This isn’t just economics. This is war.
And like any campaign, you need a battle strategy to figure out how to cut and slash those skyrocketing home heating bills down to levels your budget can survive.
In Oakland Township, Mich., Claire Rewold has caulked the windows on her 100-year-old farmhouse, put up storm windows, and replaced an exterior door so she no longer has to hang a blanket over it to keep out winter drafts.
“It’s horrible,” said the early education specialist of the rapidly soaring prices. “A lot of people are going to be really strapped this year just trying to stay warm.”
Happily, you are not helpless. Heat-saving steps you can take to head the enemy off at the pass range from the easy to the expensive, said Dave Moran of Home Energy Analysis Team in St. Clair County, Mich.
In Northville, Mich., retirees John and Linda Osborne have hired HandyPro Handyman Service to caulk around the outside of their 15 windows.
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“I’d been putting it off,” said Linda Osborne, “but the rising prices gave me the impetus to think I better do something quick.”
She and her husband already have installed a high-efficiency gas furnace and put down more insulation.
Gas powers nearly everything in their house–furnace, hot-water heater and drier. Last year, their highest monthly bills averaged $200 a month. This year, the former schoolteachers could easily be looking at an extra $70 a month.
Customers who get their gas from DTE Energy will see a 77 percent hike.
Asked how they’ll cope, Linda Osborne laughed a little. “Denial works for me,” she said, adding that she and her husband will likely eat out less “or cut down on the sprinkling in the summer, because that cost is very high.”
Both heating oil and natural gas are still cheaper than electrical heat, according to DTE Energy officials.
Even so, with winter barreling down, now’s the time to button up. Here are ways you can dial down your energy pain:
– It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. According to the Department of Energy, a humidifier boosts the “heat index” and makes 68 degrees feel like 76. Plus, it’ll keep your skin from drying out.
– Get high-tech. A computerized thermostat, which ranges from $70 to $200, will guarantee your heat gets reduced overnight and during the work day when no one’s at home.
– Turn it down. Smart consumers will pile on the blankets, put on long underwear, and turn down the thermostat, said Stephen Ewing, president of DTE Energy Gas. “For every degree you dial down,” he said, “you save 3 percent on your bill.”
– Go solar. The Ontario Ministry of Energy recommends opening south-facing curtains to take advantage of the sun’s heat, then shutting them at night. Clean glass helps too.
– Don’t heat the great outdoors. Fireplaces can vent as much as 24,000 cubic feet of furnace-heated air to the outside–particularly once the fire has died down and is just smoldering. Close the damper when the fireplace is not in use.
A modern, airtight wood stove, however, might be a way to supplement your heating needs at considerable savings.
An average household that uses 700 gallons of heating oil a winter will shell out roughly $1,900 this year.
But according to the federal government’s National Agricultural Safety Database, you can get the same heat output with 6.5 cords of hardwood.
Cords in the Detroit area are running around $80, which means an annual heating total of $520–about $1,380 in savings.
– Spread a blanket. Putting down 12 inches of insulation in your attic is the easiest and most cost-effective way to warm up your house. In addition, walls, floors and basement foundation can all profit from the same treatment.
Common insulation types include fiberglass rolls or batts, cut to ordinary joist widths, or loose-fill insulation that can be blown into walls or the attic.
– Keep your furnace happy. Change filters in forced-air systems once a month. Hot-water radiators need to be bled once or twice a season, while steam radiators have to have sediments removed a couple times a year. Consult your owner’s manual for required maintenance.
Also, clean registers as needed, and make sure furniture or drapes aren’t blocking them.
– Windows matter. If you’ve got them, get those storm windows in place. If not, a sheet of plastic stretched and taped across the inside of a window can also reduce heat leakage by 25 percent to 50 percent.
New windows, of course, do even more, and today come in energy-efficient, gas-filled double-paned varieties that require no storm windows. Stanford Blanck, vice president of Wallside Windows in Taylor, Mich., said the cost for replacing a typical 28-by-45 inch window “would be under $300.”
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– Houses shouldn’t leak. Doors and windows are responsible for about a third of a house’s energy drain. Install weatherstripping around doors, and caulk leaky windows as well as any cracks where air can get through. Rope caulk is available from hardware stores, and can be reused next year.