Many factors make the goal of trying to get your house more energy efficient an important endeavour.  In this section, I'll share what I've learned with respect to home energy efficiency and also describe some projects I've done on one or another of the houses I've owned.

I'll say right off that I do NOT agree with the whole line of BS regarding global warming.  In fact, I believe it is a movement to move us more towards another type of taxation with the whole carbon credit crapola.  What I do believe, though, is that our primary energy resources - petroleum and natural gas - are a finite supply and that we should do what we can to try to conserve those resources:  they won't last forever.  However, that isn't even my primary motivation.  Money - or the saving of it, to be more precise - is my primary motivation.  As we've seen over the past couple of years, energy markets and prices have been extremely volatile, from affordable to completely outrageous.  This goes for gasoline, diesel, natural gas, and ultimately electricity (as the majority of electricity, at least in Texas, is generated from natural gas).

In an effort to mitigate the effects of a volatile market - and to save money in the long run - it makes a lot of sense to invest in improving the efficiency of your home.  The less you consume, the less you spend on utilities, leaving more of your income disposable for other ventures.  There can be a point of diminishing returns, but there are many relatively inexpensive things that you can do to make a large impact on your utility bills.  Some of the improvements I talk about here are definitely large ticket, capital improvement projects, though.  Some of them will make sense at certain points (i.e. when you're forced to change out some HVAC equipment due to previous system failure), while others might not make sense if you're not planning to remain in your current residence long-term.  Either way, I'll be throwing out ideas and research information.

Finally, much of the data and information contained within these pages applies to my previous house.  I haven't lived in my current residence long enough to have established enough history or trends, but the information is still valid and serves as a good example and point of reference.