Comments on: Curbing the Energy Appetite of Older Homes

By: Lyndsey

Lyndsey — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:10:42 +0000

I really like the idea of tapestries in this case because we’re talking about heritage homes where that kind of decor fits in.

By: stav

stav — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:45:14 +0000

Tapestries are a good idea! In olden times huge tapestries were hung in drafty castles to keep the heat in during the winter!

By: tcnjpirate

tcnjpirate — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 10:51:17 +0000

I have a few more ideas for keeping the house warm in the winter. Tapestries on the walls can actually provide extra insulation. Hanging blankets over doorways can reduce breezes through the house in the winter, and your own body heat will add to the heat of the room you’re in. Also, if you take a hot shower, don’t use the fan. The water will actually warm the air in the room some

By: Stav

Stav — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 05:55:21 +0000

My house is ’older’. We doubled up on roof insulation, put a heavy ’jacket’ on our hot water cylinder, replaced all the bulbs with energy efficient ones. Put in a new energy conserving boiler for hot water and heating. Double glazed all the windows and fitted draught excluders on all the doors. Built a porch with an external door so you don’t open the whole house to the outside cold when you go in and out. Thermal lined drapes help to keep the heat in too.

In the summer we just open the windows!

By: David

David — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 00:04:59 +0000

I live in an older home and looking for sources to make it ”greener”

By: alexandra

alexandra — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 10:04:26 +0000

I live in an 1840 farmhouse. I paid a lot of money for heating oil last year, and I don’t keep the house warm!(60 degrees during the day, 65 early evening, and 58 while asleep.
So yes I have gotten the house insulated; with projected increases in heating fuel, the insulation will not reduce my heating oil costs.
But took the financial plunge and am having geothermal installed right now. It is expensive, but will by my calculations pay for itself in less than 9 years. Thereafter, the cost of heating the house will be the cost of running the geothermal heat pumps; at todays cost for electricity, that’s about $20-40. Plus it will cool the house during the summer at about that cost. More people should explore geothermal; I believe it is MUCH more cost effective than solar and wind energy; It is a shame that our country is not providing the same level of subsidy for geothermal, as is provided for wind and solar. The savings in money and oil are much greater with geothermal.

By: chris1203

chris1203 — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 09:39:43 +0000

I think that installing ceiling fans is probably the easiest of all the methods listed. It certainly is cheaper.

By: atula

atula — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 03:00:22 +0000

People sometimes fail to consider simple ideas like ceiling fans to be used not just in old homes but new as well..because they are much more energy efficient than AC…I think those are old but workable solutions for the environment…

By: tater03

tater03 — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 09:44:12 +0000

A lot times people want to buy these houses because they have a lot of charm and history. Once in them you realize that there is a lot that needs to be done to help conserve energy.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 08:41:48 +0000

I live in a rented flat with an old fashioned immersion heater for hot water, I really hate it and wish my landlord would install an on demand boiler. If I owned this flat I would have solar panels on the roof and get my hot water that way.