Crude oil prices surpassed the $35 a barrel mark last week, inflated by cold weather, unrest in Venezuela, and the growing potential for war with Iraq.

That means your home heating oil has gone up too and it's time to batten the hatches and as much as possible reduce the need for heat in your home.

Jack Sullivan, executive vice president of the New England Fuel Institute (NEFI) was so concerned last week about the rising costs of oil he urged the Department of Energy to release heating oil from the Northeast Heating Oil Reserve to help dampen prices.

"Given current economic conditions a high petroleum distillate price is the last thing we can afford to allow. Families — especially the poor and elderly — small and large businesses all need the direct and significant relief that a release of petroleum distillate from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve would provide," Sullivan wrote to DOE.

The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) posted a 26-month peak price for heating oil futures for March delivery at $1.049 a gallon, but on Feb. 6 price differentials on the cash market jumped as much as eleven cents more than the NYMEX futures contract. March's natural gas futures rose too -- to a 24-month high of $5.91 per million BTU's.

Economic conditions that are pushing up home heating prices should be compelling reasons to conserve and take steps to make your home more energy efficient.

First, however, you'll need to determine what steps you can take to make your home more energy efficient. Here are some suggestions to help you ferret out where your home needs tightening.