Although adding green energy fixtures to the home is still growing in popularity, saving money has always been a celebrated pursuit. Fortunately, reducing the amount of energy your home consumes and saving money now go hand-in-hand more than ever before. Not only have the ways you can save money on energy grown more diverse, but the costs have been driven down through technological improvements, more intense competition among clean energy providers and tax incentives. 

Here are two ways you can reduce your home's energy consumption and save money at the same time: 

Solar Water Heater: A little known fact is that using solar energy in the home doesn't always mean installing large panels onto your property. A much more compact and affordable introduction into solar energy can be found with solar water heaters. Due to solar water heating systems becoming increasingly efficient, their costs are dropping, which means that the time it takes to recoup the initial investment is also shrinking. Two years is the average amount of time that passes before the initial investment in a solar water heater is recouped. 

Wind Generator: Another example of renewable energy features not having to be overwhelmingly large can be found through wind generation. There are mini versions of the massive power generators seen on farm lands across the country that are small enough to fit on the corner of an average-sized roof. Simpler and more affordable designs will only offset your home energy costs by about 15 percent. The more powerful versions can cost as much as $45,000 but will offset about 90 percent of your original power usage. Because of the variability in pricing, the time needed to recoup the initial investment depends largely on which device you purchase. 

If you'd like to learn more about the way your home consumes energy and what improvements can be made, schedule an energy audit with industry-leader Alban Inspections if you live in the Virginia or Washington, D.C. area.