Using Natural Gas in Your Home

Let's start in the living room or den. Do you have a fireplace? If so, check and see if the special opening to the chimney, called a "flue," is closed. Warm air in summer can come down the chimney and make the room feel hotter, which makes the gas heat pump work harder to keep your house cool. In winter, if you don't have a fire going and the flue is open, warm air escapes up the chimney which means you're paying to heat up the outdoors! Energy dollars can be saved by reminding an adult in your family to keep the chimney flue closed when the fireplace is not in use.

Another energy reminder for anywhere in your house: Keep curtains and blinds closed in the summer to keep the cool air inside. Keep the curtains and blinds open in the winter to let the sunshine in.