14 tips how to reduce energy bills

Earn money every month by saving energy in your home. Follow these tips to reduce your bills and make your home energy efficient.

14 tips for reducing the burden of monthly energy bills

Snow, low temperatures, hard driving and short day are NOT the things that we worry about the most in winter! The one that makes us worried is how to heat our home without spending our salary to pay for it? Heating is expensive, heating is inevitable and we will probably need it until April- May. Little change in our habits, some other gadgets and innovations can help decrease or disappear our concerns. We present you 14 tips for reducing the burden of monthly energy bills:

1. Insulate

First and most important is how well your home is insulated? Money invested in insulation is the best investment ever. The most important about insulation is its thickness – the thicker insulation is, the better. In consequence you save money because your energy bill decreases significantly. Saved money is earned money. Insulation can help you achieve energy saving of between 30% – 50%. How to understand which house is well insulated? When in winter snows, take a walk and look around the roofs of surrounding houses. The more snow remained on the roof, the better insulated the house is. The roofs without snow are for sure sign of huge heat losses – money.

2. Servicing and maintenance

Servicing and maintenance of your heating system. A serviced, cleaned and surveyed heating system works better, cleaner, safer and more efficiently. As we all know – “The best treatment is maintenance.”

3. Replace

If your heating system or appliances are old and inefficient, consider purchasing a brand new energy-efficient appliances and heating systems. Consult your municipality or local energy efficiency organizations to advise you on cost-effective heating solutions. Take advantage of energy efficiency programs offered locally and reduce initial investment on your part.

4. Put some clothes on

At first warm yourself and then warm the house. Put on your warm sweater or jacket, warm socks and comfortable and cozy slippers. While you are watching TV, surfing online or reading a book huddled on the couch, better cover up yourself with a hot blanket instead of increasing the temperature in the room. As you will be in almost motionless posture, your body temperature will drop down and you will waste heat in the room, but if you are covered up with something wasted heat will remain around you. One person in motion wastes about 200 watts of heat, while motionless person wastes 60-70 watts.

5. Seal

Check the seals on doors and windows. If they are missing or damaged, replace them with new ones. Verification can be made with thermal camera, lighter, or a thin strip of paper or foil, which will show you where there is an intensive airflow. You can take advantage of special transparent folio for windows. By using transparent folio you will significantly reduce heating losses in the area of the window.

6. Close

Close all unused rooms, keep them that way during winter, and once in a while aerate them. Seal all windows and doors in those rooms too. By closing and sealing their doors you will only heat the rooms and zones you indwell. If there are ventilation duct or chimneys in the uninhabited rooms, close them too. If you have a basement insulate and seal it in a case you visit this basement often. In this way the floor of your home (if above the basement) will be warm. This will increase the feeling of warmth in your feet, causing an effect similar to underfloor heating. This will act favorably on your entire body. The feeling of warmth starts from the feet.

7. Close the flue

If you heat your home using a fireplace or wood stove, be sure to close the flue (chimney) when you do not use the fireplace or the stove. If you do not do that, the heat will fly through it.

8. Close the curtains

Draw your curtains or persiennes at night to save precious heat inside your rooms. Keep them to be pulled back during the day if sun shines to take advantage of its free heat.

9. Make

Make or buy decorative plush “snakes” and “worms” used for windows or under doors. They really help, and create comfort and charming look of the room.

10. Reduce

Do not heat and do not warm your house to degrees that could help you cook your fish in the aquarium. When you leave for work or school, reduce degrees of the thermostat to 16-17⁰C. Even if you have a pet (cat, dog), calm down because there is no chance for it to freeze. Don’t forget that animal fur is thicker than your skin. Beside of that pets love to sleep in clothes and blankets.

11. Install

Install a digital programmable thermostat in every room so you can take maximum control over the optimized operation of your heating systems and appliances. Set the program to keep 16-17⁰C when you leave your house or go to bed. Make sure that when you get out of bed or return from work you will be welcomed by comfortably heated home / room. Once set, the program is respected throughout the cold seasons or until you decide to make changes. The presence of a programmable thermostat saves up to 30% energy.

12. Adjust

DO NOT sleep in a sauna! As we mentioned in tip 10, set the thermostat at around 16-17⁰C while you are well wrapped in blankets. Sleeping at lower temperatures is much healthier than sleeping at high temperature. Especially for ladies – try to wear fluffy warm socks at night. A Dutch study proved that women wearing woolly socks in winter are much closer to reach orgasm during sex.

13. Make repair

Install ceiling ventilators to move the warm air down to the height of human height, and to enhance air circulation in the room.

14. Open

You have just finished cooking in your oven? Leave the oven door ajar or open to take advantage of the vast amount of residual heat. Probably your oven is modern with built-in ventilators that will bring warmth out, even if you do not open the door. However, with closed door this will happen more slowly. Keep in mind that during that time ventilators are still working, i.e. they are still consuming energy / money.

Along with holidays, vacations and buying gifts, winter could be a good season for saving money. We can significantly reduce losses of heat by changing some habits, engaging a little imagination and introducing some improvements. This contributes to energy saving, respectively saved money = earned money. Do not forget the positive impact on Mother Earth!