Holiday home energy savings
This holiday season, don’t blow all your money on your electrical and heating bills, learn about energy savings today and spend those extra bucks on the people you love.
Whether it be the holiday lights or the overnight house guests, the holidays are often when people see a big jump on their utility bills. Lucky for you, it is possible to keep the holiday cheer alive and make room for energy savings by making a few smart moves ahead of time. This holiday season you can save some cash with these ten energy savings tips below and have a few more bucks to stuff in the stockings:
- Check for any furnace problems – It’s easy to neglect your furnace over the summer when it isn’t needed, but over the holidays when it’s getting more use than ever you want to make sure it’s in its ideal operating condition. Something as simple as changing your furnace filter every three months can save you up to 5 percent on your heating bills. If you suspect that there are any problems with your furnace that need to be taken care of, now would be the perfect time to solve them, especially if you have an old furnace unit (10 + years old). Rid yourself of all your heating problems now, so that you know for sure that your heating system won’t give out while you and your 20 house guests are celebrating new year’s eve.
- Use a timer for your Christmas lights – Christmas time is always met with christmas decorations, such as trees with ornaments, bright lights, and christmas wreaths. Christmas lights are one of the most recognizable symbols of Christmas and they help to bring out the holiday cheer in us all. Many people keep their christmas light on all throughout the day, every single day during the holiday season, but that isn’t necessary. Not only is it unnecessary, but it also makes for a ton of wasted energy which can easily be avoided. Put your christmas lights on a timer so that they only come on when the sun goes down and they can be in plain sight. Also, if your christmas lights are decades old it may be smart to invest in some new energy efficient LED lights. LED lights are up to 90% more efficient than your old christmas lights and are result in far more energy savings.
- Check for leaks – The cold and frigid Canadian weather is already here and I bet we all want to keep our homes as warm and cozy as possible yo avoid the cold this holiday season. Check the windows and doors around the house for drafts. Make sure that there is proper caulking around all of your windows, particularly on top of the window. The top of windows is typically where you’ll find a gap in the caulking and is how all the cold air gets in your home. When you’re paying money and using energy to heat your home all winter, you wanna know that it’s the home that’s being heated and not the outdoors.
- Ensure that your ceiling fan spins in the right direction – In the summertime you use your ceiling fan to produce a nice breeze which cools you off, but in the winter it can be useful to distribute heat throughout the room. Make sure that your ceiling fan spins clockwise in the winter time which pulls the warm air down from the ceiling and will make the room feel warmer. So, instead of bumping up your thermostat a few degrees you can try using your ceiling fan to distribute warm air and promote energy savings.
- Use your programmable thermostat – Many people own a programmable thermostat but forget to actually put its features to good use. A simple way to create energy savings is to program your thermostat to be a couple degrees cooler at night when you’re asleep and during the day when you’re at work. If you have a lot of people in your home you can also turn down the heat a degree or two, more people means more body heat. Your furnace fan can also be programmed to not turn on during the day which will allow you to save some energy that way as well.
- Replace regular light switches with dimmers – Swapping out the regular light switches you have in your home for dimmers allows you to extend the lifetime of your lightbulbs while also saving energy. Dimming a light by just 10 per cent will extend the lifetime of a lightbulb by more than double.
- Buy Energy Star certified products – Your loved ones deserve what’s best, so, when buying them an electronic gift this holiday season try to make it an energy efficient one. I’m sure that your relatives or friends will be appreciative that their new Energy Star certified gadget will also save them some money on their energy bills unlike the generic alternative.
- Use low-flow showerheads – During the holiday season it’s expected that relatives and friends will stay overnight. These overnight stays lead to more showers which also means more water usage. Installing low-flow showerheads and aerators for the taps will extend your hot water supply and cause for energy savings as well.
- Check the insulation in the attic – The attic is more often than not an ignored space in the household where little to nothing ever happens. You may have not been in your attic in a very long time, but you might want to have a look some time soon if you want to ensure that there is no wasted energy in your home. Have a look in your attic and see if there is an adequate amount of insulation. There should be at least 12 inches of insulation in your attic so that no cold air is coming in and no warm air is sneaking out.
- Keep watch over your energy usage – To see exactly how much and when the energy in your home is being consumed, purchase an energy monitor and see all of your energy statistics. An energy monitor is connected to your home’s electricity meter and shows exactly when and how much electricity is being used in your home (in kilowatts or dollars). This useful tool can help you create energy savings to the best of your abilities by showing you the true cost of your energy usage minute by minute.
If you have any more questions regarding energy savings, furnace repairs or replacement, or any of your other HVAC needs, feel free to contact DeMark Home Ontario. Call us at 647-847-2998 or fill out online request form and we will gladly provide you with the answers you need.
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