Your heating system uses the most energy in your home. Here are a few tips to help keep the heat in and save money.

If your furnace is over 10 years old, it's probably less than 75% efficient and you are losing more than 20 cents of every heating dollar you spend. Newer high–efficiency natural gas furnaces are up to 96% efficient and nearly all the energy goes to heating your home. You can also save by adding a humidifier to your furnace. You'll feel just as comfortable at lower, but more humid, temperatures.

Clean or replace the furnace filter every 3 months during the heating season. A clogged filter reduces the flow of warm air and makes your furnace operate longer than necessary. Have your heating system checked regularly by an HVAC contractor.

Turn down your thermostat 3°C (5°F) when household members are asleep or away from home. If you do this regularly for 8 hours a day during the colder months, you could save 6% of your heating fuel. Install a programmable thermostat and set it to to lower the temperature and raise the temperature according to your schedule.

Replace worn or missing weather–strips on windows and caulk around outside doors.

Ensure that heating vents are open and not blocked by curtains or furniture.
Remove the cover grills from warm air registers and cold air returns and vacuum out dust and pet hairs. Check that dampers in warm air registers are open before you put the cover back on. Install electric ceiling fans to prevent hot air pooling on the ceiling and cool air pooling on the floor.
Keep your basement reasonably warm since heat rises to the rest of the house.
Close your chimney damper tightly when not in use to prevent the escape of hot air.

Open window coverings and let the sun in to help warm your home, and then re–close to trap heat at night.
Try do–it–yourself zone heating by closing doors and heating vents to unused rooms.