As temperatures drop, heating bills are set to skyrocket. METRO's Todd Balazovic gets expert advice on how to heat your home while keeping your wallet -and the environment -happy.

Meteorologists are predicting this to be one of China's coldest winters, but heating the home doesn't have to cost a fortune.

"A lot of families are choosing to improve their apartments and increase the energy efficiency of their homes, whether it's to save a little money or to help the environment," said Yu Cong, senior researcher at the Beijing Energy Efficiency Center.

Yu said even though Beijing uses central heating, much of the heat is often lost through poorly insulated windows and walls - driving up costs for everybody and wasting energy.

"This year, with new government regulations, we hope to see an improvement in the amount of energy used," she said.

While Yu commends the new heating program in place in Beijing, she said some of the responsibility for saving energy is in the hands of homeowners.

In the meantime, one of the biggest bill boosters and energy wasters comes from the heat being turned up too high, she said. Often, apartments will be overheated during the winter, which leads to people opening their windows - the most energy-inefficient step people can take.

"Instead, people should just ask heating suppliers to balance the heat supply and reduce it for their building," she said. "It will reduce the heat and save money."

On the other end of the spectrum, if a room is too cold or untouched by central heating, buying the right space heater can make a world of difference.

"There's a huge selection of energy-efficient certified heaters available on the market," Yu said.

Outlets such as Gome, Sunning and B&Q sell a variety of space heaters sporting energy-efficiency certification tags, guaranteed to get the job done using as little energy as possible.

And while there are scores of small steps that can be taken to save a few pennies on the heating bill, many people are making bigger efforts to maximize their homes energy efficiency.

"There's been a large increase in the number of people retrofitting their homes," Yu said.

Installing double-paned glass windows and replacing old insulation are two of the easiest and cheapest suggestions for retrofitting an outdated, poorly heat-proofed home, she added.

"For every one square meter of double-paned glass, around 3 gigawatt-hours of energy annually is saved," Yu said.

"Retrofitting homes for winter is one way people are saving energy," said Carissa Welton, founder of Greening the Beige, a non-profit initiative.

She said simple steps such as putting in energy-efficient halogen light bulbs or using a basin in the toilet to save on wasted shower water can easily save a couple of hundred yuan every few months.

"I've even gone as far as making my own cleaning supplies to keep the nasty stuff out of my drains and the water supply," Welton said.

While some homeowners are opting a do-it-yourself attitude when retrofitting their flats, many

housing projects in Beijing are hopping on the green bus and installing energy-efficient windows, insulation and bulbs.

American Chris Rubble, International Marketing Director for the Beijing Dance Theater, has been living in Central Park, one of Beijing's newer apartment complexes, for more than four years. He said he rarely spares a thought about his heating or electric bills.

"My place is pretty nice; it's well-insulated," he said. "The heating bill is never over the top."

Rubble said living in the new apartment is a big step up from the old stove-heated home he used to have in the United States.

"At least I don't have to collect firewood any more," he said.

(China Daily 10/18/2010)