Saving energy

Much of the country is affected by a serious cold spell. That always has people scrambling for solutions to reduce their heating bills. Often very expensive and fancy remedies come to mind first. Things like replacing a good furnace with a newer "more energy efficient" model. Blame it on residual effects of media advertising. Unfortunately these remedies rarely accomplish anything other than drive more consumption.

The easiest way to reduce your energy bills is to lower your thermostat and wear some extra clothing around the house. If your house feels chilly despite a working furnace and a generous temperature setting, chances are it is leaking copious amounts of air somewhere. Better check to see if all the doors and windows are closed. If they are and the chills persist, you probably have to patch some holes.

Air leaks are the most common problem in any home. You should fix them before you invest in additional insulation, double and triple paned windows and other gimmicks. Leaks cause serious heat loss that is orders of magnitude greater than any losses through ceilings or windows or walls.

You don't need fancy equipment to find air leaks. All you need is your hands and some common sense. Leaks most often occur at or near existing openings, such as doors, windows, flues, hoods. They are rather rare in the middle of a solid wall, although in some outside-facing walls, significant air leaks may occur around electric and other in-wall outlets.

Start with the doors. Close the door and run your hand around the "seams." If you feel cold air intruding, you have a serious leak. You can also check when it is dark inside. Shine a light on the other side of the door and look for light spilling into the room. Make sure to lie down and check the bottom. If you can see light, cold air can get in easily. The fix is as simple as some weather-stripping carefully applied around the edges.

While inside doors often hang a bit above the floor (so as to clear carpet for example), doors that lead to the outside should not allow any air flow under (or around) the door. Carefully check sliding doors as they are a frequent source of air intrusion.

Next check the windows and around the window frames. Lastly, make sure all vents and flues (fire-place, stove hoods, etc.) are closed when not in use.

Ideally you should compartmentalize your home. If you do, don't heat rooms you don't use, and don't heat all rooms equally. Bedrooms don't need to be as hot as living rooms for example. Neither do toilets. And it is better if you can isolate the kitchen, as you will often want to open windows to get rid of smells.

If you do compartmentalize you need to make sure that the openings between the various rooms (usually doors) are sealed too. Otherwise you are back to square one.

While so-called "open floor plans" are in vogue, they are incredibly wasteful and should not be considered unless you live in a very mild climate. If you are stuck with an open floor-plan, try to see if you can't subdivide the space in winter. Heavy drapes can make a huge difference and they are easy to install and take down.

Also try to gather everyone together in the evening. Apart from saving on heating bills (you don't need to heat the whole house), it also strengthens the family bonds. Too many households have members hiding in their rooms at night. A good way to combat this tendency -and save energy in the process- is to limit the number of TV sets you own to no more than one.

The latter will also remove the need for fancy spyware to make sure your kids aren't watching inappropriate stuff on TV or on the web. Gather the family together in the living room. That is what a living room is for.