Winter Energy Saving Tips

‘Tis the season for high energy bills.  Between the cold temperatures outside and less hours of daylight, gas and electric bills rise this time of year.  The Hilliard Environmental Sustainability Commission combed the internet to find a comprehensive list of ways you can save on your energy bills:

1. Keep the curtains and blinds of south facing windows open during daylight allowing the sun to heat your home. When the sun goes down, close them to retain the heat in your home.
2. Instead of turning up the thermostat in your home, layer up with extra clothes including sweatshirts, jackets, and hats.  Use a blanket while sitting on the couch.
3. Set your ceiling fan to push warmer air from the ceiling down. There is a switch on the ceiling fan that controls the clockwise/counter clockwise motion.
4. Turn down the thermostat at night and sleep with flannel sheets and a warm comforter or multiple comforters. Add a space heater for extra warmth.
5. Properly maintain and service your furnace. Regularly clean/replace your filter to optimize your furnace’s efficiency.  Make sure that the furnace is not blocked by anything so that air can flow freely.
6. User a humidifier to add moisture to the air. Adding moisture to the air makes the air feel warmer because moist air holds heat.
7. If you are not able to replace drafty windows with energy efficient windows you can cover them with heavy duty, clear plastic sheets and weather stripping. You can also add tight-fitting curtains or shades to provide extra insulation.
8. Check doors for drafts. Adding weather stripping will keep the cold air out and warm air in.
9. Keep your fireplace damper closed unless you are using the fireplace. Keeping it open is like leaving a window open which allows warm air to escape and cold air to come in. Gas fireplaces are more energy efficient than wood burning fireplaces, so you may want to consider replacing your wood burning fireplace with a gas fireplace.
10. Use area rugs to insulate your floors.
11. Make sure air vents in your home are not blocked to allow air to flow freely.
12. Use a programmable thermostat to turn down the temperature while you are at work and/or sleeping.
13. Heat only the rooms that you are using. Close the vents in those rooms so the warm air will be forced into other rooms.
14. Do not use the exhaust fan in the bathroom or kitchen unless necessary because it removes warm air from the room.
15. Use LED holiday lights because they use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs.
16. Get an energy audit of your home to determine where you can make improvements to save energy by reducing things like air leaking or using more energy efficient lightbulbs.
17. Insulate areas like garages and attics to prevent heat loss.
18. Make sure to turn off lights when you leave a room.
19.  Wrap the hot water heater in fiberglass insulation.
20. Get up and move around if you are cold. Walk around the inside of your house to warm up instead of turning up the heat.