Stay Warm with Smart Energy Tips

After a few chilly days and a few sturdy snowmen still visible, many of us have staying warm high on our agendas. Unfortunately, this usually means cranking up the thermostat and that can lead to hefty energy usage and high power bills. By making a couple changes in our routine and environment we may be able to lower our usage while still staying toasty.

Sometimes, it’s about returning to the simple, thoughtful habits that keep both us and the planet comfortable. Imagine walking into your home on a frosty evening. Instead of immediately reaching for the thermostat, you fill up your hot water bottle, wrap yourself in a thick blanket, and sip a steaming cup of tea. Changing our routine with some inexpensive habits can help us stay warm and create a cozy atmosphere we are excited to return home to.

If you spend eight or more hours out of the house for work or school, you can use a programmable thermostat to keep the heat off while you aren’t at home to use it. If, like me, you don’t have a programmable one, you can still set it to off when you leave in the morning and then structure your evening to help you keep warm. Plan to do your workout, some heavy-duty cleaning, or some baking when you get home after turning on the thermostat. While your house heats up, you’ll stay warm with your own energy instead of electrical energy.

On the weekends, winter is the perfect time to entertain. Natural body heat can raise the temperature in the house and a shared warm meal with some laughs and fun can heat you from the inside out. Try hosting a movie night, a dinner party, or a board game night. It’s a great way to get to lower that thermostat and connect with friends and loved ones.

To help decrease how much power you use to heat your home it is highly recommended you weatherize it. First, check your windows for any signs of damage to your weatherstripping. If you see gaps, rips, tears, and dents, you need to replace it. Foam tape, the least expensive option, is easy to install, but very suspectable to typical wear and tear.

I also like to take the cheap and reused route to help insulate my windows and I recommend it for anyone with single pane windows. I take pre-used bubble wrap from boxes and tape them up inside covering up all of the glass. After just a day, you’ll be able to feel the difference in the air next to your window. You can also buy kits that use heat to help seal up next to your window if you don’t have spare bubble wrap around.

You can also hone your interior decorating skills and find busy walkways to place thick rugs to help keep the cold floor from making you cold. Take advantage of living in the “Carpet Capital of the World” and go find some inexpensive options at local stores. You can also rearrange your furniture and move things like couches, chairs, and beds closer to the interiors of room away from cold exterior walls.

We don’t just use warm air in the winter, but also hot water. Wrap insulation tape or foam sleeves around your warm water pipes. This requires less energy from your water heater in the cold months and therefore saves emissions and money. This may also help save you the headache of burst pipes by protecting them on really cold nights.

With some changes to our habits and our homes we can warm up easily and help keep our power usage down. This means we get to feel good on the outside and, because we are saving more of the Earth’s resources, feel good on the inside too.

Amy Hartline is the recycling and education program coordinator for the Dalton-Whitfield Solid Waste Authority. Have a recycling question? Contact her at (706) 278-5001 or ahartline@dwswa.org.