It is Friday and Fridays are for fun. Before I start my little rant I want everyone to know that I have a high-efficiency furnace and have made a few upgrades to the homestead over the years to make it more energy-efficient. I drive a small car that gets good mileage. I even replaced a 4-watt night light bulb with a .05 watt LED bulb. It all adds up.
There is more but writing about it would just be showing off, or worse yet virtue signaling.
We have one of those “smart” programable thermostats and have it programmed to a lower temperature at night and when we are away. A couple of years ago we raised the daytime temperature by one degree. It made a big difference. I used to be cold all of the time, now I am not. Sure I still wear sweaters and hoodies and thick socks but most of the time I am comfortable.
The one degree from 10:00 AM until 9:00 PM means that our heating bill is 1% to 3% higher during the six or seven months we run the furnace. During a cold January that could mean paying $2 or even $5.50 a month more for heating. Over an entire winter, that degree could cost as much as $30.
We are being warned that prices are going way up this winter. So far from what I have read natural gas prices will go up by 10% to 100%. If I am going to spend twice as much on heating then I want to have warm hands and feet even if that means paying $60 over the course of the winter so I’ll keep my extra degree.
That one degree is magical and it makes the other 97 to 99% of the heating bill seem more worthwhile.
