A warm and cozy home is part of maintaining a good quality of life. A warm home is also essential for the elderly, young children or babies, and the ill or infirm. Establishing a warm home in colder climates or during the winter months can be a drain on energy and resources. It is also costly having to buy and burn fuel to create heat.
Finding Information About the Most Efficient Home Heating Systems
Maintaining a balance between the need for heat and the needs of the environment are a challenge for anyone interested in green living and having an energy efficient home. The most effective heating system is an efficient system, one that does not waste the earth's precious resources and one that is not cost prohibitive to run. While this is an excellent principle - how do you put it into practice, just how do you go about establishing the most efficient form of home heating system?
Fortunately there is plenty of help at hand. The increasing awareness of the importance of environmental issues and green living means that there are many organizations who offer excellent advice helping us to make well informed decisions. When undertaking a major task such as putting in a new heating system the implications will last many years. Most people anticipate a heating system will stay in place long into the future, meaning that good research and advice is important to ensuring the perfect system is installed. Some websites with excellent information include:
- American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy - This is an informative website that breaks down the information into easy to access sections. The heating section gives step-by-step information about energy efficient heating systems, including an easy to read chart detailing return on investment. This demonstrates the money that a new efficient system will save over time. In addition to the free information on the site, it is also possible to purchase the Consumer Guide to Home Energy Savings book.
- Energy Star - The Energy Star website ought to be high on the priority list of websites to visit when investigating the most efficient home heating systems. Energy Star is an initiative that encourages manufacturers to strive to produce efficient products that represent both good value for money and energy savings. The Energy Star symbol gives the consumer an instant indication of the efficiencies of a given product. The heating section of the website offers a number of downloadable pdf reports that indicate how to have a more efficient heating system.
- The Department of Energy - The website is packed full of information about energy efficiency along with hints and tips. Some of the reports are in Spanish as well as English.
Tips For Running an Efficient Heating System
There are many steps that households can take to ensure that existing heating systems are operated at maximum efficiency. These include:
- Install thermostats and set then according to needs. This saves heating rooms unnecessarily while ensuring that the rooms do not drop to an unacceptable temperature.
- Ensure that windows and doors are well insulated. Cold drafts will cool a room down and gaps in windows or doors will allow precious warm air to escape. Good thick curtains will help to keep the warm air in.
- Use space heaters to bring added warmth where required. Modern space heaters are economical to run and are ideal for bringing localized heating. This is useful for adding additional warmth to the room of an ill person or to help keep those who are cold natured sufficiently warm without cranking up the central unit.
- Use a timer to operate the heating system. This ensures that the heating system is operational at the times when it is most beneficial to the household, ensuring a comfortable living environment while not wasting energy.
Finding and running an efficient heating system is important to provide warmth and comfort without being too much of a drain on the environment.
