This winter is your home temperature going down and your heating bills going up?
Here are some great tips to make your home comfortable in winter, reduce your energy bills and your greenhouse gas emissions.
Heat from the sun
Like the song says Let the Sunshine In! use that glorious winter sunshine to heat your house during the day. Open the curtains, clean your windows and insect screens and let the sun penetrate and warm the air and particularly the solid elements in your house like concrete floors, walls etc.
Remove trees and foliage that keep the winter sun out by trimming and replanting if you need to with deciduous plants – the green shade is fantastic in summer.
Before the sun goes down at the end of the day draw the curtains. Install and use curtains when the sun goes down to keep the accumulated daytime warmth in the house. Lots of heat is lost through windows and glazed doors and curtains are an easy and cheap solution to maintaining winter comfort. Heavy dual layered curtains with fixed pelmets provide the “seal” to stop heat bleeding through your glazing.
Heaters
When using heaters choose an energy efficient type by reviewing the star rating and energy usage at the time of purchase. Avoid high energy using air-conditioning and use energy efficient space heaters that are only in the rooms where you need heating.
Lock off the rest of the house by closing doors so you don’t waste heat.
The worst types are oiled filled radiators which can use a whopping 2500kW. In an average Gold Coast winter this could cost $200 to run and produce 3 tonnes of greenhouse gases.
Add insulation to your ceilings (and walls and floors if you can). Capitalise on the Federal Governments current extraordinary rebates.
Warm yourself up by rugging up – put on a cosy jumper, your winter woollies and ugh boots and enjoy own warmth. This will save money and the planet!
If you are really desperate you can always “snuggle up” after all warm cuddles on a cold night is a great way to save money and avert global climate change!
