As summer 2008 dwindles away and fall and winter is inevitably approaching, a hot topic amongst homeowners is how to adequately heat your home this winter and how to stay green while doing so.
One of the simplest and easiest ways to keep cold air out and hot air in is to see if there are any cracks or spaces between windows and doors, and to see if there are any open pipes or old, unused fireplaces which can let cold air leak in. Get a candle, light it, and bring it to any of these areas and see if the light flickers. If the flame moves, most likely it is because you have a draft. There are simple, cost-effective ways to hole up these areas: spaces underneath the doors can be simply plugged up by rolling a rug or even some unused towels and stuffing them in the cracks. If that is not your style, there are also fancy ones that you can match your decor or many Christmas holiday season themed items that are sold at home and furniture retail stores. Or you can buy insulated windows. They may be more costly but help you save money in home heating bills in the long run
Another worthwhile effort in reducing home heating costs is to have your heater serviced yearly. This ensures that it maintains efficiency and that you do not needlessly spend money in oil/gas/electricity or whatever source of energy you use to heat your home. Also check to make sure that your house is appropriately insulated. This one crucial tip is overlooked by many homeowners because they either do not know or forget that insulation often tends to settle or come loose, so make sure that your house is properly insulated this fall.
Need a new heater? There are also very green heating appliances out in the market today, one being the pellet stove. Pellet stoves use renewable energy in the sense that they run on wood waste comprised mainly of sawdust or wood shavings packed to form little pellets. A small pellet stove can heat an 1800 square meter home and cut heating costs by 40%!!! And those old school wood-burning stoves from the days of gramps and granny? They have been modernized and updated to suit the needs of today’s standards. They are much more efficient and burn wood much cleaner than its 1960s counterpart, so there is no fear of black smoke invading the household anymore! It may need real wood to fuel it (who doesn’t love the aroma and the sound of a log crackling in a roaring flame?), but it does not run on electricity, so this may add to your additional energy saving costs!
And if you want more great tips on keeping warm this winter cheaply, here you go.
I know many of you are wondering what to do if you have a multi-story house or if you have multiple rooms that you would like to be suitably heated. The answer is to purchase small, economically priced electric fans. They can be clipped or be placed at the tops of doorways, and once they are turned on, can help keep the hot air circulating throughout your household, no matter the size.
So for this autumn and winter, you can help the environment by adapting these simple yet money-saving options to help heat your home this year and the many years to come.
