do you want a professional company to perform an energy audit in your home? It's the sort of investment you'll recoup after you implement the recommended changes and start seeing the results on your utility bill. You can count on us at Infinite Energy Home Services when you need an energy check and other products and services for your residence. We've been serving homeowners and business owners in Northern California since 1985. For the help you need, get in touch . We'll be honored to assist.

The average American household spends around $120 on electricity each month, which is around 890 kWh of energy. If you're looking to save on your energy bills and reduce your home's overall energy consumption, you're going to have to make changes. We're not saying that the changes need to be life-altering, but a bit of effort in one or two areas can make a huge difference in how you save money. Today, we'll keep it simple for you and tell you 6 creative ways we know can help you save on energy in your home. What's great about energy efficiency is that you're not only saving money on your monthly bills, but you're helping to reduce your own carbon footprint. Don't let your energy consumption stress you out any longer. Keep reading and learn what you can do to better your own life. 1. Learn and Adjust Your Behaviors The simplest way to deal with your energy consumption issues is to examine your own behaviors. If you can look at some of the things you normally do around the house and how they might be impacting your energy usage, you can make the necessary changes. It could be something as easy as remembering to turn the lights off when you leave a room. Maybe you're used to having 20-minute showers every day when you could stand to just have a 10-minute one every other day. You could even hang dry your clothing instead of putting them in the dryer. For most Americans, the biggest culprit for energy consumption is your HVAC system. We all want to be comfortable and we all want to have great indoor air quality after all, we spend 90% of our time indoors but everyone could stand to lower the heat in the winter and the air conditioning in the summer. Making some small changes like these can make a huge difference in energy consumption over time. Try to pay attention to how you use your home's electricity and cut out unnecessary energy usage. 2. Use Solar Energy There's taking smaller steps to boost energy efficiency, like the things we mentioned above, then there's taking big steps. One of the best things you could ever do for your energy usage and carbon footprint is to install solar panels on your home's roof. The solar energy market is booming, due in part to the constantly falling price of solar panels. Combine that with the ongoing solar incentives from federal, state, and municipal governments, and it's actually quite affordable to install a solar system these days. For example, the federal investment tax credit gives those that buy solar panels a 30% credit on their federal taxes for that year. Here in California, there are plenty of solar rebate programs that can help you save even more money on your panels. When you hire a great solar installer, you can get your solar panels installed in a matter of weeks from start to finish. Learn more about the various types of solar panels and equipment on our website today . 3. Choose More Energy Efficient Appliances If you live in a home with older appliances, there's a good chance that they aren't energy efficient. You could be spending up to twice as much on your energy bills because you haven't made the switch to energy-efficient appliances. You should always look for appliances with an Energy Star label. This is a federal promise that the appliance will use less energy than non-Energy Star models, whether in use or on standby. Your clothes dryer and refrigerator are two of the biggest culprits for energy usage, so start by replacing these. Looking at the annual operating cost of a given appliance is another great way of figuring out which ones to get. You'll likely have to pay more for an energy-efficient appliance, but you make the money back when you start using it. 4. Maintain and Inspect Your HVAC System Northern California is known for being temperate, but we can have some hot days and cool nights at any time of year. Having a functioning HVAC system is important for most Californians, but not that many people use their systems in an efficient way. For an HVAC system to heat and cool your home, and give you good air quality, you need to maintain it on a regular basis. If you fail to clean your ducts, fix small issues, or change the air filter , you'll put too much strain on your unit. When this happens, it has to work harder to regulate your home's temperature. Not only will this result in higher energy bills, but you're going to have to pay for HVAC repairs or even premature replacement. 5. Automate Your Home Automation is another thing you can do with your HVAC system, lighting, and other aspects of your home. With a smart thermostat , for example, you can set your HVAC system to automatically run at certain times of the day. Depending on your system, you could set it to run in certain rooms and not in others. A lot of these thermostats have other perks, like notifying you when it's time to change filters or when there are issues with your system that need attention. Automating your home as much as possible allows you to minimize the amount of wasted energy. All you need to do is program the device once and you won't have to think about how much energy you're using. 6. Change Your Lights Incandescent light bulbs are still used in countless American homes. If you want to save money, change all of your bulbs to LED. Not only are they going to cost you less to run, but they also last for way longer, so you won't have to change them as much. Again, look for the Energy Star label when buying your light bulbs. Energy-efficient lighting is a foolproof way to save on bills each month. Save On Energy in 2023 and Beyond Energy consumption is a country-wide issue. Not only are Americans drowning in energy costs, but our energy overuse is hurting the planet. If you're unsure of where you need to save on energy, we're here to help. Contact us at Infinite Energy to get a home energy audit and we'll help you figure out how to lower your bills and carbon footprint all at once.