Views: 45 Author: Site Editor Publish Time: 2024-07-07 Origin: Site
As winter approaches, many homeowners brace for the inevitable – increased energy bills. During this season, heating systems work extra to make the indoor space comfortable. This results in higher energy consumption and a rise in electricity costs.
This spike in energy bills necessitates that you find how to lower energy bill in winter without compromising on your house's warmth. In this guide, we will explore cost-effective tips for saving energy in winter. By implementing these strategies, you can enjoy a cozy home while keeping your expenses in check.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), home heating accounts for about 41% of residential energy consumption. This is more true in icy regions, where heating systems have to work harder to maintain comfortable indoor temperatures.
The good news is that there are a lot of actions that can be taken to save energy in winter. The top of the list is living in a net zero energy house, where lower energy is required to keep your house warm. Other tips you can explore are discussed below.
Here are 12 tips to help you save money and energy during winter:
Heat pumps are an efficient alternative to traditional heating systems like furnaces, boilers, fireplaces, etc. They work by absorbing heat from the outside environment and transferring it indoors to every room. By investing in the most energy-saving heat pumps like those made specially by professional cold climate heat pump manufacturers, you can significantly lower your energy bills during the winter months.
Source: SPRSUN energy-saving heat pump
Rather than other heating systems that generate heat, energy-saving heat pumps absorb hot air from the outside environment or the ground and transfer it into your home. Hence, less electricity is needed. Advanced models, such as the R290 heat pump can adjust their output to match the demand of the house. This helps to eliminate wastage as you only use the energy you need.
High-power appliances like washing machines, ovens, and refrigerators consume huge energy. Investing in energy-efficient large home appliances and turning on power-saving settings will greatly reduce electricity bills. For instance, prioritizing using ERP A+++ appliances or ENERGY STAR appliances can save about $450 on your energy bills every year while you enjoy optimal quality and performance.
Other ways of saving energy in winter by leveraging large home appliances include:
Use cold water for laundry. Cut down the electricity needed to warm laundry water.
Employ manual methods if possible. For example, instead of using the dryer, you can spread your clothes outside.
Use smaller appliances when possible. For example, you can use a slow cooker for some food instead of the oven.
Put off the refrigerators once it has reached its maximum temperature.
Give your heating systems a yearly checkup at least. Schedule an annual heating system maintenance and inspection checkup by a professional. You can make this a month before the winter season so that every repair necessary will be completed before the colder season begins.
This simple act ensures that possible problems are discovered early and are fixed to save you from any inconvenience during frigid weather. Also, regular maintenance will increase your heating system life span and reduce energy bills because a good heat pump doesn't need to work hard to keep your house warm.
Endeavor to change your heat pump filter every three months. This will allow clean air.
Regularly clean your heating system vents for a smooth flow of air.
Report any unusual signs, such as clanking noises or bad smells to a technician.
Good insulation is an inexpensive way to low energy in winter. Not fixing air leaks and drafts can be likened to wearing a sweater with holes and expecting not to feel cold. Simply ensure that there are no air leaks or drafts. Every part of the house should be sealed to prevent the hot air circulated by your heating system from going outside.
Thus, you must assess every part of your house to ensure there’s no space for air leaks.
External Doors: Doors are a major spot for drafts, especially doors that have space at the floor. This allows cold air from outside to enter the house. Fix this by installing a door draft stopper at the spot where cold air passes through. Other times, the air leak spot could be the door frame. Replace damaged weather stripping, door locks, and seals.
Windows: According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), about 30% of a home’s heating energy is lost through windows. Therefore, you need to tightly insulate your windows with plastic film to ensure there’s no opening for air to pass.
Attic and Basement: Check your attic and basement for small holes or cracks through which air can escape. Simply cover any hole or crack with foam. For larger openings, you may need to call a professional for proper repair.
Unexpected Heat Leaks: Aside from doors, windows, attics, and basements, there are other places you might not suspect for air leaks. They include electrical outlets, AC units, and gaps in the house insulation. Thoroughly observe every part of your house for leaks.
One of the very effective energy-saving tips for winter is to install a programmable thermostat. It allows you to monitor and set your heating system to function only when you need it. Instead of leaving your heat pump at a particular degree, you can set it in real-time to your preference. This allows you to have a suitable indoor climate at any time. You can modify the temperature at night, allowing you to sleep comfortably.
Enjoy this better by investing in a smart thermostat, which offers remote control over your home’s temperature. You can be in bed and control the whole house's temperature. On the other hand, you can be in the office and tune down the thermostat degree or increase it, setting a conducive in-house temperature when you return home.
This is one of the winter energy-saving tips that doesn’t require spending a dime. All you have to do is take advantage of the sunshine. Sometimes during winter, the clouds get more friendly with a warmer climate. Open your curtains and window blinds for direct sunlight into your house. This will reduce how frequently you use your heating system, resulting in lower energy bills.
Opening the curtains and blinds is more beneficial if your house has southern exposure. The sunlight from the south is usually more intense, hence the connection with fan coils, you can keep the house warm and cozy and save some money!
At the end of the day or when the sun goes down, close your curtains and window blinds to keep the heat within your home. You can also invest in thermal-insulated curtains to ensure warm air doesn’t escape through the windows.
While ceiling fans are known to be summer equipment for dispersing heat, they can also be used during the cold months to keep hot air circulating below the fan. You don’t need to buy a special fan for this purpose.
Ordinarily, ceiling fans rotate anti-clockwise, but for this purpose, reverse the motor of your ceiling fan, so it rotates clockwise. This will create an updraft, which will force hot air around the ceiling fan to circulate around your room.
NOTE: Using the ceiling fan trick doesn’t change your room temperature completely, but it will keep you warm. And when you are leaving the room, turn off the ceiling fan to cut down electricity costs.
Because of the cold weather, you might fancy spending more time at home making hot coffee, watching your favorite movies, and getting cozy in a heated room. This generally means that more energy will be used.
You don’t have to compromise being comfortable, but at least consider a few ways to reduce your electronics energy usage, such as:
Set your devices to low-power mode in order to reduce energy consumption.
Turn your electronics off when you are not using them. For example, when you leave the room to cook in the kitchen, turn off the room’s heater.
Unplug your electronics when leaving the house, particularly for long trips.
Another trick on how to reduce electric bills in winter is to use LED bulbs. If you haven’t done so, there’s no perfect timing than during the colder climates. Contrary to using incandescent bulbs, LEDs use about 75% less energy and last about 25 times longer.
As against shopping for various types of incandescent bulbs during the holidays or festive seasons, choose LEDs to cut down on electricity bills. Some LEDs even have regulators, allowing you to adjust the brightness and how much power to be consumed.
Just like other electronics in the house, turn off your lights when they are not in use.
Aside from wholesale heat pumps and installing them in your house, you can further warm your body by wearing thick clothes and covering it with thick blankets.
This is one of the cost-effective options on how to reduce electric bills during winter. Keep the thermostat low and produce additional heating by wearing a tough sweater, gloves, and socks. Then, when you want to sleep at night, cover yourself with a weighty blanket or duvet.
Another related strategy is to cover the floor with carpets or rugs. The floor and the wall tend to get extremely cold during frigid climates. Walking on carpets or rugs will make your feet more comfortable. Also, don’t lay your bare skin against the wall. Ensure you are always clothed.
One of the overlooked energy efficiency tips for winter is ensuring the air vents are not blocked. When there is an object closing on the air vents, the circulated heat may not be able to pass through. Oftentimes, the heat only warms a particular part of the house, leaving other parts of the house very cold. Sometimes, you would even notice that one section of a room feels warm while the other is uncomfortable.
Hence, check all the air vents in the house, making sure that they are not blocked. Move every piece of furniture or object that’s placed in front of them. Leave ample space for the heat to freely circulate around the house.
This is the last but not the least method on how to keep a house warm in winter. This strategy is more efficient if you live in a small building where the doors to every room are quite connected to one another.
To minimize the amount of energy used and reduce your utility bill at the end of the month, keep the doors to every room opened (only interior doors). This will allow the heat from each room to circulate to others, thereby warming other parts of the house where the heater is inefficient.
You can also apply this trick if you have limited heat pumps installed in your house. The hot air from a power central heat pump can be distributed to the whole house.
In this post, we’ve discussed some easy-to-do steps on how to lower energy bills in winter. It is normal to use heat pumps or other heating equipment to increase indoor heat in winter, but if you want to reduce energy bills in winter, you need to choose some energy-efficient heating equipment, such as ERP A+++ heat pumps, or R290 heat pumps, because R290 gas has a very low Global Warming Potential (GWP).
With small molecular weight, good mobility, and low delivery pressure, the R290 heat pump can reduce the load on the compressor. Moreover, the R290 refrigerant unit volume, the unit mass of refrigeration capacity, condenser, and evaporator heat transfer performance is high, in the case of the same refrigeration or heating effect, the R290 heat pump can save 30% of the electrical energy. And for the most energy-saving heat pumps that can keep your house warm during this season, contact the best professional air source heat pump (ASHP) manufacturer.
