Using efficient equipment is a great way to reduce your energy consumption. If you’re not planning to replace your heating equipment, simple habits can still save energy and money.
Is it totally normal for your energy bill to be higher in winter. Watch this video to find out why and get tips for keeping heating costs down even during deep freezes.
Here are some tips to help reduce your energy loss during the winter season.
1. Use a smart thermostat to manage the ambient temperature
A smart thermostat is an effective way to better control your energy consumption. The mobile app makes it easy to program and set target temperatures based on when your home is occupied. Smart thermostats significantly reduce temperature fluctuations, providing greater comfort. They also help you save energy—typically between 7% and 10%—for a relatively small investment. Check out our grant for purchasing a smart thermostat and conditions.
2. Avoid unnecessary heating
Lower the temperature at night and when no one is home. If you have a smart thermostat, the mobile app makes it even easier to program your preferred temperatures and times.
Our recommendations to optimize your energy consumption:
To retain heat, close curtains, blinds or shades at night and when no one is home. Open them during the day to take advantage of natural sunlight.
3. Ceiling (destratification) fans
Cold air and warm air have different densities above ground, and if they are not mechanically mixed in some way, they will produce stratification (ie different layers of temperature). Warm air rises and reaches the highest temperature near the ceiling, especially in rooms with high ceilings. Installing ceiling fans of a minimum clearance of 8 ft. gold 2.43 m. to redistribute warm air is a budget-friendly solution.
4. Eliminate obstacles
If you have a forced-air system, remove any obstacles in ducts, registers and cold-air return registers so that the air can circulate freely and efficiently throughout the system.
5. Schedule annual preventive maintenance
A well-maintained heating system is more efficient and uses less gas to heat your home. Call on our Énergir Partner network or a qualified contractor for annual maintenance and occasional inspections of your equipment’s exhaust ducts, both inside and outside, to detect signs of condensation or corrosion. Find all our maintenance tips.
Here are some tips to minimize energy losses caused by the heating of the water.
Insulate pipes
Insulate hot-water pipes, especially pipes that run through unheated areas. Use insulating tape or foam, plastic or fiberglass tubes which, when slit lengthwise, fit snugly around the pipe and can even be permanently glued.
Lower hot water temperature and reduce the flow
During an 11-minute shower, without a flow restrictor, you consume an average of 125 liters (27.4 gallons) of water. A flow restrictor can significantly reduce consumption to 77 liters (16.9 gallons), a saving of about 48 liters (10.6 gallons) per shower.
Imagine that your home is a boat or hot air balloon. Any leak you find must be plugged. It's really the same with houses. As warm air migrates to the coldest areas, (ex. outside air) it seeps through walls, roofs, cracks, doors and windows, so it is important to know how to prevent heat loss.
Insulation
Although reinsulating an existing building is not usually cost-effective, a major renovation may provide a good opportunity to enhance the insulation. Poorly insulated but accessible roof spaces are one example.
Window liners
Adding a layer of selective plastic film to your windowpane will significantly block infrared rays from passing through the window and prevent heat from entering or exiting through radiation. Installed on ordinary glass, selective film can nearly double the resistance of single-glazed windows. Liners let you avoid the high cost of changing single-glazed windows to double-glazed windows.
Replace your doors
Replace your hollow outside doors with insulated doors. Touch the inside of your door. If the surface is colder than that of your inside walls, replace it with a better insulated door.
Clean your sliding doors
Clean the tracks of your sliding doors. Dust and debris of all kinds can force your doors out of alignment and let outside air in. Replace your doors
Replace your windows
If any of your windows are single-glazed, it would be a good idea to replace them with double or triple-glazed windows.
Now may be a good time to replace it with a dual-energy electricity/natural gas system. You could be eligible for grants and see recurring savings on your bill.
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