Five Creative Ways to Save Energy in Your Home

An energy efficient home is a by-product of several key ingredients, which starts with green home design and ranges from high performance windows to tight home construction and ducts. Every Tribute Home is more than 40% more efficient than a typical existing home giving each customer significant savings on their monthly utility bills. However, if you're looking for even more energy saving ideas as the temperatures rise this spring, here are five other ideas which are both Eco-friendly and creative.

1. Plant A Tree
   A strategically placed shade tree can reduce your cooling bill by 25%.
   
2. Grill Outside Or Use Smaller Kitchen Appliances
   Toasters, slow cookers, microwaves or other small appliances use up to 75% less energy than an electric oven, and won't heat up your home as much either.
   
3. Keep Your Walkways Lit-But With Low Voltage
   You need to be able to see outside if you'll be entertaining at night in nice weather. However, to save money on your electric bill, use low-voltage lighting kits to light your deck, patio and walkways. An added benefit of using low voltage lighting outside is that the softer light will attract fewer insects.
   
4. Only Run The Dishwasher When Full, At Night.
   Running a half full dishwasher is wasteful. Running it during the day can also heat up your home, triggering you to turn on the air conditioning. To save money, only run full loads at night while you're sleeping. Use the air-dry cycle for additional energy savings.
   
5. Wash & Dry Loads of Laundry Back To Back, At Night
   When you have to do laundry, consider doing multiple loads, so that you can dry one load after the first. This prevents the dryer from losing heat, and reduces warm up and drying times. By doing laundry in the evening, you also prevent the heat from warming the house during hot summer days.

If you're considering purchasing a retirement home but have yet to explore all of your options, we invite you to learn more about Tribute Homes. Tribute Homes builds energy efficient homes for 55+ active adults. With multiple lakeside and golf communities in North Carolina and South Carolina, we offer homes in settings that match any lifestyle. To speak with our sales associates about your options, you can contact us directly by calling (800) 381-2984 or visit us on the web at www.tributehomesusa.com.