Winterize Your House to Save Energy

The simplest alternative energy source to tap in your home is energy saved. By taking a few steps towards increasing your energy efficiency, you can significantly reduce both your energy bills and your household's carbon footprint.

Thomas Friedman wrote in the New York Times that a renewed focus on saving energy is the ultimate energy paradigm shift. He quotes Jim Rogers, the chairman and chief executive of Duke Energy:

"Energy efficiency is the 'fifth fuel' -- after coal, gas, renewables and nuclear," said Mr. Rogers. "Today, it is the lowest-cost alternative and is emissions-free. It should be our first choice in meeting our growing demand for electricity, as well as in solving the climate challenge."

So, just as reusing is more efficient than recycling (if less glamorous), conservation of energy should be a top priority as energy unspent is the cleanest possible alternative to fossil fuels burnt. Taking a few key steps to winterize your house can dramatically reduce your energy consumption once the chill sets in.

Lloyd Alter offers a top-down check list on Planet Green:

1. Roof: Check roof and around vents, skylights and chimneys for leaks. Repair as necessary.

2. Gutters: Clean gutters and drain pipes so leaves won't clog them and be sure they drain away from the house. Drain outdoor faucets.

3. Fireplace: Clean fireplace of ashes. Check chimney for loose or missing mortar. Have chimney professionally cleaned. Make sure damper closes tightly.

Visit Planet Green to check out several more practical tips.

Greenthinkers suggests a few more commonsensical ideas:

4. Insulation Inspection: Since warm air rises, it's super important to insulate your attic.

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5. Stop Inside Leaks: It's time to seal up the inside of the home. Cracks around windows, on perimeter walls and around electrical outlets on exterior walls can lose a lot of warm air.

Even if you have a limited amount of time or money to spend on winterizing, a few super quick tricks can have a serious impact.

6. Keep your Boiler Toasty: Simply wrapping a water heater blanket around your water heater can save energy.

7. Leave the blinds open in rooms that get a lot of sun.

8. Jeff McIntire-Strasburg of Sustainablog suggests getting a heating system check-up. This preventative step is a worth-while precaution as "dirt and neglect are the top two causes of system failure."

So the idea is really to keep your appliances in good working order and try to seal the warm air in and keep the cold and damp at bay. The alternative is like drinking hot chocolate from a cracked mug: a mess.

Comments

[TRYKER]

You could be creating a fire hazard with the suggestion of wrapping the water heater in blanket.
ONLY on electric heaters...gas heaters have flames that can start a fire and wraps are NOT recommended.

[research]

Fiber glass is fire proof.

[Sadducee]

Build a earth shelter home.

[Lloyd Alter - Huffpost Blogger]

Energy Expert, if you go back to my original post you will find that it had little to do about energy efficiency, and more to do about getting your house in shape for winter, and was part of a list from Bob Vila. If you search on "Green your house for Winter" you will find more useful tips.

[EnergyExpert]

That's what I guessed -- it's good advice for getting ready for winter, but the article shouldn't be touted as energy saving advice.

[avehicle4changedotcom]

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[markie1111]

insulate your body. wear long underwear and a stocking cap. i especially like longjohns, sweat pants and sweatshirts. and don't forget-two pairs of socks. :)

[EnergyExpert]

Remarkable...This is perhaps the worst list of energy saving tips I've ever seen. Many of these are just basic home maintenance tips that have nothing to do with energy at all (gutter cleaning????) and the only one that may save significant energy is the attic insulation. But even that tip is misleading since it is hot air that rises and not heat. That is why it is important to focus air sealing efforts on the attic floor (as opposed to the windows and doors and outlets recommended in another tip). Also, there is no evidence that regular heating system tune ups save energy -- although it is often recommended by people who sell heating system tune-ups. the few studies done thus far indicate that tuning up a gas furnace is unlikely to save any energy. Please find better sources of advice -- giving people bad advice isn't just a lost opportunity, but also hurts real efforts to save as people find no change in their bills from bad advice, undermining all advice.

[markie1111]

the cheapest, fastest way to kill a draft, is find the source and tape it shut.

[research]

For comfort, it's equally important to insulate the floor. This allows you to feel comfortable even with a lower thermostat.

[sunspot]

check out www.valcent.net. They claim to be able to manufacture biofuel from algae in huge quantities for $25/barrel. They say they can provide enough fuel to serve the entire needs of the US in an area 1/10th the size of New Mexico. We could easily put algae-fuel greenhouses all over the country and decentralize our fuel reserves. Wouldn't THAT improve our quality of life, standard of living, and security? Not only that, the leftover algae can be used as fertilizer to remineralize our depleted topsoils.

Of course, until this, or other fuel is available, conservation makes way more sense than drill-baby-drill or nuclear.

[PT6]

PALIN FUZZY MATH - WHY SHE FAILS!

US USES 25% of OIL
US HAS 3% of OIL

US IMPORTS 22% of OIL OR ALMOST 90% IN IMPORTS AFTER "DRILL BABY DRILL"

THE RESEARCH IS COMPLETE ON ALTERNATIVES.

FINE-TUNE/IMPROVE AND IMPLEMENT SOLAR, WIND, METHANE (from waste products), AND NUCLEAR ENERGIES TO BE FREE OF IRAQ, IRAN, VENEZUELA, and EVEN THE SAUDIS!