Efficient Energy Use: Hacks for Toronto Heating and Air Conditioning

In today’s world, it’s obvious to everyone that wasting energy is not going to lead anywhere good; either for our wallets, our planet, or the world, our kids will inherit. Thankfully most people have heard the call and responded by instituting measures to curtail energy loss in their homes. But there’s almost always more that could be done and typically it’s just a matter of awareness. In this post we’re going to go over some common but perhaps lesser-known ways that heating and air conditioning energy is wasted in the average Toronto home.

Keep an Eye Out for These Heating and Air Conditioning Oversights

Here are a few of the many ways homeowners waste energy on heating and air conditioning, often without even being aware of it.

● Leaving the door open: It’s not uncommon for folks to leave the front or back door open while doing yard work. It may be convenient but all that heated or cooled air that’s leaking out will need to be replaced. Even folks who don’t leave the back door open while shoveling the deck often leave the door between the kitchen and the garage open while they’re doing things in the garage like cleaning the car or looking for something that’s stored there.

● Using lights during the day: Having the lights on in the kitchen during the day is an all too common occurrence. Folks tend to use artificial light during the day as a kind of ‘filler’ light but most of the time the ambient natural light is enough and the filler light is really just a superfluous waste of energy. Same thing in the bathroom. If there’s a window in the bathroom pull the curtains and let in the light. If you’re worried about privacy apply a privacy film to the window that will let in the light and keep out prying eyes.

● Letting the vampires in: Just about everyone has gone out at some point and left the computer, printer, TV, DVD player, cable box, etc. powered up. Instead of letting these vampire appliances suck the lifeblood of energy out of your home make sure to turn off the computer properly and plug the rest of your devices into power strips. Just flip the switch on the power strip before you leave the house and you’ll be doing the planet a favor.

● Having an uninsulated garage door: Any rooms that abut the garage are going to lose heat through the walls and floor (if there’s a second-story room over the garage). It’s in your interest to minimize how much heat is lost in this manner and one thing that will help you save energy is to insulate the garage door. An insulated door can raise the temperature in the garage by up to 10 degrees and reduce the amount of heat that is siphoned off from the rest of the house.

Other ways heating and air conditioning systems are unnecessarily taxed include:

● Lighting an entire room when task-specific lighting would suffice.
● Opening windows because a room is too hot or too cool.
● Not programming the thermostat to a lower temperature at night.
● Using electric appliances when manual ones will do the job just fine.

Getting the most out of the expensive and irreplaceable energy you’re paying for is usually a matter of becoming aware of where the waste is occurring and then taking simple steps to correct the problem. If you’d like to know more about how to minimize your carbon footprint and save even more on energy call Tropic Air at (647) 955-8625. We’re here for you.

Tropic Air has been providing economical HVAC services in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) for over 30 years. Our dedication to quality and exceeding customer expectations has established us as one of Toronto’s leading heating, boiler, and air conditioning companies. We prioritize customer happiness by offering emergency boiler repairs, emergency furnace repairs, tankless water heater repairs, and air conditioner service and installation.

We are your local Toronto HVAC professional, providing expert furnace installations, and replacements, ductless air conditioning installation, as well as periodic service/maintenance for all types of ACs and Furnaces.