Our hot summer, which seemed to take forever to get here, is now officially over. Fall is here, bringing chilly nights and mornings, and I’m starting to prepare for our winter months. This is the time of year when I use the least amount of energy, since I’m not yet ready to turn on my baseboard heaters.
First things first, I pulled my air conditioners out of my windows. I have two – one upstairs and one downstairs. I’m sad to say it’s time to put them in the basement for storage until next summer.
Then, I’m closing off rooms that we don’t use. When I do this, the heat stays where it needs to be—in occupied rooms and I don’t waste energy by heating an empty room. I also flip the switch on my ceiling fan in the living room to reverse the air flow, forcing warm air down.
It’s not quite cold enough yet, but soon, I’ll turn on a space heater in our occupied rooms to take off the chill.
I appreciate that I have a window in every room. I open the curtains during the heat of the day to warm up my old house. When the sun sets, I close the curtains to keep the heat inside.
I know I am going to use a lot more energy in the coming months, with longer nights and colder temperatures, but for now, I’m putting on a sweater and enjoying a hot beverage.
Lisa, an Avista customer, bought her 1910 house because she loved the old-world character, some of which doesn’t make her house very energy efficient. Lisa is sharing her experience on taking some simple do-it-yourself improvements to inspire others to do the same. You’ll find her stories right here every Tuesday morning.