In the modern era, everyone is looking for ways to make their home energy efficient. It’s vital as the cooling and heating systems consume the highest amount of energy, accounting for approximately half the total energy expenditure in your home. And during the freezing winter season, you’ve got no choice as a homeowner but to turn on your heating system to improve the indoor temperature.
With that said, there are still ways you can make your home energy efficient to help you save on higher bills. This way, you ease any strain on your pockets by saving money while remaining comfortable during winter. Below is a look at ways to improve your home’s energy efficiency during winter.
- Use The Sun To Your Advantage
During the day, when the sun is up, consider opening your windows and curtains to allow natural heat to fill your home. And since getting the sun into your home in the evening is far from possible during winter, don’t leave your window open. Once the sun sets, you should close the windows to reduce the chances of the heat escaping and block the entry of chilly cold wind from outside.
It would also help if you planted deciduous trees close to the windows. During winter, they lose their leaves which help increase warmth and natural light in your house while giving you the shade you require during summer.
- Assess Your Heating Systems
Heating systems are the second largest energy consumer after cooling systems. Because of this, you must inspect your furnace before winter starts to fix even the slightest mechanical problem. It’s vital as it helps eliminate safety hazards such as gas leaks or carbon monoxide while reducing energy consumption. It’s essential that you hire an HVAC service in Lorton or anywhere near your place instead of fixing any issue by yourself to avoid any complications.
A well-maintained furnace will run efficiently, allowing your home to be energy efficient while saving you money. Consider investing in new furnaces as they’re designed to be energy efficient instead of the earlier models that tend to use more power. However, you can make your older model furnace energy efficient by replacing filters and having it thoroughly cleaned after every three months. By doing so, your furnace will use a low amount of energy to warm your house during winter.
- Close Ductwork
Cold air is denser than warm air. As a result, cold air displaces warm air forcing it to float and escape a room through open spaces. To maintain a warm room temperature in your home during winter, consider sealing all existing openings. Warm air will escape via joints in the ductwork. When this happens, your home will lose heated air through the gaps forcing you to increase energy expenditure to attain a comfortable room temperature.
To improve your home’s energy expenditure, you’ll need to apply heating vent tape to available joints in your home.
- Insulate Your Home
Insulating your home is vital when it comes to reducing energy expenditure. You can lose a significant amount of heat during cold winter seasons. It will increase your energy bill while being detrimental to the planet.
Investing in excellent insulation and weather stripping is the key to improving your home’s energy expenditure.
Great insulation techniques, such as foam or caulk air leaks around the door, windows, ceiling, and floor, remembering your basement, attic walls, and crawl space, will help improve the home’s energy expenditure during winter. The best part is that you can perform this yourself or work with an expert for added advantage.
- Replace Your Bulbs
Besides heating your home during winter, lighting increases energy expenditure during the winter season. With this in mind, finding a better lighting system to reduce energy usage during winter is critical. You should consider changing your light bulbs if you’re using older models. Older energy bulbs use more energy than compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs). They’re more upfront and use relatively low power to light your home.
CFLs are also twelve times more durable than regular incandescent bulbs. And since the sun sets early during winter seasons, giving us a few hours of sunshine and shortening our days, the lights at home are often turned on earlier and run for several hours before turning them off. Your energy consumption will be relatively high if you use regular incandescent bulbs. To reduce your home’s energy expenditure in winter, replace all incandescent bulbs with CFLs.
- Keep Everyone Warm
Keeping your body warm is more cost-effective than heating your home. Consider investing in heavy clothes, socks, and blankets to keep you and your family warm throughout the winter. By doing so, you’ll be able to keep your thermostat running low, reducing your home’s energy expenditure.
A thick blanket will keep you warm and comfortable throughout the night without heating your home. If you own a pet like a dog and want to keep them warm, consider purchasing a dog sweater. However, if you own a cat, not all are comfortable wearing sweaters, as they hate wearing clothes. When putting clothes on your kittens, ensure not to force them once you feel they resist it. They can find warm places around the house to keep themselves warm without sweaters.
- Reduce Fireplace Heat Loss
Consider keeping the damper closed unless there’s a fire burning at the fireplace. Having your fireplace damper open during winter without fire burning is like having your window open during winter. Warm air will float and escape through the fireplace, allowing denser cold air to come in and drop your house’s temperature.
And when there’s a fire burning at the fireplace, you should open the dampers to help reduce heat loss at the bottom. If not, consider opening a jar at the nearest window to your fireplace and closing all doors that lead to your rooms. You should turn your thermostat low to about 50 to 55 degrees Fahrenheit during this time.
Seal your fireplace’s chimney flue if it has never been used before. Nonetheless, consider installing a tempered glass door and a heat-air exchange system to help blow warm air back into your home. And always ensure that the fireplace flue damper is well-sealed and snugged. By doing this, you’ll be able to reduce your home’s energy expenditure significantly during winter.
Takeaway
The tips discussed in this article effectively reduce energy expenditure at home. You can then use these tips daily to help in increasing your savings, as they’re simple actions to take. These tips help save energy and money and are also environmentally friendly, allowing you to curb your carbon footprint and significantly impact the planet. With this in mind, you can smartly implement these tips to save energy during winter.