The cold weather has arrived and brought concerns about the cost of heating the house and high electricity bills. It’s good to know that saving on the electricity bill is possible while keeping your home at a comfortable temperature. We’ll see how to achieve it with a just few small changes to your habits or some tweaks around the house.
Floors:
The floor is one of the primary sources of heat loss in the home. If yours is the type of flooring that allows much heat to escape, then consider adding rugs. These will help to keep the heat in and add a feeling of warmth.
Sunlight:
Especially for those lucky enough to live on the Mediterranean, the long sunny days and abundance of light allow homes here to be heated naturally. So, when it’s sunny, open the curtains and blinds to let the warmth in. Likewise, when the sun goes down and the temperature drops, close the curtains and blinds to keep the heat from escaping.
Doors:
It seems obvious, but we don’t always do it – keep the doors closed; it makes it much easier to keep the rooms warm. If you have heating in each room, using radiators, for example, you can heat the specific areas of the house that need heating, and once they warm-up, you can turn them off and close the door to retain the heat.
Walls:
Can you insulate walls without spending a fortune? Yes! Bookcases, paintings, murals and even upholstery will all help keep the heat in the walls. Any of these options will help make the room feel warmer and more welcoming.
Central Heating:
The best way to heat a home is with central heating, but this also involves a considerable increase in consumption. That said, here are some tricks to help limit that consumption:
Regulate the temperature to keep it in equilibrium. For example, a temperature of around 22º during the day should be warm enough, and by applying the tips outlined above to keep the heat in the house, the warmth generated during the day should be able to see you through the night.
Use timers. Don’t leave the heating on if you’re not at home; set it to turn on around an hour before you get home or an hour before you get out of bed. This way, the house will be warm, and you won’t need to have the heating on all day.
Aerothermal systems: aerothermal is a very efficient and clean air conditioning system that uses external thermal energy to warm the home. Many TM Real Estate Group’s residential properties have this system installed, consuming less energy than traditional heating systems.
These are some of the options that we believe will help you this winter. Do you know of any others? For example, do you use renewable energy to heat your home? Let us know what you think!
