How Turning Down your Household’s Heat Helps the Environment

As days get colder, the natural reaction will be to turn up the heat to get warm. We often hear advice to keep the heat low and to layer on sweaters and blankets instead. The main reasoning tends to be that this can save a bit of money, but it is also tied to helping the environment. I live in a rental where my heat and hot water are included in the rent, so I don’t benefit financially from less heat. This made me wonder what other benefits there are and how turning down my heat can help the environment.

This post is a part of our Climate Change Collective conversations. Molly at Transatlantic Notes is starting off our conversation this month with her post “Highlighting Useful Ways To Be Sustainable This Winter.” Learn more about the Climate Change Collective below.

Reasons Why Turning Down your Heat Matters

In Molly’s post, she shares a number of ways to be more sustainable this winter–one of which is turning down the heat. As someone who tends to be more liberal with my use of household heat since it is “free” I started to question how my actions were harming the environment.

Each of our actions really do add up, so I’ve started thinking through some of the ways that turning down my heat can have a positive impact.

1. Lowers the Demand on Energy Infrastructure

High demand for heating can strain the energy grid and heating supply systems. When households collectively use less energy, the overall demand on power plants decreases. Reducing this strain allows energy systems to run more efficiently and, hopefully, means they are less likely to need costly upgrades, which also have environmental impacts.

2. Reduces Greenhouse Gas Emissions

In BC we are lucky to have a lot of our power come from renewable hydro-electric plants, but not all. Many heating systems rely on fossil fuels (like natural gas, oil, or coal), which emit CO₂ when burned. By turning down the heat, you inevitably burn less fuel, which can reduce the amount of CO₂ and other greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere. Even small reductions across millions of homes can add up to significant emission reductions.

3. Conserves Natural Resources

Heating requires a lot of energy, which often comes from nonrenewable resources like coal, natural gas, and oil. By using less heat, you help conserve these resources, making them last longer and reducing the need for environmentally harmful extraction processes.

4. Reduces Air Pollution

Burning fossil fuels not only produces CO₂ but also emits pollutants like nitrogen oxides, sulfur dioxide, and particulate matter, which harm air quality and human health. Less energy consumption for heating means fewer pollutants are released into the air.

5. Promotes Energy Efficiency

Turning down the heat, might prompt you to adopt other energy-saving practices. The simple action of lowering the head might motivate you to seal drafty windows and doors, add insulation to parts of your home, or to use a programmable thermostat. These efficiency upgrades can make a home less reliant on heating, and, in turn, reduce long-term emissions.

6. Encourages Sustainable Practices and Sets a Positive Example

Small household changes help build a culture of environmental responsibility that can drive broader changes in energy policy. I know that I learned a number of my sustainable practices from family, friends, and community members. It’s also inspiring to know that you’re not doing these actions alone. We’re all in this together!

Small Actions Can Have a Big Impact

While turning down the heat is just one piece of a much larger puzzle, it’s an easy way to contribute to the broader effort of preventing climate change. Combined with other sustainable practices, household heat and energy reductions make a positive impact on the environment over time. Check out Molly’s post for more ways to be sustainable this winter.

The Climate Change Collective

This post is a part of our Climate Change Collective conversations.

The Climate Change Collective was born out of an exchange that took place between Michelle and Jamie in the comments section of a Jamie Ad Stories blog post. Jamie and Michelle both care deeply about the impact of human activity on our planet and wanted to find a way to keep the climate change message top of mind for everyone. A tweet was sent out, bloggers responded, and we’ve all now teamed up to create the Climate Change Collective! Learn more about the bloggers behind this group in our post introducing everyone: Get to Know our 5 Fantastic Climate Change Collective Bloggers.

The idea is simple. The members of the collective will take turns writing a monthly blog post sharing their concerns and unique perspective about climate change. After the post is published, the rest of the group will keep the conversation going by sharing a link to the post on their blogs along with their thoughts and ideas. If you’re a like-minded blogger and would like to join our collective, please get in touch. The more the merrier!

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