With soaring energy prices on gas and electric, what else can I use to heat or light my home?

Question

With soaring energy prices on gas and electric, what else can I use to heat or light my home?

Answer 1

you could look into a wind power generator

Answer 2

Replace incandescent light bulbs with CFLs.

Use solar fixtures for outdoor lighting.

Answer 3

The Left is propagating this and the only way to change it is with your vote..

Answer 4

jacket or blanket.... candles

Answer 5

Solar power, expensive to set up but saves so much money in the long run!! And helps save the planet too.

Answer 6

It's not always easy to scale back your energy use, but it's the single best way to 'create energy' to heat your home.

First, insulate the h**l out of your place. A lot of governments will actually give you massive grants for this purpose, so you can do this job virtually for free. I'd say go with double the recommended insulation value. It'll cost a bit, but you'll get it back in spades.

Next, kill all incandescent lighting. It's inefficient on a ridiculous scale. a little 10W compact fluorescent will give the same light as a 100W light bulb, and it won't burn out in any span of time you likely care about. The other option is to use LED lights, which will last even longer than the compact fluorescents, are even more efficient, but as a downside aren't as bright.

Next, try going for a ground heat exchanger system. It'll cost more than a regular furnace, but again you can get a grant for it, and it'll reduce your energy bills by an order of magnitude.

With your home so well sealed up (because you spent the money to insulate it really well), you'll want to get fresh air from outside. On the other hand, you don't want to get -40C fresh air from outside. The solution is to combine three things: First, a heat exchanger which takes the hot or cold air leaving the house and uses it to heat or cool the incoming air. Second, an excellent filtration system so the air coming into the house is of excellent quality. Finally, an excellent distribution system which ensures there's constant air flow into and out of every room in the house. This should mean you can remove the fan in your bathroom and insulate that path of heat loss.

Using all these ideas, your energy consumption should be very low. I wouldn't be suprised to see 10kW max peak. As a final idea, take out a loan, and put up a windmill whose rating is much larger than your household power consumption. With this in place, you will now be making excess power, and selling it back to the power company. Your energy efficient house will make you money.

Answer 7

A generator is a good solution. However, some of them make a lot of noise, your neighbors will come knocking. There is a "silent generator," that is called a Whisperer ,but it is very expensive, but would be worth the investment over the long run. You could use a solar charger that uses the sunlight. However, on a bleaky day, you might have problems. Another suggestion is a review I saw at this website http://homemadehydrogenfuelcar.googlepag... You will gather helpful information that is too much to mention here.

Answer 8

also called a ground source heat pump or geothermal energy system.  

I tore my oil fired furnace out in December and have been heating & cooling with the GSHP ever since.  Its great and at $4.00+ heating oil, I will be in the black on the system in about 4+ years.

Answer 9

Oil, wood they are about your only things left to you

Answer 10

Dual system heat pump...takes care of winter heating and summer cooling at a great savings

Answer 11

Wood/coal burner, I bought  a Stovax 3 years ago and have never paid for any fuel to burn, I invested in a chop-saw (in the garage) and once people got to know I had the burner they started to drop off wood as in tree trunks and pallets, and because pallets are so easy to get hold of I have never run short in fact I have a couple of winters fuel chopped up ready.  The only problem is you cannot turn them down and they can get incredibly hot.

Answer 12

Before you do any of these great ideas, make sure your home is as well insulated as it can be - extra layers in the roof space (fleece and paper fibre options available), extra thick curtains at the windows (in cold months), Thick curtains at the doors too, draught excluders in front of the doors and round them.  An extra layer of clothes eg cardigan or vest/tshirt before turning up the heating.

Having your heating on a lower setting but continuously keeps the house at a more even temperature so it doesnt have to heat the whole house up from scratch at certain pre set times of the day, but continues to trickle out heat throughout the day.

To help with lighting, have plenty of glass and mirrors around to reflect the light, makes every where brighter and then you can use less lighting and lower wattage bulbs.

Answer 13

Wood burning stove and candles.

Answer 14

We have a good old fashioned fireplace with working fire.

Also good for destroying post and documents you do not want in the rubbish.

Answer 15

Lots of good ideas there. Depending on where you live you may also choose to include solar heating in the mix. even on overcast days there is considerable energy being poured onto your home by the sun. Collect it by having strategic skylights, large windows (multi glazed to let in the light and trap the heat.)(with awnings or shading in summer). Heat banks such as solid slab floors, indoor water tanks, etc to capture and store the heat. Solar collectors on the roof to capture heat and pump it into your house. A few hundred litres of water trap a lot of heat and moderate temperatures in your home.