One of the biggest uses of home energy is the way we use heat.  A huge expense is due to a heating bill.  But, there are a few improvements that homeowners can do to save on their heating bill and in most cases; it does not mean you have to shell out a lot of money.

In a sentence that involves the word “improvements” and “house”, most people start to panic.  While some home improvements do cost money, there are steps you can take that will not break your budget to improve on the way that your home uses energy.  One of the biggest ways that a home misuses energy is through escaping heat.  Many homes suffer from drafts which let cold air in during the winter making it harder for you to heat your house.  Twenty percent of a homes heat can escape through drafts.  An easy solution to saving home energy here is to do some detective work and find out where those drafts are coming from.  Hold you hand up around the edges of your doors and windows to find where the drafts are coming from.  If you feel cold air on your hand, you have a draft.  Once you have found the draft there are several ways to seal it depending on where the draft sis coming from.  Use draft excluders around exterior or interior doors.  You can fill in any cracks or crevices on window frames, floors or floor boards with a filler or sealant.  Open curtains or blinds to let the heat of the sun in and close them after night fall to trap in warm air.  

A very simple way to save on you heating bill is to turn down your thermostat.  By turning your thermostat down even by one degree, you can reduce you consumption of energy by over 5 percent.  Plus, with the difference of one degree, you won’t even notice the temperature difference.  You can also save on your heating bill by not heating rooms you are not using.  While 2 zone heating is an investment if you home is not set up for it already, it will make a difference.  If all your bedrooms are upstairs and the floor is controlled by its own thermostat, you can save on your energy consumption if you turn the thermostat down on the other floor that you are not using while you sleep.   

The most cost efficient way to save energy is to make sure that your home is properly insulated.  Up to one third of your heating can escapes through the roof of your home.  Check out your roof a few days after it snows.  Is it starting to melt faster then snow on your neighbor’s roofs?  This is an easy way to see if heat is escaping from your roof and melting the snow.  There are many types of insulation products available today that work extremely well and will not break the bank.  You might also want to invest in cavity wall insulation to prevent another third of your heat from escaping.  These simple cost efficient solutions will improve the way that your home uses heat and will save you a ton of money on your heating bill in the long run.