Once you understand how your home consumes energy, you can create a personalized upgrade plan that maximizes the cost-effectiveness of your home technology upgrades. The order in which you make upgrades matters: reducing energy demand first allows you to choose smaller, less expensive systems later. A thoughtful, phased approach helps you save money upfront while setting your home up for long-term efficiency.
For most US homes, it makes sense to begin with low-cost, high-impact upgrades. Examples include switching to LED lighting, using smart or advanced power strips to reduce standby energy use (vampire loads), and installing low-flow showerheads, sinks, and toilets.
These upgrades typically have low upfront costs and deliver immediate savings on energy and water bills. Those savings can then be used to help fund larger, more expensive upgrades (like insulation, heating and cooling systems, or water heater), making the overall transition more affordable.
After reducing hot water demand with low-flow fixtures and efficient washing machines and dishwashers, upgrading your water heater becomes more cost-effective. When your home uses less hot water, you can often choose a smaller and less expensive water heater while still meeting your household’s hot water needs.
This approach not only lowers equipment costs but can also improve efficiency, since water heaters operate best when properly sized for demand.
Upgrades to the building envelope, including insulation, air sealing, windows, and roofs, help reduce your heating bills in winter and cooling bills in summer. These improvements can significantly lower your heating and cooling needs, but they are often more expensive than other upgrades.
It’s okay to tackle envelope improvements gradually. Even partial upgrades can deliver meaningful energy savings, and spreading them out over time can make costs more manageable.
If you are able to reduce your heating and cooling demand with building envelope upgrades, you can install smaller, more affordable, and more efficient heating and cooling systems that still keep your home comfortable.
Upgrading heating and cooling systems after demand reduction avoids over-sizing equipment and helps ensure that your investment delivers maximum savings over time.
Lastly, efficiency and electrification upgrades to your appliances like stovetops, ovens, and dyers can lower your energy bills, reduce your emissions, and improve performance and convenience throughout the home.
Once efficiency improvements and electrification upgrades are complete, you can accurately size home solar and energy storage systems. By reducing your energy demand before you install solar and storage, you avoid paying for oversized solar arrays or batteries. This ensures that renewable energy systems are designed to meet your actual needs in the most cost-effective way possible.