Heating Your House: Energy Saving Tips

Following some easy to use energy saving tips, as indicated below, ensures a successful approach to saving on the utility bills and reducing global warming. 

Savings on the Thermostat: Check out the following tips to ensure efficient usage of the thermostat.

• Lower the temperature of the thermostat by one degree during the winter. This will not affect the temperature inside the house much, but will result in considerable savings on the overall energy bill.
• Wear suitable clothes inside the house, as per the warm weather. The thermostat temperature can be reduced to a lower comfortable setting, thus ensuring greater savings.
• Use a programmable thermostat. It may cost more initially, but the savings on the energy bill will more than make up for the price. This thermostat can be programmed to a lower temperature during the period when nobody is at home, such as during the office hours, or when you are out on a weekend or a vacation.
• Install a separate thermostat for each zone of the house in case you have different heating zones. This helps in localizing the effort, maximising the comfort and smaller energy bills.

Avoiding Air Leakages: If your house is not completely insulated and sealed, the heating system has to work harder. Avoiding such leaks is one of the most important energy saving tips.

• Carry out a thorough inspection of all the doors, windows, floors, walls, attics, basements, electrical outlets and plumbing fixtures for any holes through which air is escaping out. Seal then with caulk or weather strips.
• Insulate your house to protect it against the harsh weather by using fibre glass, foam, or reflective insulation.
• Apply double glazing on windows. This fills up the vacuum sealed spaces between the panes with inert gases, thus preventing heat loss and providing greater insulation.
• Install storm doors and windows in places with extremely cold weather. This provides a comfortable temperature inside the house with minimum heating.

Adapting and Making Small Changes: Make small but honest changes in your day to day life that result in efficient heating.

• Reduce hot water temperature by a few degrees. Take a shower instead of a bath and use low flow shower heads.
• Move furniture away from the walls and towards the interior. This helps in the free flow of hot air, thus heating the cold exterior walls.
• Close all the rooms and basement that you do not use, heating only the rooms that you use.
• Use sunlight whenever it is available to heat the room. Install solar panels if possible to supplement your normal energy source in the most cost effective nonpolluting way.
• Slide away the draperies and open up the windows during the day to let the sunshine in.
• During the cold weather, keep all windows and doors closed, but air out the rooms at regular intervals to keep the air around you healthy and fresh.

Carrying out Regular Maintenance: This helps prevent recurring costs and save energy.

• Change air filters at regular intervals, as a dirty filter causes the system to work harder.
• Clean all the heat vents, radiator surfaces and other moving parts frequently, thus removing dirt and dust.
• Seal all the heating ducts around the house using good adhesives or metal foils.
• Employ a contractor once a year to carry out complete maintenance, such as tightening all electrical connections, lubricating moving parts, checking oil connections, and carrying out energy audits.
• If the heating system is older than 8 to 10 years, consider replacing it with efficient Energy Star equipments.