Eco-Friendly Tips for Keeping Your Home Warm

It's the holiday season, and your home may be filled with the warmth of family and friends - but you need to keep them warm too! Heating your home in the winter can not only be expensive, but also detrimental to the environment. Did you know that an astounding 4 tons of greenhouse gases are emitted by the average house just to keep it heated during the winter? Between the gas burned, the electricity used and the wood incinerated, the amount of greenhouse emissions is enormous. Learning to keep your home warm in an eco-friendly manner is not only better for the environment, but in many cases much more affordable.

So how do you keep your home warm in an eco-friendly way?

1. Seal Off Your Fireplace

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you have a fireplace, make sure you close both the gate inside the chimney, as well as the gate in front of the fireplace. Even just a small opening in your fireplace can result in cold air rushing into your home.

It's important to note that most fireplaces really don't produce heat. If you don't use the fireplace often, it might make more sense to seal it up and get an electric fireplace instead.

2. Install Storm Windows

Storm windows cost just over $10 a square foot to install. They will repay for their costs very quickly.

Your windows are usually the biggest source of heat loss in your home. Neither concrete nor wood nor drywall loses nearly as much heat as glass. Glass transfers hot and cold temperatures, if it's cold outside the glass will get cold and make the inside of your home cold as well.

Storm windows alone can boost your indoor temperature by 25 to 35 degrees. Just install them on the outside of your window and you're set.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

3. Spread the Heat Around

A lot of people heat their homes in a very ineffective manner. They have heaters running, but the heat just raises straight up to the ceiling and hangs out there. Heat naturally rises and doesn't travel sideways.

There are a of couple solutions for this. If you have a ceiling fan, turn it on. It seems counter intuitive to turn a fan on when it's cold, but it can really go a long way towards spreading the heat around.

You can also get thermodynamic fans that you place on top of heaters. These fans are powered by the heat itself, so you don't need to plug them in. They're green and energy efficient and can help blow warm air throughout your home.

4. The Smoke Trick

Finally, seal off any sources of air into your home. These could be from loose window seals, from the sides of doors, from loose plumbing and more.

How do you find these tiny gaps? Just light a candle. Walk around the house with your candle. Anywhere you suspect there might be a leak, put the candle near it. If there's wind, the flame or the smoke will move. Seal whatever leaks you find.

Keeping your house warm doesn't have to cost a bundle every year. These techniques will help you keep your house warm for very little cost, as well as keep your family eco-friendly and green.