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Simple Solutions: Home Heating
Whether new or old, most homes experience air leakage. In fact, air leakage can account for 30 to 40 per cent of the total heat lost, which means higher heat bills for you.
Fast and Free
- Remember those sweaters your Grandma knit? Put them on. When it’s cold outside and you’re at home, set the temperature between 19° and 20°C. You can even go down to 15°C when you are on vacation. Lowering your thermostat just 3°C at night and when you are away reduces your energy use by 6 per cent.
- Lower the thermostat on water heaters to 55°C. This can save up to 10 per cent in water-heating costs. Water heating accounts for up to 20 per cent of your home’s energy use.
- If you can, lower your thermostat settings in unoccupied areas of the home, and be sure to keep doors closed to the basement, the garage and other low-use areas.
- Opening south-facing blinds on sunny winter days will warm your house even more.
- In the winter, you will reduce heating costs by reversing the direction of your ceiling fan to distribute hot air more evenly across the room.
- Try to burn wood at as high a temperature as possible. This reduces partially-combusted pollutants from going into the atmosphere.
- To save money and reduce pollutants, make sure your fireplace or wood stove is properly installed and has adequate ventilation. Close the fireplace damper when the fireplace is not in use.
- You can avoid toxic emissions by not burning green wood, wet wood, pressure-treated or painted wood, particle board or plywood, plastic, coloured or glossy paper, cardboard or coal.
Simple and Low Cost
- Strip for the weather. Find out what type of weather stripping is best for the windows of your home and purchase the proper equipment. Your local hardware store can help you. Apply weather stripping around exterior doors.
- Seal the cracks. Seal any openings and penetrations on the inside surface of exterior walls, ceilings or floors. Caulk window and door seals, and check seals around plugs and cover plates.
- Clean or replace air filters on furnaces and air conditioners once a month. Consider purchasing one of the new washable, universal furnace filters or an electrostatic air filter for your home.
- Install a programmable thermostat. Experts say you can save up to $100 a year with a programmable thermostat.
- Put a sweater on those pipes. Insulate the entire length of your hot water pipes.
- Choose "green power" from sources such as wind and small hydro and reduce your emissions to zero or almost zero. Start by buying a portion of your household energy from these renewable sources.
- Keep your furnace clean, lubricated and properly adjusted with annual maintenance and you will save money.
- For an energy-saving windbreak, plant pine or fir trees on the north side of your home.
- Reduce unnecessary carbon emissions by having your wood stove and fireplace cleaned and inspected annually.
Spend to Save
- Insulate the roof. If you haven't already, insulate your basement, your garage and check the insulation coverage in your attic.
- Insulate the walls of your home.
- Purchase an ENERGY STAR® high-efficiency furnace with an Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency (AFUE) of at least 90 per cent. These high-efficiency furnaces are 50 per cent more effective than most older units. Climate Change Central will even give you a $400–$600 rebate.
- Reduce heat loss by up to 50 per cent or more by switching to high-performance or ENERGY STAR® windows. Payback is less than three years for electrically heated buildings and five years for gas-heated buildings.
- Consider advanced combustion technology for your new fireplace or wood stove in order to burn wood more completely.
