Plan Your Heating Bill Reduction Project to Reduce Bills Carefully

If your home has higher heating bills than you would like to see, GreenHomes recommends getting a quality energy audit for your home. Energy audits provide a great start for your heating bill reduction project. When done properly, the energy audit helps pinpoint the true sources of energy waste in your home. As a result, the audit becomes your roadmap or plan for lower your heating bills while improving comfort.

Heating Bill Reduction Tips

Here are 10 simple tips for reducing the heating bills in your home. Talk to an energy auditor or quality contractor to see which of the following makes the most sense for your home:

1. Use a programmable thermostat wisely. Reducing the indoor temperature automatically at night or during the day when no one is home in winter will reduce heating costs.
2. Air seal your home professionally. An experienced contractor can test your home for air tightness. This steps dramatically reduces the home’s air leakage rate. Finally, air sealing helps reduce heating costs dramatically.
3. Adding insulation in attics, basements and crawl spaces AFTER the home is air sealed will reduce heating costs.
4. Insulating previously uninsulated areas such as attic hatches, band joists, kneewalls, garage ceilings (when your home has rooms over a garage), dropped soffits and exterior walls in older homes will reduce heating costs.
5. High-efficiency heating system upgrades save a significant amount on heating costs.
6. Sealing air leaks in ductwork systems minimizes losing your furnace’s heated air to the outside saving on heating costs.
7. Insulating ductwork when ducts are outside of the conditioned space keeps the heat in the ducts until it is distributed to the areas of your home. This saves on heating costs.
8. Replacing older, leaky windows with high-efficiency windows helps you save money on heating costs.
9. Weather-stripping leaky doors allows doors to close properly sealing out cold winter drafts.
10. When possible, switching fuels can allow you to use higher efficiency heating systems and lower your heating costs. For example, switching from oil heating systems to natural gas can provide you with the opportunity to use high-efficiency gas heating systems at a much lower operating cost.

Energy Audits Help Reduce Heating Bills

As you can see, improving the comfort of homes during the winter can be challenging. To help the homeowner determine the best solution for their home, GreenHomes recommends getting a quality energy audit. Just remember, the energy audit by itself doesn’t improve the conditions of the home at all. Only when you actually install the prioritized recommendations will you lower your heating costs and feel more comfortable in your home.