Category Archives: Energy Saving Tips

Upgrades To Make Before Selling Your Home

When you decide to sell your home, if you are like most people, you want to get as much money from the sale as you can. To help you do that, here are four upgrades you should make that will attract the buyers and get you the most money for your investment.

Image by Paul Brennan from Pixabay

1. Lighting

A dreary house will be more difficult to sell than one that is filled with sunshine and emits a bright, welcoming appearance. So, clean your windows to let the light in and add light fixtures to dark corners of your home.

2. Paint

There is a myriad of colors available to paint the walls of your home with, but if you want to sell your home for the most money, make sure every room has a neutral color paint. The light-colored walls will allow the buyers to imagine their furniture in the settings, which will help your home sell.

3. Kitchen

According to real estate professionals, money spent on improving or updating kitchens and bathrooms is well spent. You can change the faucets, add quartz countertops Pittsburgh PA, or purchase new appliances. If your home is high-end, make sure to look at the floors to see if there is a wear pattern that needs replacing.

4. Yard

If you have a fence around your yard, make sure it is mended and looks sturdy. Also, remove any dead plants and replace them with flowers or new shrubs. Don’t forget to have the dead growth of your trees trimmed back and the grass neatly clipped.

Selling your home can be as exciting as you want it to be if you are prepared. Make the property appealing to new buyers, and your home can sell almost overnight. Just use the four upgrades listed above to help you get your home ready for buyers.

The Solar Solution

The rainy season is here and although we don’t want the typhoons (and since we can never stop them), it are to be expected. When strong typhoons hit, the living suffers the consequences. We get damaged buildings, infrastructures, farmlands, and homes. We experience floods in the cities. And worse, we lose water and energy supply.

We can never prevent a typhoon from coming, but we can always prevent a blackout from happening. How? Through using solar energy.

Why Should We Consider Investing in Solar Energy?

How To Use Solar Energy?

Converting the power of the sun as energy is made possible by using photovoltaic solar panels.

The Misconceptions

In a household, the first thing that comes in mind when we talk about solar energy is: it’s expensive and we don’t have a huge space to put the solar panels on.

Yes, solar panels can be a huge expense in the beginning but it is a good investment that will help you save in the years to come. Plus, since it is gaining popularity to a number of people, there are already cheaper options available.

You don’t need to have a farm to put your solar panels on. Installing them on your roof is the best place where you can put them.

And the myth that solar panels will be useless during the rainy season or at night because there is “no sun” is just not true. Solar panels can also store produced yet unused energy for later use.

The Benefits

Besides being a clean and green source of energy, your source of power is also unlimited, unlike the traditional electricity which uses fossil fuels, coals, or natural gas.

Having one in your own household lets you in control of your own bills and your own energy usage. This will also result in less electricity loss since your power need not be exported from big power plants to several houses. Your energy will come directly from your solar panels into your house.

Alternative Energy Sources in the Philippines

Did you know that there exist housing options in the country that offers solar-powered homes in a solar-powered subdivision? And it is a low-cost home that people can actually afford! Visit the site of Imperial Homes Corporation to know more about it.

Recently, Emma Imperial, the Group Chair and CEO of Imperial Homes had a drink ‘On the House’ where she talked about how she got interested in the solar power business, how she started, and maybe also shared a secret tip for the aspiring entrepreneurs from the late Henry Sy himself. Check out their discussion to discover how the mind of a successful salesperson works.

Besides solar energy, there are several other sources for renewable energy in the country. Since the Philippines is an archipelago with a tropical climate, it has the capacity of generating energy from its natural resources.

  • Hydroelectric Power – This is sourcing the energy from a moving body of water such as through dams or waterfalls. Several hydroelectric power plants already exist in our country giving power to 13 provinces.
  • Geothermal Power – This makes use of the heat from underneath the Earth and converts it to energy. Seven provinces make use of this as their primary energy source.
  • Wind Energy – Strong wind current can also give off energy. There are already four operation wind power plants in the Philippines.
  • Biomass Energy – This is using natural resources such as rice husks, coconut husks in boiling water, which later on will produce steam that will drive the generator. Metro Manila and five other provinces in the Philippines have biomass power plants.

The Philippines has long been using renewable energy in some areas but it is only recently that it gets the attention and recognition it deserves. What’s important now is to know, understand, and to spread out the information that we do have options when it comes to sourcing energies. And these alternatives we have are also environmental friendly.

‘On the House’ is a series by Lamudi where big bosses do small talks. Catch them on YouTube, or listen to their podcasts on Apple Podcast and Spotify, and learn more about life and the likes.

Signs that Your HVAC System Needs to be Repaired

Even though your heating and cooling system will last for 12 to 15 years, there will come a time when it needs to be repaired or replaced. If you want to know when you should start Googling “heating and cooling Harris County TX,” you will need to be on the lookout for some of the following signs.

Higher Energy Bills

While it is quite possible that higher energy bills might come from simply turning your temperature too high or running your AC too long, a higher than usual utility bill when your heating and cooling habits haven’t changed is a good indicator that your HVAC system isn’t working as efficiently as it once did. If some adjustments to your thermostat don’t change anything, it might be time to contact an HVAC technician to take a look at your system.

Strange Noises

A furnace or air conditioner should be almost silent when it is turned on, so hearing things such as rattling, knocking, or anything other than a faint whoosh when your system is turned on is definitely cause for alarm.

An Old HVAC System

As we said before, a good HVAC system will work reliably for 12 to 15 years. Your own system might work well beyond that if you’ve been able to maintain it well enough, but it will start to show its age around that time. You might be able to have it repaired and get some more life out of it, but you are usually better off buying a replacement instead.

Uneven Heating or Cooling

Even though every room in your home won’t heat up or cool down at the same rate, you should still feel a relatively consistent temperature throughout your house. If certain rooms in your home are too warm or too cool when you have your system turned on, you probably have some dirty ducts or vents that need to be cleaned out. You might be able to clean out some of the vents, but the ducts themselves will require the service of an HVAC technician.