Sweater Weather

In January’s Energy Efficiency calendar illustration, Livia Jatlow-Carter drew a person wearing a sweatshirt, instead of turning up the heat in their house. This is an “old-school” strategy that everyone, young and old, can use to save energy!

Do you know what happens when you turn up the thermostat in your house? If you crank the dial of your bedroom thermostat to 90 degrees, the thermostat calculates the difference between 90˚ and the actual temperature of your room, and tells the equipment that heats your room to work really hard to warm up your room to the temperature of a hot summer day.

Setting your thermostat to a less tropical temperature of 70 degrees in the winter helps your heating equipment save energy by working less hard and running less often, because the equipment can shut off when your house is warm enough for comfort.

To stay comfortable without messing with your thermostat, add layers like sweaters to insulate your body, which makes you feel warmer as your skin loses less heat to the air. Try wearing socks or slippers indoors to keep your feet warm, to prevent losing heat to the floor, too. By using clothes instead of heating equipment, you can help your family save energy and money.

Your house may have its own version of a sweater! For example, we installed insulating cellular shades at my house to cover up the historic windows that are very thin and leaky. We also have thermal door stops to prevent drafts from the cold outdoor air coming into our warm kitchen. If you have insulating items in your house, remember to ‘close up shop’ before going to bed to save energy by closing insulating shades and replacing door stops each night.

We will be writing blogs celebrating every illustration in the 2019 Energy Efficiency Calendar. Look out in February for a blog about Zuzu Zygarowski’s drawing!