How to Keep Your Home Warm Sustainably

Is there a way to keep your home warm without using a lot of electricity? And can you do this whilst saving the load on the national grid, money, and the environment as a whole? We are happy to report that the answer is yes!

Cleanipedia has the answers to creating an efficient, sustainable, warm home! We'll show you how to keep your home warm using sustainable methods like insulation and weatherproofing and give you the best tips on home warmth and sustainability.

7 Sustainable Ways To Keep Your Home Warm

When it comes to maintaining a warm home sustainably, there are meaningful things you can do that will make a big impact. Many South African homes are not built with creating warmth in mind, they are often designed in rather the opposite way in terms of keeping it open plan and airy. This is because we have long, hot summers and short winters, and therefore we think that a home needs to be designed to be cool for the summer month because they are the longest.

However, sustainably warming your home is essential not only to keep your home warm during the shorter winter months but also to help contribute to keeping it cooler in summer.

Here are our top tips on how to keep your home warm (and cool) all year round:

Insulate your home

Insulation is one of the factors that will make the biggest difference in maintaining a warm home in the cooler months. Adding insulation to your ceiling can affect the ambient temperature of your home by quite a few degrees. Heat rises, so when you warm the rooms of your home, the hot air rises into the ceiling and is trapped by the insulation, which then keeps it in. This warmth is then radiated down into the home again from the ceiling insulation. You will find that you won’t have to heat your home half as much when you have insulation as you would without.

There are many different types of insulation out there, but we encourage you to look at recycled insulation and other green insulation to make the biggest impact on the environment.

Want to know more about saving energy in the home? Read our blog on Simple Ways To Save Energy now.

Open The Curtains

By opening the curtains of your home, you’re allowing natural sunlight into your home. Not only will this make your home appear lighter and brighter, but it actually has a warming effect too. The sunlight will warm areas of the home like flooring, walling and furniture. The heat retained in these elements will be radiated into the air around them and this has a heating effect in the home.

Choose A Fireplace

If you have the choice between using an electric or gas heater versus a fireplace, the most sustainable and inexpensive choice is to light that fire! All you will need to do is stock up on wood and firelighters in order to start. A fireplace will offer excellent ambient heat around it, which will also radiate throughout the home too. For best results on the coldest days, keep the fire going all day to keep the source of heat steady. Always remember to practice fire safety when making a fire in your home, like:

• Always make sure you keep a grate on the fireplace or keep the door closed and latched to prevent any embers from sparking onto the floor or furniture around it.

• Never allow small children to play with matches.

• Always put the fire out with water before going to bed.

Wrap Up The Geyser

By wrapping your geyser with insulation, you can maintain the heat of the water for much longer, which will in turn require much less electricity usage during the day to keep the water heated. Wrapping your geyser will significantly lower your electricity usage costs and will keep your water in the geyser much hotter for longer.

Draught-proof Your Doors & Windows

In very cold climates, homes are built with high levels of insulation around windows and doors to ensure that no cold air or draughts get into homes. In South Africa, we are not as pedantic when it comes to this, which often leads to windows and doors allowing draughts into the home all year round. If you have wide gaps under your external doors (and internal doors) as well as windows that do not close properly, you should try and draught-proof them to increase the ambient warmth of the home. You can use simple, inexpensive tools like door blocks or door blankets for doors and fix any old windows so that they close properly.

Use Blankets

We often think that the ambient temperature of the home needs to be scorching in order to be warm. This is important, and maintaining a warm home is essential, but one of the cheapest ways of keeping warm in the colder months is to use a blanket. Invest in some inexpensive blankets and leave them in common areas of the home like the lounge and TV rooms, so that people can use them to keep warm.

Dress Warmly

Another overlooked way of sustainably keeping cosy in winter is to dress warmly. Make sure you always layer in winter, starting with a vest or thermal layer first. If you keep the body heat in and around your body, your need to crank the heaters will be less.

For more sustainable living hacks, read our blog on What Is Sustainable Living? 10 Green Living Tips now.

For more tips and tricks for the home, visit Cleanipedia today.