With the rising costs of energy, more people are turning to alternative ways of heating their homes. No longer depending on high amounts of electricity, natural gas, or fuel oil, green options use eco-friendly energy that’s readily available in nature and can easily be converted into heat. If you are building a home or needing a new system, it may benefit you to do some research on what type of alternative heating system would work best for you.
Make less of an impact on the environment in the way you heat your home with these ideas.
Solar Heating
Homes that are in the sun, unobstructed by trees or buildings, are good candidates for solar heating. One of the cheapest ways to heat your home, solar heating collects the thermal energy from the sun to heat the air and/or water in your home. With solar power, you no longer have to rely on electricity or natural gas.
You may not know it, but solar water heating is an affordable option. The price of the system and installation can be regained in three to six years of energy savings.
Pellet Furnace
Similar to a wood-burning stove, a pellet furnace is a new way to heat your home in an economical and eco-friendly way. Rather than burning wood, the stove burns small pellets. These pellets are made from wood chips, compacted sawdust, or corn products. These systems are relatively cheap and easy to install. The furnace is outside and vents into the home, so no chimney is required. Pellets can be delivered to your home and are usually sold in 40-pound bags, which cost between $120 and $200 a ton. The average house uses two to three tons a year.
Great as pellet stoves are, they may cost a little more than wood-burning stoves and they may use a little electricity to pump the heat. Additionally, it is sometimes difficult to come by the pellets. Also, this method of heating is best for warming up smaller homes or as supplementary heat in a larger house.
Wood Fires and Furnaces
Like the smell and ambiance of a fire? Wood furnaces are more efficient than a wood stove or fireplace. They’ll save you money on electricity and gas, but require a lot of firewood that must be bought or chopped down, stored somewhere dry, and regularly fed into the furnace. A small wood stove can heat one room or a wood-burning system can pump heat throughout the whole or supplement a central heater.
A fire in your fireplace can add warmth to your home but without a fireplace insert, most of your heat is likely consumed by the fire itself and lost up the chimney. Have a fireplace insert professionally installed and your fire will stay warm and vent hot air into the room.
High-Efficiency Furnace
Heating systems that use less energy to produce long-lasting heat are high-efficiency units. Up front costs may be $1,000 more than a regular system, but long-term savings are worth the price.
In the event your system isn’t energy efficient, look into possible ways of updating it to become more efficient. A hot water heating system fuel economizer and a heat manager are two mechanisms that can be added to your system to reduce fuel consumption.
Radiant Heating
Home remodels or new construction may benefit from radiant heating. Using this type of heat method, you can cut your heating bills each month by 20 to 40 percent. With radiant heating, water is heated in a boiler or by solar power. This hot water then runs through small pipes in the flooring or walls, radiating heat throughout the home.
Myth: Going green is too costly.
Fact: There are many cost-effective ways to make your home and lifestyle green that can really save you money.
