Green Heating

Winter?? My calendar says it's winter, but outside it just doesn't FEEL like winter to me. I need some snow I guess to make it REALLY winter. But either way, it's still cold and my heater is still running, which made me think, is there a way to green my heating? So of course, that's what I Googled and I found some interesting things. My husband says my blog posts aren't as interesting when I just quote other sites, so instead of writing everything I found, I'll just give you the site that I liked best and then tell you the one thing that really surprised me.

Fireplaces are NOT a good way to greenly heat your home! For some reason I thought they seemed like a good idea, even though ours are just for decoration (we've never had them cleaned and I don't want to try it out and see if we can start a house fire.). " On average, fireplaces are only about 10% efficient. That is, about 90% of their energy is lost through the chimney, along with loads of your home's warm air and energy dollars." I guess it DOES make sense, and I don't know why I never really thought of it before, but at least now I don't have to feel guilty for not getting that chimney cleaned and using the fire place to help heat my house!