WINTER is a great time for curling up and watching something on television.
Unfortunately, it’s also the time of year when you watch your energy bills soar.
There are ways of saving energy over winter that can slash your energy consumption without forcing you to turn off the TV and heating system, wrap yourself in blankets and suffer through the cold winter months.
Days are shorter and nights are longer over the winter months and on those dark, cloudy days, we tend to turn the lights on in the house. Between using electricity for longer hours at night and more often during the day, we use a great deal more energy for lighting in the winter than in the summer.
An inexpensive way to drastically reduce our energy consumption for lighting is to replace incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs wherever possible.
Compact fluorescent lightbulbs use just a quarter of the energy of standard bulbs. Compact fluorescents are available at lighting suppliers everywhere.
While it may be tempting to keep your house “toasty warm” in winter, bear in mind that every single degree of heat you add to the temperature of your house with your heater adds up to 15 per cent to your energy consumption.
If you turn down your thermostat just a few degrees Celsius, you can slash your energy consumption nearly in half. You may not even have to, but a savings like that makes it worth it to add an extra layer of clothing if you feel the need to.
You may need to check out your ceiling insulation. Heat rises and escapes rapidly through a poorly insulated ceiling. There are two types of insulation – bulk or reflective.
Ask your local home insulation expert to install the best ceiling insulation for your home. Between insulating your windows and ceiling, replacing your light bulbs and turning down the heat just a little, you’ll be able to go back to watching a good movie on TV and stop watching your energy bills soar in winter.
Finally, if you live in a home with timber floors the installation of underfloor heating can help to keep you warm and save considerably on power bills.
