Prepare for Cold Weather

While “any sea­son is a good sea­son to seal up the win­dows,” fall and win­ter take pri­or­i­ty. Harsh winds and tem­per­a­ture dips can pull the warmth out and push the cold air in. The best part? You can do it from inside the house!

Just like you, your heat­ing sys­tem and water heater need a rou­tine check­up to ensure every­thing is run­ning at max­i­mum effi­cien­cy. If not, you may be putting your­self at risk for inef­fi­cient ener­gy usage, home fire, or oth­er unwant­ed dis­as­ters.

 It’s a good idea to replace air fil­ters on a sea­son­al basis, as they can get dirty and spike your ener­gy usage. Breathe eas­i­er (and clean­er) with a new fil­ter.

(Well, not too much) Make the most out of our planet’s nat­ur­al source of heat: the sun. Open your blinds, drapes, and/or cur­tains and let the sun­shine pour in and close them when it isn’t. Har­ness­ing the heat from the sun may help decrease the amount of ener­gy need­ed to warm your home. Also, con­sid­er replac­ing leak­ing win­dows.

Low­er­ing your home’s ther­mo­stat is a super quick and easy way to save ener­gy. Con­sid­er keep­ing temps low­er in the evenings while you’re asleep, as well as when no one is home. Also, installing smart ther­mostats is a great ener­gy-sav­ing option.

It’s easy to look at the obvi­ous cul­prits when audit­ing your home’s ener­gy use (e.g. win­dows, doors, and ther­mo­stat). But what about what’s behind the walls? In the attic? In addi­tion to seal­ing up the win­dows, check to see if your home’s walls, ceil­ings, and floors could use a boost too.

For homes with cozy fire­places, remem­ber this can be a cul­prit of increased ener­gy costs. Be sure to do a thor­ough clean­ing and check to see if any heat is escap­ing.

Ceil­ing fans can be used strate­gi­cal­ly to achieve bet­ter air­flow: counter-clock­wise will push hot air up in the sum­mer and clock­wise will trap heat inside to keep your rooms warmer dur­ing cool­er months. Turn your ceil­ing fan on a low set­ting to gen­tly push hot air back down.

Bonus tip: Since fans cool peo­ple — not rooms — turn­ing off ceil­ing fans when you’re out of the room will save mon­ey with­out any loss of com­fort.