How to Save Energy During the Winter Months

There are many ways to save energy during the winter months. I’m going to try to put as many low-cost or free tips in here as I can. Lowering your thermostat at night or when you leave your house will save quite a bit. Replacing the air filter on your furnace will help too.

Keep the outside doors and windows closed as much as possible. Make sure gaskets around all outside doors are air tight. You can install plastic-film storm windows yourself. Foam insulation gaskets can be installed behind light switches and electrical outlets. Keeping doors closed inside will help also, as long as you don’t close off the room where the thermostat is located. Opening curtains to let sun in during the day and closing them to keep the cold out at night is helpful. Make sure all of your windows and doors are sealed properly. Change your ceiling fan’s setting to “up” and put it on the lowest setting, so it will push down all the hot air trapped by the ceiling.

Keeping your water heater turned down around 125 degrees will help. A water heater blanket can be installed. Insulating your pipes also is a good idea. Taking short showers will reduce your bill, as will a low-flow shower head. A leaky faucet can also cost you big in the long run, so get that fixed if it’s an issue. 90% of the energy your washer uses is to heat the water to wash your clothes. Wash as many loads as possible with cold water, and only wash full loads. Clean out your dryers lint trap before every use. You can have your furnace tuned up by a heating/cooling professional. Check your attic insulation. You can also insulate crawl spaces.

Buy LED holiday lights. They can use as little as 1% of the regular incandescent bulbs. Try to have your lights on as little as possible; you can install a timer so they will automatically shut off instead of running all night.