In the winter we’ve been saving energy by turning the thermostat down in our house. We keep it at about 58°F all day long. In the living room we have a gas insert in our fireplace which we use to warm the living room in the evenings. We have electric space heaters in other rooms. We use those heaters to bring the rooms to a more comfortable temperature when we occupy them.
We’ve been doing this for a couple of winters now and find that we can save quite a bit of energy. It really isn’t that much different than in the summer when we occasionally use window air conditioners to keep us cool in certain areas of the house. We do however have to watch our moisture generation in the house. At the lower temperatures, there is a greater chance of moisture condensation on the walls and windows. We want to minimize the chance of mold growth, especially with the ReDS threat.
We have noticed that as a family we use our house differently in the winter. We spend more time together in the living room and the home communication theater. This gives us more time to interact than we normally do in the summer when often everyone goes off on their separate ways. I can look forward to the winter knowing that we will be spending time together as a family.
I wonder if it would help in houses with large open spaces to use folding screens or something like that to help keep the heat contained to a smaller area.
Comment by Tom — October 14, 2019 @ 3:01 pm
My thought is that if the heat is radiant like the warmth from a gas insert fireplace, this would be a good idea. For space heaters that are of a convective nature, you would need to enclose the area to reduce the air circulation. Full length curtains (tapestries?) or tall partitions could do the trick.
Comment by lsshen — October 14, 2019 @ 3:24 pm