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TIME TO WINTERIZE
Winter is on its way. Time to batten down the hatches.
Stock the pantry. Prepare for the long snowy season
ahead. Okay, a tad dramatic. I live in the middle of NYC
on the 15th floor of an apartment building, not a drafty
house on an island in Maine that needs to be sealed up from the brutal winter winds. In all honesty, there isn’t too much battening down to do in my situation. But I have winter on my mind and energy saving is my thing.
Two formative childhood memories regarding energy consumption pop into my head—one a bit disturbing and one, I think, inspiring. My cousin suffered from asthma and needed an air conditioner in her room. Understandably, she used it regularly throughout the summer. Not so surprising. However, we often joked that she needed a bigger comforter on her bed on a hot summer night than during the dead of winter. She kept the room frosty—energy conservation, not so much. In fact, frost sometimes appeared on the windows. Lesson learned: Turn down the air conditioner. The other memory—the inspiring one—is of my grandmother, who would walk around her house wearing a parka in the winter. She was constantly turning down the thermostat—always concerned about wasting energy.
Maybe wearing a parka was a bit much, but her desire to save energy many years ago stuck with me. So whether you live in an apartment building or in a house in Maine, when that crisp air arrives, here are some easy tips on energy saving during the winter months.
1. Turn down the heat and put on a sweater, especially at night—the perfect time for that cozy comforter. Because we live on the 15th floor, we hardly ever need to turn on our radiators, as the heat from apartments below us travels up. Our apartment stays cool and comfortable.
2. Look for drafts on windows and doors and caulk and seal them. I sometimes put off removing our air conditioner. It is always a surprise when I walk into my bedroom and feel the cold air whipping around through some crack in the seal around the air conditioner. Plan ahead and remove any window units before the cold weather arrives.
3. Utilize the sun. Not only can the sun lighten up your home, it can also warm it up. So draw the curtains and blinds and let the sun stream in during the day. Then close the blinds in the evening to trap the heat in your home.
4. For you house owners, wrap your water heater with an insulating blanket. According to the U.S. Department of Energy:
“Unless your water heater’s storage tank already has a high R-value of insulation (at least R-24), adding insulation to it can reduce standby heat losses by 25 percent to 45 percent. This will save you around 4 percent to 9 percent in water heating costs.
“If you don’t know your water heater tank’s R-value, touch it. A tank that’s warm to the touch needs additional insulation.
“Insulating your storage water heater tank is fairly simple and inexpensive, and it will pay for itself in about a year. You can find pre-cut jackets or blankets available from around $10 to $20. Choose one with an insulating value of at least R-8. Some utilities sell them at low prices, offer rebates, and even install them at a low or no cost.”
5. Have your furnace serviced by a licensed heating and air-conditioning professional, and buy a supply of furnace filters to change regularly. If the filters get clogged or dirty, they won’t work as well. (While you are at it, make sure to change batteries in your carbon monoxide and smoke detectors.)
6. Lastly, don’t forget all the other ways that you can save energy by unplugging appliances like toasters and blenders. Plug appliances like TVs and stereos into power strips so you can turn everything off with one switch of a button when you are not using them.
So bring the comforter out from storage along with some nice warm sweaters and enjoy the upcoming winter months.
In 2006, Francesca Olivieri co-founded the company sage baby, an online eco-friendly baby store offering everything from organic clothes and skincare to furniture. She also writes a monthly blog for Scenic Hudson as well as contributes articles to Daily Candy Kids, CitiScoop and NRDC’s Simple Steps. She continues to watch her green business grow while seeking to apply her values to her own home and family. Francesca lives in New York City with her husband and three kids, 9, 7 and 4.
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