Ceiling fans:
For homes with high studs, the room
temperature at ceiling height can be several degrees higher than where the occupants are. Ceiling
fans operated in the "winter" mode at slowish speeds help to bring this air down to where the
people are. And if you have floor level heaters running on thermostats, the warm air coming down
means that the thermostats will be able to turn off the heating
sooner.
Dehumidifiers:
Dry air uses less energy to heat than
moist air (it takes more energy to warm water vapour). A dehumidifier is a low cost option to help
lower your heating bills. By running a dehumidifer in winter your room air is dryer, which not only
means it feels warmer, but uses less energy to heat, and mold and fungi growth is suppressed
also.
Shower Domes:
Fitting a shower dome over your shower
reduces the amount of moisture entering your house and a house that is dryer costs less to heat as
explained above (and your shower also feels warmer so you may not need the water as
hot).
Pelmets or tight fitting
curtains:
When you use curtains, a vertical layer of
air is held between the window and the curtain. As this air cools, it sinks. This creates an
"engine" which draws in warm air at the top of the curtain, and effectively pumps cooled air into
the room at the base of the curtain. This partly explains the draughts felt at the gap between
curtains and the floor. By using pelmets, or curtains that are tight fitting top and/or bottom, you
can reduce the effect of this cooling engine and save some money on your heating
bills.
Undersink mini hot water cylinder
or micro storage water heating unit:
The hot water tap at a kitchen sink is
used often. When hot water is needed, usually the householder would run through several litres of
water waiting for the hot to arrive. This not only means that water may be wasted, but also a lot
of the heat energy of the warm water is used to heat piping enroute to the sink. A micro water
heater or mini cylinder under the sink avoids long pipe runs from the main hot water cylinder,
which results in savings of electricity as well as water - particularly useful for people on tank
supplies.
If using a micro storage water heater, we
suggest that a switch be installed above the kitchen bench at a suitable and handy place, so that
you can turn it off easily if you don't intend using the unit for a few hours - these units can
heat the water in a matter of minutes, and turning the unit on when needed will save on
electricity.
Hot water vacuum flasks -
Zojirushi:
A high quality Japanese Zojirushi vacuum
flask can keep boiled water hot enough for several hours, for making tea and other hot drinks. This
means that you can boil the jug once and have hot water for several hours, saving on electricity
used to reboil water. Although this product is not distributed in NZ, we have included this as an
electricity saving tip in case you visit Asia and can get hold of
one.
Ceiling and Other Lighting
Suggestions:
Changing ceiling downlights to ceiling
buttons or pendant spot lighting allows the holes in the ceilings to be removed
(repaired).
Without holes in the ceiling, this means
that ceiling insulation can be applied over the entire ceiling of a room: means you can apply an
insulation blanket across the whole ceiling. As the heat loss through ceilings tend to be a
significant proportion of room heat loss (could be around 35%), being able to put a good insulation
blanket across the entire ceiling will save on heating bills.
A number of other lighting options are
also available which does not require putting large holes in the ceilings, including wall lights
and pedastal lights. Wall lights provide a more intimate ambience than ceiling lighting, and
pedastal lights are not only intimate and cosy, but can be moved around easily (and can be taken
away with you when moving house).
Cooking with a Pressure
Cooker:
Using a pressure cooker to cook food not
only cuts down the time it takes, but some of the modern electric powered cookers have a "roasting"
function also - at much lower power demand than an oven, so saving you money. The lower power
demand also means you may one day be able to power them using photovoltaic (PV) power on your own
roof.
Controlling The Power to Your Hot
Water Cylinder:
If you want to turn your cylinder off to
save power, then it needs to be off for at least 16 hours a day to make any difference. With new
cylinders, the standing losses are very low, so even turning it off for long periods of time may
not get you much savings - you need to be able to turn it off for a week (when you are going
away for example). Some folk turn their cylinder thermostat temperature down to save power,
although NZ regulations require the cylinder to be heated to 60degC for legionella control - which
means you can't turn it down too low.
If you are charged for "peak demand" from
your power supplier, you may want to install a cylinder timer. This would allow you to select when
you want power to be able to reach the cylinder so that your cylinder does not draw power at peak
load, like when you are already cooking on a stove. Whether the cylinder actually uses the power or
not is determined by the hot water temperature in the cylinder - the cylinder thermostat will
decide.
If you would like to do this, you need to
purchase our "relay" which is designed for the job: this relay comes with a 3 pin plug which plugs
into a timer (purchased from us or from any hardware stores). The relay can only be installed by a
registered electrician, who will wire it into the hot water power supply circuit. This "relay" will
do the actual switching of power to the element when the timer tells it to turn
on.
Please to contact us directly if you would
like to purchase a relay ($199 including GST and P&P): barbara@degreesolutions.co.nz
Keeping your Fridge Full:
If you keep your fridge full, then
everytime you open the fridge door, only a small volume of cool air will escape. The fridge will be
able to work less hard to cool any new air when the door is shut again. You can use bottles of
water or other beverages or cans of fruit in the fridge if you don't have enough other perishable
food to stock the fridge up. The trick is to minimise the amount of free air which can escape when
you open the door.
Installing "Clerstorey" Windows above
Internal Doors:
Remember the old houses that have windows
above internal doors? Well, new houses could learn a thing or two: putting these "Clerstorey"
windows above internal doors right up to the ceiling - and making
them "openable", means you can allow the warm air near the ceiling in one room to move
through to another room - just by opening the windows above the door. Once the warm air
has moved to the rooms you want, a ceiling fan on a "winter" setting can then move the air around
the room.
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