Take the heat out of your power bill this winter

Keeping warm on cool nights, having long, hot showers, taking the chill off a room: it's no surprise that winter is the season where we use the most power – and create the most carbon pollution.

Fortunately, there lots of things you can do to cut down on your power use this winter – steps that will save you money and minimise your impact on the environment, but still keep you comfortable at home.

• choose an energy-efficient heating system – use zoned central heating, high-efficiency space heaters or radiant heaters and you could save 40 per cent on your heating power use
• use extra layers – wearing warmer clothing and using an extra blanket on the bed means you don't need to have your heater turned up so high. Decreasing your temperature setting by just one degree can reduce your power consumption rate by up to 15 per cent
• block off heat loss – when your heater's on, make sure you always shut windows and doors and close curtains, especially at night as a window can lose 10 times as much heat as the same area of insulated wall
• zone your home – use doors to divide spaces into smaller areas – it takes less power to heat a specific area rather than the entire house
• make a curtain call – use curtains, particularly thick ones, to minimise heat loss on winter nights
• stop the draught – draught-proofing by sealing gaps and using draught excluders on your doors makes your home more comfortable and saves on your power bill
• install insulation – up to 35 per cent of heat loss from a house can be due to a ceiling that's not insulated. Ceiling insulation keeps your home warmer in winter and helps your heater run more efficiently
• get out of hot water – electric hot water systems can account for a third of your electricity use. Switching from standard electric storage heaters to solar, heat pump or gas will make big savings on your bill.

Follow these tips and your savings in carbon pollution and dollars quickly add up:

• turning heating down, closing doors and not heating rooms you're not using, and using curtains can save 18,000 black balloons and around $225
• use proper ceiling insulation and you can save over $120 and 500kg of carbon pollution
• switch from electric to solar hot water heating and your power bill could drop by around $155 and you'll save up to 2,100kg of carbon pollution.