Simplifying your life is one popular New Year’s resolution, and one way to do that is to consider simplifying the way you heat your home during a Maine winter.

Through improvements to home insulation and efficiency, and by using natural gas as a fuel source, we can resolve to heat our homes more economically, with fewer emissions, less maintenance, and worry-free delivery.

The process of heating your home is easy when you consider some of the more outdated methods out there:

Heating with wood? Assuming you can get a delivery when you need it most, wood must still be hauled on to the property, cut to stove length, chopped into flat-edged pieces, stacked, stored, and then dragged into the home for burning. You then have ash inside the stove and the dirt outside it to clean up.

Heating with oil? Even assuming you can get a delivery when you need it, there are a number of hassles to consider.

For instance, you have to constantly make sure you’re on top of your usage. If you miscalculate, you can find yourself colder than expected. Once your tank gets too low or empties altogether, that’s a call to the boiler technician, who will have to come out and bleed the lines and get the furnace going again. You hope that doesn’t occur on the coldest night of the winter. But, often, it will.

Heating with natural gas eliminates the risk of being without heat because it is piped directly to your home, and never having to wait on another delivery ensures that you are free to take care of the important things, like your family.

Winter in Maine is challenging enough without having to worry about frozen pipes and delivery trucks. A resolution to convert to Summit Natural Gas of Maine in the New Year comes with these simple benefits:

• Ease. Natural gas equipment is easier to repair and maintain which means lower maintenance costs.

• Always on. Your natural gas supply is “always on” and always full. You never need to schedule a delivery.

• Abundant. According to the Energy Information Administration and the Potential Gas Committee, the U.S. has enough natural gas to meet America’s diverse energy needs for more than 100 years. For the next decade and beyond, domestic natural gas supplies are expected to be sufficiently robust to meet the growth in demand.

• Greener. Natural gas produces about 30 percent less carbon dioxide than oil and about 15 percent less than wood.

• Quick. Gas boilers provide heat faster than other heat sources, so you can lower your thermostat when you are away and quickly heat your home when you return.

• Efficient. Gas water heaters heat water twice as fast as a traditional water heater and produce more water per hour. Natural gas tank-less water heaters have the lowest operating cost. You never have to worry about running out of hot water.

Resolve to make your 2016 heating season your easiest and most simple yet. Call 1-800-909-7642 or 621-8000 to talk to one of our knowledgeable sales representatives.