CNY Spring Cleaning for a More Energy-efficient Home (2024 Guide). The Chinese New Year spring cleaning usually starts on the 23rd day of the lunar calendar’s last month. As such, most people seek to make their homes clean and spruced up. But while cleaning your home counts, saving energy.
But how do you go about it, and how much should you do to make it a success? This article helps you learn about CNY spring cleaning to make your home more energy efficient in 2024.
What Is CNY Spring Cleaning?
The Chinese believe that spring cleaning happening before the onset of the Lunar New Year helps eliminate the previous year’s bad luck. It’s a concept that the vast world has borrowed and is becoming more of a thing in the modern world. But cleaning alone leaves your home all spruced up, which is good.
It’d make sense if you also did that with the idea of saving energy for a more energy-efficient home. If that’s your goal, we’ll help you achieve it right here!
The Practical CNY Spring Cleaning Tips for an Energy-Efficient Home
2024 is all about saving in every aspect, including your home’s energy usage. Here are more practical CNY spring cleaning tips you can use.
1. Keep Your HVAC System Filter Clean
It’ll get warmer and, ultimately, hotter as the year advances. Therefore, it helps to service your HVAC to make them breathe easy and cool your home. Mostly, cleaning the filters should do it. But, it’s more prudent to ensure the entire system is in perfect shape, including all units involved.
This simple trick could save up to fifteen percent of your average daily energy consumption, making your home energy-efficient. You can clean your HVAC system yourself or hire a professional to help you out. It’ll help you save energy significantly.
2. Clean Your Local Solar Power Supply
You want your solar panels to be efficient and save you the electricity cost from the grid supply. That should enable you to ensure no dirt or grime blocks your panels from absorbing maximum sunlight. You may clean your solar panels and remove any debris lodged on the surface.
It’s straightforward since these panels don’t usually need intensive scrubbing. However, polishing them is more feasible to remove stains that have formed over time.
3. Clean the Sliding Door Track
Dirt and grime can lodge on your sliding door track, creating openings that may let air escape. That can cost you in leaking cold air from your air conditioning system. Cold air usually sinks to the bottom and mostly escapes through door bottom openings that dirt creates.
Remember that dirt loosens the seals by minimizing the grip on your door rack. But cleaning this build-up dirt using a rigid bristle brush and water should maintain the hold. You can conserve energy better if no air escapes your home.
4. Update Your Home’s Insulation
Like the openings in your sliding door rack, your attics, roof, and walls’ insulation should also be airproof. Air escaping from your home increases your monthly bills, soaring energy costs and making your home less energy efficient.
Cool air is much needed on hot days, and a seductive attitude can ruin the efficiency of cooling your home. But a straightforward fix is insulating your home by covering holes or wall insulation.
5. Switch to Energy-Saving Lighting
Old school bulbs consume an average higher electricity amount and power, which is against your home’s energy efficiency goal. Incandescent light bulbs consume more than half the light-emitting diodes produced, which can be daunting.
Besides, they only last for a short time for the best bang for your dollar; hence getting rid of them can prove worthwhile. Compact fluorescent bulbs also come in handy for saving energy, thus an ideal consideration during your CNY spring cleaning.
6. Install Window Awnings and Shades
Window shades and awnings also come in handy, saving you more energy costs. Installing these window structures should be top of your list during your CNY spring cleaning and should never be an afterthought. Shades prevent direct heat into your home during the coming hot months.
Besides, they also serve a crucial purpose when it’s cold, preventing air escape. Similarly, awnings cut off direct sunlight penetration into your home, alleviating the work your HVAC has to do.
7. Use Your Dishwasher When It’s Cooler
Dishwashers usually consume a lot of power. But, they facilitate the work and cleaning hassle, hence worth it. It’s challenging to figure out the best way to save energy while using your dishwasher. Despite that, you can use this drawback to your advantage. Try using your dishwasher when it’s cold in your home.
Remember that dishwashers usually emit excessive heat, which goes to waste when using the machine in a hotter ambiance. However, cleaning your dishes when cold capitalizes on the heat generated. You can try handwashing your words when saving on your power consumption is desirable.
8. Seal Your Refrigerator Doors
Like your dishwasher, refrigerators are notorious for using excessive power and electricity. But you can quickly fix that during your CNY spring cleaning, which is usually a breeze. Cold air escaping from your refrigerator makes it work twice as hard. That raises its electricity consumption, making it less energy efficient.
Sealing your refrigerator doors and ensuring they’re tight will soothe your effort. You don’t want to lose much power if you aim to make your home more energy efficient.
9. Clean your home’s vents and air ducts
Your cooling and heating systems need to operate without strain. However, accumulated dirt and dust on the air ducts and vents can minimize efficiency. You can include cleaning them in your CNY spring cleaning regimen to improve their output. You also stand an incredible chance of making your lungs work optimally.
CNY Spring Cleaning for a More Energy-efficient Home (2024 Guide) – Conclusion
2024’s CNY spring cleaning should all be about making your home more energy efficient. It’ll help you save on costs and expenditures, giving you an edge all year round. These few spring-cleaning tips will help make your home more energy efficient.