As Westporters receive winter heating bills, they shiver.
Sustainable Westport feels your pain. To help, they encourage residents to transition to “reliable, resilient, renewable energy.”
They alsooffer many small changes and choices, which add up to big impacts. For example:
Schedule a Home Energy Assessment. A technician will visit your home and provide a detailed energy report, immediately install basic weatherization and energy-saving measures, and recommend other energy-saving improvements.
They will also provide information on rebates and financing for the recommended insulation projects, heat pumps and more. Participants pay $75 for this service. They receive, on average, $600 in services, and save up to $180 annually in return.
Homeowners are eligible for this service every 6 years. If you’ve had one long ago, it may be time for a repeat visit.
For information on a home energy assessment — including how to schedule one — click here. For a first-person experience, click here.
– 
A home energy assessment includes bulb-checking.
Check your insulation. Effective insulation can reduce heating and cooling bills by 15% or more. As part of the recommendations from a home energy assessment, you could receive up to 75% off approved insulation upgrades.
Open (and close) curtains. Up to 30% of a home’s heating energy can be lost through windows. During the winter, open your curtains during the day to let the sunlight in. Close them at night to keep the cold air out.
Adjust your ceiling fan. Set your ceiling fan to spin clockwise. This helps push down warm air gathered near the ceiling, to heat the room evenly.
Lower your thermostat. Each degree is the equivalent of 1% energy savings. Turning the thermostat down 5 degrees can equate to a $100 annual fuel bill decrease. A smart thermostat can be a great tool to help do this automatically.
Set your water heater to 120℉. Hot water heaters use up to 17% of a home’s energy. Turning the temperature down can save 4% to 22% of the energy needed to heat your water.
The hotter your shower, the higher your bills.
Run full loads of laundry in cold water. 90% of the energy used by a washer is to heat the water. Washing in cold water can significantly lower your machine’s energy use.
Ensure all bulbs are LEDs. Switching 10 60-watt incandescent bulbs for the equivalent LEDs could save $300 or more per year.
Regular appliance maintenance. Replacing the filters on your HVAC equipment and performing other appliance maintenance routinely not only extends the life of your appliances, but ensures they run more efficiently, thus lowering energy costs.
Consider heat pumps. They are a clean, versatile heating and cooling solution that reduces greenhouse emissions. With rebates of up to $15,000, now is a great time to upgrade.
To find out more, register for Sustainable Westport’s “Heat Pumps 101” webinar (March 5, 7 to 8 p.m.). The panel includes heat pump experts, and Westporters who have installed heat pumps in their homes. Click here to register.
(“06880” regularly covers the Westport environmental scene. We help you save money, too. We hope that, with a bit of those savings, you’ll support our hyper-local work. Just click here. Thank you!)
The median income in town is $237,000 a year; how about some eleemosynary being set up to have those who don’t have to worry so much about heat bills helping them that do…I am not the one to set up such, but sure would contribute.
Great idea! And it has existed for years, through Westport’s Department of Human Services. It’s called the “Warmup Fund.” Click here to donate: https://client.pointandpay.net/web/TownofWestportDonations
Be sure to select the “Warmup Fund” from the dropdown menu.
The “Warmup Fund” 😎
Reminds me of the episode on Seinfeld where George told his boss that he had made a donation to “The Human Fund” on his behalf as a holiday gift. “Serenity NOW!!!”
Consider heat pumps… Tell that to everyone who just got their bills after that very cold stretch… Not so efficient at lower temps….
As Al Gore would say: “An Inconvenient Truth.”
My biggest energy bill savings were accomplished when I switched from a [large] hot water tank (which keeps that entire tank of water hot 24/7) to a “tank-less” on-demand hot water system. That switch paid for itself within 6 months and has significantly reduced my gas usage (how I heat my hot water) and saved me significant money since.
My biggest energy bill savings were when I started taking “navy showers” (thank you Quantico!!!) using cold water.
We had a company blow insulation into our attics, insulate around recessed lights and insulate the attic access door. 10 to 15% savings on oil bill.
Even better on electric savings- 2 years ago we installed 32 solar panels on our south facing roofs and Tesla batteries. The system has eliminated our electric bill with a monthly credit varying from one hundred to two hundred dollars. During outages the house has run seamlessly on the batteries that are recharged whenever the sun is shining. Win win for the environment and our family.
And the cost total cost of that installation, Steve….? My uneducated guess is that them that have trouble paying electric bills just ain’t in a position to spend the dough needed for such.
Hi Dan Katz-
Unfortunately that is probably true today- however at the time for those who could afford it my payback is about 5 years. (I must add I had the advantage of a government program that covered 30% of the total cost. That program may have been ended by the current resident of the White House.)
Two of our families who live in the Fairfield area installed panels years ago with no up front cost- so at least back then it was still available and affordable to most home owners.
Thanks for clarifying.
A couple of years ago as part of a major re-model we put spray foam insulation in all our attic spaces as well as external walls.
Daily oil consumption is down from 8 gallons a day to 6- great percentage saving yes- in actual dollars not so much. Maybe $750 saved per year for a multi thousand dollar spend. The house is much less drafty which is a big benefit but at what cost.
The spray foam is hydrocarbon based so any eco benefit of not burning 300 gallons of diesel is negated by the manufacture of the foam!
Yes have to weigh the environmental impact of producing things like solar panels and batteries, as well as disposing at end of useful life. Some things aren’t as green as people think .