Before the last snow falls in Peoria, before you’ve packed up the cold-weather gear and before winter is a distant memory that’s hard to recall with your toes in the lake, take a moment to reflect on how comfortable you were in your home over the last few months.
Did you have to bundle up to feel warm? Was the house drafty? Were some rooms impossible to heat? Were the floors cold? Have your heating bills been higher than you think they should be?
If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then you’d probably like next winter to be different. It can be! And the good news is: whatever you do to improve your home’s energy efficiency for winter will improve its energy efficiency in spring, summer and fall, too. Increasing your home’s energy performance means improved comfort and lower utility costs all year long.
Get Started with an Energy Audit
Your first step should be a home energy audit. An energy audit takes a look at your whole home to see exactly where the energy inefficiencies are and where your money will be best spent to improve home performance. Our energy audits take the guesswork out of home improvements, ensuring that the investment you make will significantly improve your home’s comfort and reduce energy costs.
Practical Steps Toward Home Comfort & Energy Efficiency
Your energy audit will include a list of solutions like these that will make your home more comfortable and far more energy efficient.
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Air Sealing
Professional air sealing ensures that all the gaps, cracks and spaces that don’t belong in your home are filled, so the air you heat in winter or cool in summer doesn’t leak out. At the same time, air sealing keeps humid air and outside pollutants from entering.
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Insulation
Once your home is sealed, new or additional insulation will ensure heat doesn’t easily pass through your home’s thermal envelope. Attic insulation keeps heat from rising out through the roof during the winter and entering during the summer. You’ll be more comfortable and your HVAC system will be able to work less hard and kick in less often, saving you money.
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Furnace Upgrade
If the furnace in your Morton or Washington, IL home is 15 years or older, it’s probably time to replace it. Not only does an aging furnace require repairs and lose efficiency, but it may leak dangerous carbon monoxide.
Newer furnaces are far more energy efficient, turning more of the fuel they burn into heat. By combining a new efficient furnace with air sealing and insulation, you’ll see your energy savings add up quickly.
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Heat Pump
Heat pumps are extremely efficient for heating and cooling your home. Rather than create heat, a heat pump extracts heat from the outside air (even in a Pekin, IL winter!), compresses it to a higher temperature, and delivers it into your living space. In summer, it reverses direction to remove heat from your home and keep it cool.
We’re Ready When You Are
At AAA Northgate, we’re ready to help you out with your home energy improvements. During our energy audit, we’ll evaluate your entire home’s energy consumption, then provide a list of solutions to increase its energy efficiency. Every home and the people in it are unique, so we’ll work with you to find the answers that best suit your budget and needs. Ask us how you can take advantage of available rebates, incentives and financing—we’ll help with that, too.