Given Canada's cold climate, we are heavily dependent on heating during the winter. Home heating represents 50-60% of an average Canadian household's annual energy use. Improving the efficiency with which you produce and use heat in your home can reduce air pollution. By combining high-efficiency heating systems with energy conservation, you can cut your energy bills and pollution in half.

Today, most Canadian homes are heated by forced-air furnaces (oil, natural gas or electric) or by electric baseboard heaters. The following list offers tips on how to limit heat loss from your home and properly maintain your heating system so that it runs at its optimum energy efficiency. Tips are also provided on what you should consider when purchasing a new heating system. When buying a new heating system, make sure it is ENERGY STAR and EnerGuide qualified.

For further information on how you can heat your home more efficiently, please consult Natural Resource Canada's Office of Energy Efficiency (OEE).

Tips

Temperature setting

•Lower the temperature at night (to 17ºC), when you are away for several days, and in rooms that are unused and where heat is not needed. Quick Fact: 1
•Set the temperature when you are awake at 21ºC in the winter and 26ºC in the summer. Quick Fact: 1
•Use a programmable thermostat with an ENERGY STAR symbol to turn your heating system on an off as required. Quick Fact:1

Maintenance

•Clean furnace air filters, registers, vents, and electric baseboards to make sure your heating system does not have to work harder and use more energy than necessary. Quick Fact:1
•Change furnace filters regularly.
•Make sure that your heating system is tuned up and cleaned every 1-2 years to ensure that it is running at optimal energy efficiency. Quick Fact:1

Limit heat losses

•Seal joints and seams around ducts to reduce heat lost through air leaks. Quick Fact:1,2
•Draft proof your house or apartment by sealing all leaks around doors, windows, cracks, and exterior wall outlets with weather stripping and caulking. Quick Fact: 1
•Upgrade insulation in walls, basement, attic, crawl spaces, and heating ducts. Quick Fact: 1
•Install energy efficient windows (double glazed, low-E coating, argon gas filled). Quick Fact: 1
•Plant deciduous trees on the south and west sides of your house: they will provide shade in the summer and allow sun to warm your house during the winter when after they have lost their leaves in the fall. Quick Fact:1
•Plant a line of evergreen trees on the north side of your home to shelter it against cold winter winds and reduce your home's heat demand. Quick Fact:1
•Plant low-growing evergreen shrubs beside basement walls to help keep warmth in and winter winds out. Quick Fact:1

New heating system

•Consider replacing your furnace or boiler if it is old, inefficient or oversized, with a new one that is ENERGY STARqualified. Quick Fact: 1,2,3,4
•Make sure not to invest in an oversized heating system that will waste energy. Before making a purchase decision, ask a certified heating contractor to determine the right size of furnace for your home, taking into account recent technology developments, the heat loss and heat gain characteristics of your house, and other factors. Quick Fact: 1
•Ask your installer for a condensing furnace. Quick Fact:1

Gas or Electric Fireplaces

•Ensure that the damper of your wood fireplace is not left open when there is no fire.
•Install a ceiling fan near your fireplace to push valuable hot air down into the whole living area.
•Seal air leaks at the joint between the chimney of your fireplace and the wall of your home.
•Consider installing a high efficiency gas or propane fireplace instead of a conventional open wood burning fire place that is very inefficient and releases large quantities of pollutants that can negatively impact local air quality.
•Turn off the gas to the pilot light in your gas fireplace during the summer or when you are away for a long time.

Renewable Sources of Energy

•Ask your local energy supplier about switching to or buying some from of renewable energy, such as solar or wind.