What is wrong with your home's structure as it stands with limited or old insulation? If you have energy bills that are high, it could be that your home's insulation is lacking. If your insulation is older, it could be presenting a huge health risk to your family particularly those that have allergies. What's more, your home is using far too much energy and that is contributing to global warming.

There are many reasons why your home may be functioning at less than ideal levels and often times, replacing or adding insulation to your home is a simple, fast and effective solution to the problem. According to Energy Star Program, a part of the US Department of Energy, the most effective way to improve how energy efficient your home is happens to be through sealing and insulating the home itself. Not only does this provide you with more consistent comfort to your home, but it can save you up to 20 percent on the costs of heating your home and cooling it.

This means that you could potentially save 10 percent or more on your total energy bill for the year. For an average sized home in the Mid West, with an average heating and cooling bill of $300 per month, or $3600 per year, this ten percent reduction in the cost of your annual heating bill means a savings of $360 per year. This is just assuming that you can save ten percent. In many cases, much more can be saved. There are various areas of your home that can be causing a drain on your energy bills.

The Department of Energy has specifically pointed out some of these target problem areas. Outer walls are a potential huge loss especially in older homes. Ceilings are a high priority mainly because heat rises and then leaves the home quickly when there is nothing to stop it from doing so. Windows are another drain on your energy bill because they are one of the easiest ways for air to leak out of a home, especially if they are not double, or triple, paned. Doors with gaps or poor insulation surrounding them are an invitation for heat to escape during the winter months and cool air to rush out during the summer.

Floors are another area, although many do not think about adding insulation here. Adding insulation here helps to maintain temperatures throughout the home. Any and all of these areas are potential problems with any home if in fact insulation and corrective measures are not taking to stop them. Although many do not realize it, allergies often develop in individuals susceptible to them from exposure to substances within their home. In some cases, one of the largest reasons to replace old or damaged insulation within your home is to improve your overall health.

Consider what can happen to insulation that is old that's been wet. Mold can easily grow here. When your furnace kicks on, those mold spores travel through your air ducts and into your children's bedroom, the living room and the kitchen. If your family is suffering from allergies or breathing problems, your insulation could be behind it. Most think about their home's ability to use energy efficiently based on their own pocketbooks. Is it costing them money? Yet, most do not realize that they can potentially improve global warming on a large scale by reducing their energy costs.

By adding insulation throughout your home and decreasing the amount of energy that the home uses, you can reduce emissions by up to 2/3rds the amount. This is important to consider because within the United States alone, households contribute up to 21 percent of the country's global warming pollution! Ask yourself, what is wrong within my own home that is causing these potential problems to exist? Most importantly, determine what you can do about them such as by making significant changes in the insulation within your home.