I don’t have much shoveling in the winter – just about 40 square feet from the house to the garage – but it’s getting tougher as I get older. Would an electrically-heated mat under the sidewalk add much to my utility bills?

The added utility costs would depend on the amount of time you’d use the mat. It would be important to only have the mat on when you need it, so you would need either to be available to switch the mat on and off or to get a mat with a properlyadjusted moisture sensor.

If you keep careful control of the mat’s operational hours, we can make a conservative estimate of 30 hours of use over the course of the winter. Then, your added energy costs wouldn’t be very high; you’d pay about $8.40 more in electricity costs for the season (at an average electricity rate of 14 cents per kilowatt hour). However, there would be other expenses involved. You’d need to hire an electrician to install in a 240- volt outlet near the walk, and you’d buy a timer or snow sensor. You would pay an installer to remove your sidewalk, put down the mat, and lay a new sidewalk. And you’d spend several hundred dollars on the mat. If it were my walk, I’d be curious to see how those costs compare to what I’d have to pay somebody to shovel my walk for me.

— Li Ling for The Home Team

I installed an ENERGY STAR ceiling fan last summer and I was able to go the whole season without air conditioning. The guy who sold it to me said that I can save energy in the winter by reversing the spin direction of the blades. It just doesn’t seem logical to blow cold air in any direction in the winter. What do you think?

Your guy’s right. By setting the fan to turn clockwise, (looking up at it), and at a low speed, you’ll allow it to force hot air down without creating a cold draft. You see, because hot air rises, it collects at the ceiling. This not only robs you of the comfort of having that warm air around you, but it also forces you to keep supplying more heat because the warmest part of the room isn’t near the thermostat. The higher your ceiling, the worse this phenomenon is and the more useful a ceiling fan is. Your reverse-set fan will push the heat at the ceiling down the walls to mingle with your room air. This creates a more comfortable, evenly-heated space and allows you to lower your thermostat setting. Between the savings in heating costs and your ENERGY STAR fan’s low electricity use, you’ll be staying warm while reducing your utility bills. It’s a win-win!

— Bob for The Home Team