Noah Buhayar is a fellow at Rocky Mountain
Institute.
If you live in a temperate or cold region of the United
States, chances are you've fired up your
home or apartment's heating system recently. The seasons change, the nights get
a little colder. You flip the switch on your thermostat from "A/C" or
"Off" to "Heat."
What's the net effect of everyone making that switch?
Most American households-more than 60 million-heat with natural gas. Another 32
million heat with electricity, 7.8 million with fuel oil, and 5 million with
propane. Consuming those fossil fuels equates to roughly 7 percent of total U.S.
greenhouse gas emissions, and about one-third of all residential greenhouse gas
emissions.
Then there's the cost. The average household in the United
States spends about $889 per year on space
heating. In particularly cold regions like the Northeast, annual home heating
bills can reach $1,100 or more for natural gas or $1,800 for propane.
Saving emissions, and money, can be accomplished in two ways. One is
"passive" improvements-measures you take to preserve the heat in your
home. The other is to invest in a more efficient system for generating the heat
in the first place.
Losing heat
Heat naturally flows from warmer spaces to cooler ones until the temperatures
are equal.
Inside a home, warm air rises and leaks out the attic and roof while drawing
cold air in through the basement.
Your home's shell (the walls, windows, doors, foundation, roof, attic, etc.)
determines its rate of heat loss. Leaky shells can be responsible for 25-40
percent of the load on your heating system.
You can prevent this heat loss by improving insulation, sealing leaks, and
replacing or reglazing your windows to minimize heat transfer. For more
information, check out RMI's Home Energy Brief No. 1:
Building Envelope.
Making your heating system more efficient
In addition to these measures, there are a number of steps you can take to
improve the efficiency of your heating system.
You can find more tips about maintaining your home heating system at Energy Star's
heating and cooling efficiency webpage.
Replacing your heating system
Want to do more? If your furnace is older than 10-15 years or your boiler is
older than 20 years, then a new heating system will be at least 30 percent more
efficient and will pay for itself in 5-10 years.
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy
has detailed information to help you determine whether to replace your furnace
or boiler, find a good contractor, size your heating system, and calculate your
return on investment.
If your annual heating and cooling costs are astronomical, consider augmenting
your heating system's capabilities with in-space heaters or looking into a few
new technologies like heat pumps and active solar heating.
You can find out more about both in RMI's Home Energy Brief No. 4: Space Heating.
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