5 FREE Ways to Cozy Up Your Home This Winter (Copy)
Keeping the Warm Inside and the Cold Outside
If your house is close to typical, you spend more than $2,500 a year on energy bills and about half of that goes to heating and cooling. This is an area where you can make a difference pretty quickly with increased comfort and reduced energy use.
Schedule a Mass Saves energy audit. It’s totally free if you are a customer of Eversource, National Grid, Cape Light and a few others. Schedule an appointment (in person or online) so an energy specialist can assess your home. You get a report, recommendations, and some free efficiency items right away (LED bulbs, advance power strips, low flow shower heads, faucet aerators, efficient thermostats) and no cost targeted air sealing. The specialist will also tell you what rebates and financing options you are eligible.
Fully close and lock windows and storm doors. It’s not the security that is an issue. Even if you live on the third floor, do this because locking the windows squeezes the panes together and makes a tight seal.
Don’t heat air if you aren’t hanging out there. Close off areas like closets, hallways, and vents in unused rooms. (Do the same in summer to save on air conditioning. If you have window AC units, turn them on only in the room you are using.)
Close shades and drapes at night to keep in the heat you paid for and open them during the day to let in natural light and passive solar heat on your south-facing side.
Back off the heat a little bit in cold weather. It does not take more energy to heat up a cold house than it does to keep a house warm all the time. Turning down the thermostat will always save energy. On average, for every degree you set back your thermostat, you can save 3% on your energy bill. Setting it lower by 3-4° F at night can save 10% off your heat consumption. This could be more than $200 a year.
