I’ve done the math and realized that the cost of heating and cooling adds up to around 50% of our household energy expenses.
It’s not all that surprising due to the demands of our local weather.
The summers are hot and humid with temperatures often soaring into the upper eighties. The winters are especially brutal with conditions in the negative digits, harsh wind chill and feet of snow. Fall and spring are usually wet, chilly and windy. For the majority of the year, it’s necessary to run either the furnace or the air conditioner. I’m either paying a gigantic gas bill or a huge electric bill. I’ve made it my mission to reduce those costs. I enrolled in a maintenance program with a local HVAC contractor that includes two services per year. A technician inspects, cleans and adjusts the air conditioner in the spring and does the same to the furnace in the fall. Because of this regular upkeep, I can be sure that both systems are operating at peak efficiency and reliability. I make sure to change the air filters regularly, and I’ve invested into a smart thermostat. The thermostat includes occupancy sensors that register whether or not the various rooms are in use. When the area is empty, it automatically adjusts temperature to conserve energy. I spent a small fortune on new windows and exterior doors for our home and carefully caulked and weatherstripped. I spent a really awful Saturday crawling around in the attic and installing new insulation, and I put up ceiling fans in most of the rooms. The ceiling fans work to push the heat down toward the floor during the winter and encourage it up and out in the summer. All of these efforts have helped but I’m still unhappy with the cost of temperature control.