Tips for heating the house in winter without spending a “fortune” on the electricity bill

We begin by recalling the concept of energy poverty, which affects about 10% of the EU population and which results from the combination of three factors: low income, high energy bills and inefficient buildings. And we are well aware of the difficulties of Portuguese consumers in maintaining a pleasant temperature at home and being able to pay energy bills.

It is important to control the temperature of the space in which we live: if the house is very cold and humid, the walls can develop mold, which can negatively affect your health. It is therefore essential that you keep your home warm in the winter (and cool in the summer), always taking care to properly ventilate it.

• The easiest way to save energy when heating is to keep the interior at the recommended temperature: 21ºC during the day and 15-18ºC at night. However, in winter this is very difficult. The most common solution will be to turn on the heating, which means spending more energy, but by lowering 1ºC you can reduce energy consumption by 6-7%;
• Turn on the heating only when you need it, so that the room is pleasantly warm. But turning on the thermostat at higher temperatures at the beginning does not mean that you can heat the room faster, you will only be able to spend more energy and money;
• The radiator and the heater thermostat must always be unobstructed. It is not a good strategy to "hide them" behind curtains or furniture, as the heat will be as if blocked and the environment will not heat up properly. In addition, much more energy will be consumed;
• It is recommended that the heating not be switched off during the absence hours. The rule is only to reduce the heating, because if you turn off completely, the house will cool down quickly, which will lead to overheating to reach a favorable temperature. It reduces the temperature, but not below 15 degrees, otherwise the air becomes very humid and increases the risk of mold.

• A quarter of the heat that is lost in a house is due to the slits in the windows. A good solution to avoid this is to have double windows that are able to reduce heat loss by 50 percent.
• If you are out of the house during the day, close the doors before leaving. It is more efficient to conserve heat if you close each room in the house due to the different characteristics between them.
• After closing everything at night, it is natural that the next day the air is not the most pleasant. To ventilate and renew the air, just open the windows for five to ten minutes.
• Another way to insulate the house from the cold is to close the blinds and blinds. Windows are responsible for losing 25 to 30 percent of the heat in the home.
• The decoration can be a joker in the heating of the house. Much of the heat is lost through the walls, especially those facing the outside.

Source: idealista.pt