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Costs of Installing Solar Energy for a Home

Solar energy use can be a cost effective and environmentally friendly strategy for powering one's home. With continuous technological improvements, costs have dropped and will continue to do so, making...

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How to Build a Tire House

A tire house -- often referred to as an Earthship -- is an energy efficient home made from primarily recycled materials. Tire houses make use of a readily-available and problematic waste product --...

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How to Load & Unload a Caulking Gun

Caulk is the material that professionals use to cover the interior and exterior gaps and creases between the building materials in your home during construction. This toothpaste-like material fills the...

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How to Caulk Exterior Wood Siding

Wood siding is a complex series of boards that overlap in a certain way to channel water to the base of the home. Water has its own idea about that and takes the path of least resistance. No matter how...

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How to Insulate the Main Water Line to a Mobile Home

The main water line coming into your mobile home is the lifeline that feeds all of your faucets and plumbing fixtures. If this link to the water supply freezes it can burst and drive your water bill...

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How to Convert From an Oil to a Gas Boiler

Many older homes use oil boilers rather than gas boilers for heat. Since natural gas is safer for the environment and more cost effective, converting your boiler from oil to gas will save you money...

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The Advantages of Wind Turbine

With the danger of global warming and emphasis on turning to new energy alternatives, wind turbines are becoming a more useful tool in the energy world. Wind turbines not only supply power to thousands...

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Pellet Fuel Vs. Oil

When deciding whether to heat your home with pellet fuel or heating oil, consider cost and extraneous factors such as pollution. Pellet fuel may be more environmentally friendly, but you may find oil...

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How Do I Insulate My Crawlspace?

Insulating your crawl space can help prevent the loss of heat and cold through the floor of the house, thus saving you money on energy costs. Install insulation in a sealed crawl space since a...

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Underground Home Ideas

An underground home can be energy efficient, fashionable and inviting. The modern trend of building homes underground is not new. In 1964, Malcolm Wells, an architect, became one of the leading...

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Green Facts on Air Conditioners

Reducing the amount of energy you use to cool your home is possible. Refer to efficiency ratings for air conditioning units provided by the U.S. Department of Energy. Alternatives to central air...

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Homemade Solar Home Heaters

Even the most primitive animals know the sun generates heat. Many people are now discovering this natural heat source can be easily harnessed and used to heat inside our homes as well. Solar home...

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How to Make a Solar Electric Panel

With the combination of rising energy costs and concern over global warming, people have begun to look to renewable energy. While the concept of water or wind power is simple enough (the water or wind...

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How Styrofoam Insulation in the Ground Works

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How to Heat With Mirrors

The power of the sun is harnessed in many different ways: solar water heaters, photovoltaics and passive solar heating are all fairly well known. One type of solar heating that is just beginning to see...

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How to Make a Solar Space Heater

Making a solar space heater panel can reduce or totally eliminate the need to use grid power to heat a home. The panel is constructed with common materials, and the addition of multiple panels can turn...

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The Best Window Treatment to Block UV

Ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun is not visible to the human eye, but its damage is well known. Faded fabrics, carpets, photographs and artwork can result from windows that allow harsh UV rays into...

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How Should You Insulate Your Home?

Every homeowner should concern herself with properly insulating the house. Optimal levels of insulation reduce heating bills and pollution. Federal guidelines recommend that homeowners base their...

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Homemade Solar Electric Panels

Using common tools and inexpensive materials that are easy to acquire, you can build your own homemade solar electric panels that create power output comparable to commercial panels, yet cost much...

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Homemade Solar Power

Using solar power from the sun is an easy way to generate electricity, and after the initial cost of creating your solar panels that electricity is completely free. Creating homemade solar power is not...

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How to Construct a Passive Solar Panel Air Heater

Making a solar panel air heater can reduce the need for grid power to heat the interior of a house. The unit sits outside of a window, collecting the sun's rays and warming a continuously moving stream...

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The Average Cost of a Geothermal Heating System

One way to protect a home against the rising costs of heating is the purchase of a geothermal system. Geothermal heating systems take advantage of the earth's natural heating properties. Although a...

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Ceiling Insulation Techniques

The ceiling is the most important area of your home to insulate. Insulating your ceiling will reduce the heat flow and make your home weather-tight. This is the most cost efficient way to put less...

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House Insulation Guidelines

To insulate your home properly is a good move to make for a variety of reasons. First, it will keep the heat and the cool in at various times of the year. This will keep down the costs of energy use....

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How to Harvest Solar Power

In recent decades, increasing numbers of conscientious people have begun to view solar power as the future. Despite the enthusiasm for this environmentally friendly energy source, few have implemented...

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How to Check Your Utility Meter

A utility meter keeps track of your home's monthly power usage. Once a month, your utility provider sends someone out to check your meter. This information is recorded and used to bill you for energy...

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How Instant Hot Water Recirculation Works

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How to Insulate a Cold Room

If one room of your house seems to be chillier than the rest, it is most likely an insulation issue. There may be leaks and cracks in the walls, floors, windows or near doors that need to be plugged....

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How to Construct a Solar Hot Water Panel

Solar hot water panels can reduce or completely eliminate the need for heating water with grid energy. The panels are easy to construct with common home repair components. The average homeowner can...

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How to Make a Solar Hot Air Panel

Solar heating panels can supplement the need for grid power to heat the interior of a home. This very simple panel can be combined with other panels to raise the interior air temperature of the home by...

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How to Make a Wind Generator Out of a Alternator

Crafting a wind generator from one or more automotive alternators can reduce or eliminate the need for grid home power. Alternators and moderate power usage can make the project effective, and adding...

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How to Make a Solar Heater for Inground Pools

Making a solar heater for an in-ground pool is an easy way to reduce the need for grid-powered heating elements, which can be expensive. The average homeowner can build a panel from common building...

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Wall Insulation Guidelines & Recommendations

Adding insulation to walls is one of the most difficult home improvements you can do, unless you are already putting up new siding. Although most heat loss occurs through other places in the house, the...

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How to Build a Windmill Using a Car Alternator

Making power with a windmill alternator can be used to power home appliances and even supplement moderate electrical usage for a group of homes. Building the windmill power plant can be done with...

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DIY Pour in Foam Insulation

DIY pour-in foam insulation is not only a way of improving your home's comfort level, but it is also quick and relatively easy. The material can be applied in just about any location, including walls,...

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How to Wire A House to Solar

The good news is you do not need to replace your existing wiring to use solar power. Solar energy, which is DC (direct current), can be converted to AC (alternating current) by using an inverter. AC is...

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Dryer Venting Guidelines

A clothes dryer is a very convenient machine but can also be dangerous if not handled correctly. One of the riskiest parts of the dryer is the vent as that can become very hot and needs to be...

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How to Insulate Can Lighting

There are two types of can lights, those that can come into direct contact with insulation and those that can't. If a can light can directly contact insulation, it will be marked with an IC on the...

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How to Install a Crawspace Vapor Barrier

A creaky first floor, a hard to keep warm first floor or a first floor that is unusually humid can all point to one problem: no vapor barrier in the house crawl space. The crawlspace is designed to...

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How to Wire a House for an Off Grid

Many people have become interested in renewable energy sources due to rising energy prices and the damage created to the environment by the use of fossil fuels. Improvements in technology have allowed...

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LED Vs. Incandesent for Home Lighting

LEDs: light emitting diodes. They're bright, compact, use very little energy, create very little heat, have a long life and they're all the rage. They seem to have several advantages over conventional...

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Do it Yourself Solar Lights

Solar lights are typically available in the garden section of your local hardware store as low-wattage self-contained solar ground lights. These are excellent for lighting a walkway or parts of your...

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Radiant Floor Vs. Base Board Heating

Baseboard and radiant floor heating are both broad categories. Each can refer to several types of heating installations, because radiant floor heating can be electric or hydronic (using lines filled...

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How to Make an Energy-Efficient House Roof

An inefficient roof can raise your utility bill in a couple of ways. Whether you are heating or cooling your house, heat will be transferred in during the summer and out during the winter from contact...

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DIY Radiant Heating by Solar Hot Water

Radiant heating involves pumping hot water from a conventional gas or electric water heater through pipes below a home's floor. The hot water makes the floor warm, and that in turn radiates the heat...

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Does Window Tint Help Save Electricity in a House?

Passive solar home design has become big business, but it is not a new concept. In fact, both passive solar and passive cooling techniques, such as window tint, landscaping and building orientation,...

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Safety of Spray Foam Insulation

Spray foam insulation is a very efficient method of insulating your home or office. It is possible for anyone to use spray foam insulation by renting equipment or by buying a disposable kit. However,...

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How to Design a Self-Sufficient Home

In the comfort of your self-sufficient home, you can surf the web, cook a gourmet dinner and soak in a jetted hot tub, without ever receiving a monthly utility bill. Not only can this save you money,...

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DIY Closed Cell Insulation

Closed-cell insulation is one of the best types of insulation because it has a high R value per inch and helps to seal air leaks. Other types of insulation can leave gaps that allow drafts that...

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How to Improve Heating Duct Insulation

Heating duct insulation reduces the amount of heat lost by the air as it travels through the duct system. Insulation breaks down over time and loses its ability to contain heat. Replacing old...

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