With a new baby at home, it’s tempting to crank up the heat on these cold November days.  When the energy bill arrives, however, it can be shocking to see how an increase of just a few degrees on the thermostat can impact the utility bill and your energy output.  Since heating the home takes up about half of a family’s energy costs each month, finding a few ways to cut back can make a huge difference in your expenses and your carbon footprint.

  •  Don’t heat what you don’t use:  If you want baby to stay extra warm, you can heat up her room and keep the rest of the house a bit cooler.  Close the doors to unused rooms and turn the thermostat to 55 degrees to avoid mildew.
  • Bundle up: You don’t need to forgo comfort to save the planet.  Just throw on an extra layer and snuggle your baby into a warm blanket.  A reduction of just three degrees can save you five percent on your heating bill—but remember you can still keep baby’s room warm if you’d like. Decrease your overall house temperature by one degree each week to adjust gradually.  Setting your thermostat just two degrees lower over the course of a year will save an impressive 2,000 pounds in CO2 emissions.
  • Turn down the heat when you’re gone: You may have fallen prey to the myth that it takes more energy to heat up a cold house than to leave the heat running.  Wrong!  Turning the heat down while away from home or sleeping always saves energy.
  • Lower the temperature on your water heater: Having the temperature for hot water set to higher than 120 degrees is both wasteful and dangerously hot.  Simply turning down the water heater will cut your energy use by six percent—and you’ll probably never even notice the difference!
  • Make sure your home is well insulated:  After four years of incredibly high energy bills, my brother just learned that his house does not have insulation!  He has been pouring heat (and carbon emissions) into the air and money out the window.   Believe it or not, good insulation makes more of a difference than having solar panels on your home.  It’s the least expensive and most effective thing you can do to save energy.  Many local utility companies will do energy audits to check whether your home is well insulated.

What have you done to keep your family’s heating bills in check?  Those of you who live in frigid areas must have some tips for limiting energy costs while keeping baby comfy.  Please share your wisdom with the rest of us!

We’d also like to announce that the winner of our My Little Pakora giveaway is Terra Jones from The Jones Journey.  Thanks for entering Terra! 

For more Thrifty Green Thursday tips, check out the links below.  If you’d like to join us this week click here to get started.  Thanks for visiting!