Winter is one of the harshest seasons in India, and probably more so in places like Delhi. This is also the time of the year when energy expenditure goes up significantly, being spent on various heating solutions. To stay warm, solutions like electric room heaters and water heaters are used. Food is heated often to keep it warm for consumption. Ensuring that energy isn’t needlessly wasted, however, options to retain heat in houses should be looked into. It is one way to keep the cold at bay while conserving energy use. 

Here are a few ideas and solutions that can help keeping their homes warm in the winter and solve some of that energy inefficiency:

Auditing Energy Use – While stopping inefficient energy use can seem like a cliched way to save energy, but it’s also the primary reason why energy wastage occurs. To ensure efficiency is encouraged, energy audits must be conducted by professional experts. An energy audit involves an analysis of the use of energy by appliances, heating & cooling solutions, lighting, etc. An energy audit is necessary to make sure that energy input and output is balanced by eliminating energy wastage or cutting down unnecessary energy use. For best results, old appliances should be replaced with efficient upgrades. While these may cost a bit more, the long term savings will eventually pile up.

Protection From The Elements – Energy savings through the reduction of appliances can only work when the temperature inside is bearable. That cannot be achieved if even a small bit of a room is exposed to the elements. For instance, a small hole under the windowpane can turn a room cold eventually, without anything keeping the room warm. It will be back to using energy-wasting appliances. The best way to solve this problem is through processes that involve sealing up joints, holes etc to prevent rooms from losing their warmth.

Saving on Room Heating – Keeping a room warm against the outer elements can be a hard job as the warm air eventually loses that quality. To fix this situation, heating should be focussed on rooms that are usually inhabited, while entry to other unused rooms should be kept shut off for the duration.

Making Efficient Use of Sunlight – Sunlight is a natural source of energy and light. Making use of heat from the sun trapped in a room can help save on energy costs. Natural warmth from the sun can increase the comfort level, as such, the windows to rooms facing the sun should be opened during the day time. At night the warmth can be kept trapped to save on heating solutions.

Lighting Efficiency – Lighting expenditure shoots up during winters on account of shorter daytime. Efficiency can be introduced in lighting use by utilising efficient alternatives. This efficiency can be achieved by either using LED lighting to save on energy costs or a combination of that with solar energy harvesting. Initial costs of efficient lighting solutions can be compensated within months as well.

Reducing Hot Water Usage – During winters a lot of energy is used on heating water, whether used to prepare bathing water, keeping the body warm through heating bags or drinking hot water. This inefficiency can be reduced by insulating the piping and the geysers. Heat loss can be controlled, and the costs of re-heating can be avoided as well. Solar water heating can be used as well in regions that provide ample sunlight during winters.

Winters in places like Delhi can indirectly. Cheaper heating solutions can contribute to the rise in air pollution, as well as be responsible for dangerous smogs that are responsible for street accidents. 

This year the winter has been predicted to be harsher than before. As such it is only natural to expect costs on heating solutions to rise. Yet it is crucial to control how much energy is being wasted, not only to curb the costs but also to ensure that energy use in the winter remains eco-friendly. While half the battle on conserving heat and energy use may lay on the efficient use of electrical appliances, the other half depends on how their house is built staying in tune with energy conservation. Making use of natural resources will help along the way as well, such as natural lighting and heating. In the end, an environment-friendly winter helps everyone in the long term. 

Another aspect of conserving energy includes analysing how it is utilised. Analysing energy use is a skill that is not readily available to most, however. Top Energy management courses can prepare anyone to think analytically, and help eliminate energy wastage. It’s hard to find excuses to save energy in times like the winter months. However, the easiest way to save energy is by reducing energy expenditure on heating solutions. This may seem like an extreme solution to save energy and money. But there are ways around this. 

While some of the ways of energy efficiency are listed below, it is a good idea for corporations and workplaces to invest in energy management. Just using efficient electrical systems doesn’t help either, as the subject of energy management is much deeper than that. Some of the energy project management courses offer management courses to understand how energy can be efficiently managed for the energy and allied sectors.