Happy Earth Day!

My company encouraged us to use https://brightaction.app. Seeing my colleagues come up with initiatives around this inspired me to make my own checklist of things i have done or will hope to do to make my household more sustainable.

1. Install Smart Vents so my heater / ac doesn’t heat/cool empty rooms
2. Use a single room space heater in the kids room instead of heating whole house at night
3. Use Sense or kill-a-watt or energy monitoring smart plus to measure my per-appliance energy so I can optimize better
4. Open windows to pull outside air in when it’s cooler outside than my target temp rather than using air conditioning in summer evenings. (Aim to get it downright chilly over night so that the next day the cool lasts as long as possible before the AC kicks on)
5. Use a Home Assistant so I can easily control and script all my smart home devices to save power
6. Use Smart plugs to cut power to smart tv, stereo, computer monitors, etc when out of the room.
7. Motion sensor light switches in a pantry and kids bedrooms where people always leave the light on: turns it off after 5 minutes (bright action here)
8. Powered blinds & home assistant automations to make sure the curtains /blinds are closed on sunny summer days.
9. ShowerStart shower adapter that stops the shower from running as soon as it’s pre-heated so you don’t waste water while waiting too long for it to warm up.
10. Rain sensor based irrigation system (found it in bright action)
11. Window sensors to make sure I closed the windows in the morning before turning on the AC
12. Door sensor on garage freezer to alert to remains open
13. Door sensors to make sure the kids close the door during AC/Heat season
14. Insulate garage door
15. Install solar panels (bright action here)
16. Install timer on bathroom fans/exhaust so they don’t run all day
17. Integrate fireplace with Home Assistant so it turns off after a while
18. Hook ceiling fans to home assistant (need some adapter)Program Home Assistant to use occupancy & fan control
19. LED lighting in office
20. Cellular blinds to cover windows when it’s cold outside and heating inside, or hot outside and cooling inside.
21. Here they even recommend exterior shutters to keep the sun all the way out of the house. Cool.)
22. Look into reflective film on east facing windows
23. Look into split cellular shades so I can adjust amount of natural light while keeping insulation
24. Plant pollinator garden
25. Tune irrigation system to use minimal water
26. Electric foot warmer instead of heating the whole room