Burn Smart™ goes beyond the product you buy

In addition to featuring eco-friendlier products, Burn Smart is about practicing better burning throughout the season. There are a variety of steps you can take to enhance the efficiency of your hearth product, while helping reduce your fuel consumption and your overall energy costs.

The following tips will provide you with several helpful suggestions on how to practice greener living–with your hearth and in your home.

Burn Smart Tips

Keeping your chimney clean provides a good draft, reducing the likelihood for dangerous gases to build up inside the home during fireplace operation.
Zone heating, the practice of heating only the rooms in your home that are in use, can save you hundreds of dollars in energy costs each year. These areas can be heated using a stove or fireplace.
Today’s gas-burning fireplaces can have the same efficiency ratings as central furnaces. Inquire about the efficiency rating to find an energy-friendly model for your home.
Specially built to use only outside air for combustion, today’s advanced direct-vent gas models are efficient heater-rated gas appliances.
Keeping the fireplace damper closed when the fireplace is not in use prevents up to 8% of heated air from going up the chimney.
Properly dried hardwoods–hickory, oak, maple, or ash–are the most efficient fuel for a wood-burning stove or fireplace.

Everyday Green Tips

If your ceiling fan is the kind that can be operated counterclockwise to force heated air downward in winter, then summer is the time to make an adjustment. Running a ceiling fan clockwise circulates air to help you feel cooler without turning on the A/C.
Use a programmable thermostat to keep your home cooler during the day while you’re away and warm it up just before you come home.
Ask your local utility company for an energy audit. They will show you ways to conserve energy and reduce your bills.
Change your furnace filter monthly, which can save as much as 5% on your heating bills.
Low-flow showerheads and sink faucets are easy and affordable ways to reduce water usage.
Adding trees to your yard can help reduce energy bills, providing shade in the summer and windbreaks in the winter. It’s important to choose the right tree for the right place: Shade trees placed to the south and west of your home will cast cooling shadows in the summer and allow warm sun to shine in during the winter.
Put off running separate errands until you can make one single trip. This can help save time and gas.
Leaving your cell phone charger, power tool adapters and other rarely used appliances plugged in all the time wastes energy and may raise your utility bill.