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No one likes to be cold. Shivering in a blanket, puffing clouds of breath and trying to warm numb fingers – it’s nobody’s idea of a good time.
So, what do we do when the cool season comes around and the house starts to get chilly? How do we keep our house cosy and warm in winter? And how do we make sure our methods are eco-friendly and sustainable?
To help us get to the bottom of this cold conundrum, we asked Dr Ameeta Jain, Associate Professor in Property and Real Estate at Deakin University, and Tom Keel, lecturer in Property, Real Estate and Sustainable Building.
Whether you’re shivering already, trying to heat more sustainably or just looking to save some money on heating, here are some heating tips to keep in mind.
There’s nothing better than a lovely, warm house and some homes just seem to hold the heat so well. They’re always warm and comfortable, even without a heater in sight! So, what gives? There are a few ways that homes keep warm in winter, according to Jain.
‘The reason why different homes hold heat at different levels is based on a combination of factors, one of which is the level and quality of insulation in them,’ Jain says. ‘With insulation, the higher rating it is and the more of it that is installed, the warmer a home will generally be.’
Beyond insulation, Jain says that homes keep their heat better if they’re constructed from the right building materials (like brick, stone, and concrete), are smaller (and not open plan, ideally), and get hit by plenty of warming sunlight.
To heat a poorly insulated house, we could just add good insulation or upgrade building materials, right? Well, it’s not always a practical option. Luckily, there are some easier ways to keep a house warm in winter without a heater. Keel recommends closing the curtains at night, sealing gaps in doors and windows, putting down some rugs, or even just layering up with an extra jumper.
‘There are many ways to help keep oneself warm without a heater once we understand that our thermal comfort is directly related to the clothing we wear, the type of activities we do or don’t do, and other conditions that we create for ourselves,’ Keel says. ‘The more we can enclose ourselves, the warmer we can be.’
Keeping a house warm in winter is one thing, but how do we heat a home sustainably?
Jain says that the most sustainable heat source is the sun, because it’s entirely natural and comes sans carbon emissions. Beyond that, the most sustainable energy is renewable, like solar, wind or geothermal. Don’t worry if you can’t control the sun or wind, though – try these sustainable heating tips instead.
‘In addition to the chosen source of energy, we should also consider the efficiency of the different appliances as there are big variants in the amount of energy used by different appliance types,’ says Jain. ‘Newer innovations such as heat-exchange technology have brought big improvements in energy efficiency.’
If you ask Sustainability Victoria, the most energy efficient way to keep your house warm in winter is with electric reverse-cycle split-systems (though a ducted reverse-cycle is good, too).
If all you can afford is a portable electric heater, that’s okay – just keep the temperature around 18°C to 20°C.
Trying to warm up a room like a bedroom without a heater? Don’t sleep on curtains. Windows can cause heat loss of up to 30%, and that’s bad news if you’re trying to keep the house warm in winter. Curtains can keep a room warm by preventing air from hitting those cold windows, making them an easy upgrade for a cold house.
One thing to keep in mind here is that not all window furnishings are made equal. Keel says that, even though roller blinds and other modern styles can look great, they aren’t always effective at keeping the heat in. There are a few reasons to leave contemporary window fashion for the interior designers and go for old school curtains instead.
‘This is due to the type and thickness of the materials they used, the fact that curtains went beyond the edge of the window pane and also covered the entire frame and also because they had pelmets which are excellent in heat management around windows (and stopping heat from leaving the room through the glass),’ says Keel.
Gas and electricity are a bit like Apple and Android – everyone seems to stick with one or the other. But does gas or electricity makes it cheaper to heat your house? The answer, says Jain, isn’t exactly clear cut, but electricity generally wins in the end.
‘The cost of using gas to heat a home keeps rising, and the cost of electricity looks likely to rise in the future as solar-energy feed-in-tariffs have been reduced and the cost of establishing electricity infrastructure continues,’ she says. ‘It’s not fully clear to say which is cheaper to use currently, as there are many household variables, however it seems that in the future electricity will be the most cost-effective long-term option, particularly once the grid network is fully expanded.’
The Australian Climate Council recommends electricity over gas, saying that, at the time of writing, switching from gas to electricity could save households between $514 and $1,899. So, if you’re trying to warm the house in winter and stay energy efficient, electricity is the way to go.
Have you ever had ‘bill shock’? It’s the fright we get when we check a bill, only to find the balance owed has risen unexpectedly since the last bill.
It’s common in winter as we all turn up the dial on our heaters, with energy prices rising up to $200 more in the cold season. Add the fact that Australian electricity prices keep rising anyway (between 0.5% to 9.7% for residential customers) and it’s fair to say that energy bills can be a real sore point in winter.
If you’re worried about keeping your house warm in winter while managing those rising energy bills, here are some ideas to keep in mind.
‘For existing homes, a lot of determinants of our bill size are to do with our occupant behaviour and decision making,’ Jain says. ‘If we try to heat an entire home 24 hours a day whilst walking around in t-shirts, we will always have large bills, so the first step in lowering our bills is to be aware of our own habits and behaviours and make changes.’
Some suggestions for saving on energy bills this winter include:
It’s not always easy but, with a few little adjustments here and there, we can all balance comfort and affordability while keeping our houses warm this winter.
Associate Professor in Property & Real Estate in the Department of Finance at the Deakin Business School.
Associate Lecturer in the Department of Finance in Deakin Business School.
