How to Save Energy in the Winter
If your heating bills are burning you up, follow these recommendations from Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
- Difficulty:
- Moderate
Instructions
Things You'll Need
- Clear Plastic Window Sheets
- Clock Thermostats
- Lightweight Clothes
- Insulating Drapes
- Insulating Exterior Shutters
- R19 Insulation
- Caulking Guns
- Caulks
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Winter Home Energy-Saving Checklist
-
1
Insulate your house. Cover walls, floors and heating ducts as well as ceilings and attic access and basement trapdoors with R19 insulation.
-
2
Cover your windows with insulating shutters, drapes or clear plastic for extra insulation at night.
-
3
Weather-strip doors and windows. Caulk any holes or cracks in window frames, door frames, pipes and ducts.
-
4
Check for and plug any gaps around pipes, ducts, fans and vents that go through walls, ceilings and floors from heated to unheated spaces.
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5
Conserve energy in your pool (if you leave it filled during the winter) by running the filter for only 2 hours a day.
Daily Energy-Saving Tips
-
1
Set your thermostat to 68 degrees F or lower during the day and 55 degrees when you leave the house for more than 4 hours or before you go to bed.
-
2
Close off rooms that don't need heat if you have automatic thermostat controls.
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3
Turn down the heater when using the fireplace.
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4
Close the damper when not using the fireplace.
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5
Keep your furnace clean, lubricated and properly adjusted.
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6
Clean and replace the furnace filter regularly.
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7
Use passive solar heating on sunnier days. Open drapes on south-facing windows to let in sunlight.
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8
Keep warm indoors by wearing layers of lightweight clothing.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Clock thermostats that automatically change settings are available.
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Comments
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Jun 30, 2006
Let your pooch climb in bed with you, just this once! You'll be so warm, you might even end up kicking him out! -
Jun 30, 2006
Let your pooch climb in bed with you, just this once! You'll be so warm, you might even end up kicking him out!
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Feb 15, 2006
Turn off the stove eye or the oven a few minutes before the food is done. The residual heat that has built up will be plenty to finish cooking the food, and it cuts your energy bill. It will take trial and error to figure out your specific stove or oven needs, but once you do it will save. If you normally bake an item for 30 minutes, but turn the oven off at 25 minutes you save 17% of the energy you normally used and the food is still cooked the same amount of time.
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Feb 15, 2006
Turn off the stove eye or the oven a few minutes before the food is done. The residual heat that has built up will be plenty to finish cooking the food, and it cuts your energy bill. It will take trial and error to figure out your specific stove or oven needs, but once you do it will save. If you normally bake an item for 30 minutes, but turn the oven off at 25 minutes you save 17% of the energy you normally used and the food is still cooked the same amount of time.
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Dec 20, 2005
Get an electric blanket for each bed in your house. You can stay warm during the night without blasting the heat and wasting energy. Space heaters are good. Reflection space heaters are very energy efficient and feels like sunlight. The cost of heating your bed or your bedroom is much lower than the cost of heating your entire house. Oh, and insulate everything - water heater, windows, doors, etc. Insulation is cheaper than energy.
