[00:00:00] Speaker A: What kind of heating system do you have in your home? Is it actually working for you or is it a money pit?
[00:00:06] Speaker B: Welcome to the your Energy Footprint podcast.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Where we cover easy ways to lower.
[00:00:10] Speaker B: Your energy bill and other ways to make your home more sustainable, with a few energy industry highlights sprinkled in. Hi, I'm Robin Sidoff and I've been in the energy industry for the past 20 years in both utilities and power generation, and I'll explain everything you need to know for some quick wins in your home to become more sustainable and save some money. Now, let's dig in.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Today I wanted to talk about an option if your heating bill feels out of control. While it's not so easy to just up and change your heating system to do something that's more energy efficient, there are some reasonable ways to mitigate your costs over the winter. I realize this episode is coming out on the spring equinox, so hopefully the winter heating season is coming to an end. Before we forget about how much our heating bills have been over the last few months, it's a good time to reflect and consider improvements to make for next year.
Now there's a scenario where your heating system is approaching the end of its useful life and it's time to plan for a replacement. I'm not going to get into this today because I'm still researching for my own home, but I will just say heat pumps should definitely be added to your list of options to consider to replace your current system.
Today we're going to talk about an easy swap that could save you money without the large upfront investment. My current home is the first home that I have lived in with electric baseboard heating. It's not in the whole house, but it is in one part of the finished basement. We used it when we first moved in, but really it didn't do anything to warm up the space. And the thermostat is just a dial so you have to remember to turn it off since it would likely not be turned off ever. We have a policy just not to turn it on. I was curious how much electricity if it would use if we just left it on. I was curious how much electricity it would use if we just left it on. I found an article on the spruce with some general rules of thumb and 12ft of baseboard radiator will likely use 3 electricity to operate. It would be three kilowatt hours for each hour that it's on. If I used it 4 hours per day for a month with my twenty five cents per kilowatt hour rate, that's $90 a month, and I'm sure the basement would still feel cold.
So what did we decide to do instead? We've gotten a few space heaters from Amazon that we use throughout the house as needed, and in the basement we direct those towards the kids where they're playing. Yes, the heat does dissipate around the room, but it's more concentrated and it can be set up to automatically shut off. Plus, my favorite part is that it actually has blowers, so the heat gets to you faster.
The space heater that we now use is 1500 watts or 1.5 kw, so.
[00:02:57] Speaker B: It should roughly cut our costs in.
[00:02:59] Speaker A: Half and the kids are more comfortable. Before you run out to get a space heater, you should consider how you can use one safely as they do pose a fire risk. First, you want to make sure that this space heater includes the UL certified logo, which means it's been tested for safety. Make sure that it's not damaged, and if you're using it around children or pets like I do, make sure that it doesn't get too hot so that anybody could be burned and turn it off when you leave the room.
Do keep it a few feet away from anything that could be flammable and make sure you plug the space heater directly into the wall outlet and unplug it when it's not in use. It goes without saying that you should also read the manufacturer's warning label and instructions for use. If something looks like it's a bad idea, it probably is. I'll include the link to the spruce article in the show notes, but if you have electric heat in your home, you could probably do a similar calculation to see how much you could save by using space heaters as needed instead of radiating heat instead of electric baseboard heat.
That's it for today. Would a space heater help you save money on your electric bill next winter? Check the show notes for the link to the Spruce article. If there are any topics you'd like me to cover in future episodes, please reach out and let me know. You can email me directly at
[email protected] or find me on Instagram at yourenergyfootprint. On next week's episode, we'll talk about what regions of the country are likely to be economic for residential solar.
If you've enjoyed today's podcast, please rate and review please rate and review it to help more listeners find us. I really appreciate it. Our mission at your energy footprint is to educate consumers on ways you could be more energy efficient at home, as well as how to make significant investments like solar while saving money. You can find more information on our courses for homeowners interested in installing rooftop solar on our website, www.yourenergyfootprint.com. All of our information is unbiased and based on my 20 years of experience working for utilities and as a renewable developer, we are not affiliated with any installers.
That's it for today. Would a space heater help you save.
[00:05:23] Speaker C: On your electric bill next winter?
Check the show notes for a link to the Spruce article. If there are any topics you'd like me to cover on future episodes, please reach out and let me know. You can email me directly at
[email protected] or find me on Instagram at yourenergyfootprint. On next week's episode, we'll talk about what regions of the country are likely to be economic for residential solar.
If you enjoyed today's podcast, please rate and review this podcast to help more listeners find us. I really appreciate it. Our mission at your energy footprint is to educate consumers on ways you can be more energy efficient at home, as well as how to make significant investments like solar while saving money. You can find more information on our courses for homeowners interested in installing rooftop solar on our website WW dot yourenergyfootprint.com. It all of our information is unbiased and based on my 20 years of experience working for utilities and as a renewable developer, we are not affiliated with any installers.
