Posts Tagged ‘heating’

the old young and ill suffered most this month as a terrible cold front settled in the UK for a good two weeks, it has also had serious implications on bills! We certainly could have handled this a lot better than we did but as a country we managed to battle through it. On whole as a country we have spent over £1.2 Billion extra over just two weeks compared to the normal winters we are used to having.

Working

The timing of all of this was not great because many offices were already cold thanks to the Christmas break and no one being in them. The offices were left cold so the heating was turned up to the max on arrival. Also many shops had no choice but to crank the heating up to the highest it could be to make sure they were not receiving complaints from their customers. On top of this many stores were getting in things like convector heater and a fan heater to keep the staff warm.

At Home

So many people were already freezing and once the cold front came in they has just reached the end of it and had enough so they decided to just turn up the heating. Many children and parents were still at home because of the snow and people are just not prepared to be cold when they are in their homes all day long.

Problems

There do not seem to be massive problems for the government as they are getting the money from the taxpayers however it is a bit tricky to keep buying in more gas and many people are going to find that their heating bills this month are going to be very high indeed. Of course you could just get portable heaters for occasions such as this.

Why an Eco House?

An Eco house is cost effective. Building a new home is rather expensive and time consuming; therefore before we start the process we should carefully consider many aspects connected with it. We have to think not only about issues related to convenience, cost of construction and subsequent maintenance, but also the impact that the new building will have on the environment.

Detailed calculations show that construction is the industry that consumes the most energy. Some time ago almost no one bothered with whether the house is built environmentally friendly or not. The only factor taken into account was cost, not the long-term consequences of choosing particular materials. Fortunately, the situation has changed. Nowadays, there are many technologies that enable considerable reduction of energy consumption. Such solutions are usually more expensive than the conventional ones, but the investment pays off – the extra money is recovered after several years of monthly savings on energy charges.

What to pay attention to when willing to build an eco friendly house?

The most important issue is good thermal insulation. The most popular insulation materials are: polystyrene and mineral wool. The main advantage of polystyrene is being waterproof. Installation of appropriate windows is also extremely important. They should be tight and preferably triple glazed. Less popular materials that can also be used for insulation include: hemp, cork, and sheep’s wool. You should also remember when filling the space between the ceiling and the roof – glass wool or mineral wool are the most recommend.

What is Eco House?

An important aspect of an eco-house is the type of heating. The choice is important, as usually most of the energy used at home goes for heating. The most popular are furnaces or boilers. If you decide on that type of heating, make sure that you avoid heat loss from the duct system or piping. The less cost effective is electric resistance heating. In this case the electricity comes from oil, gas, or coal generators that convert only about 30% of the fuel’s energy into electricity. You can consider using some energy from renewable resources. In many cases active solar heating systems can be a good idea, but they usually require a back-up system that provides the additional heat. No matter what kind of heating you choose, invest in a programmable thermostat which enables you to turn down the heating at night and when you are at work.

Another thing to consider is the type of building material that you want to use. In some countries the houses made of natural materials – such as clay or straw – are getting popular. People often think that such buildings rot easily or are less durable; however it does not have to be the case. Houses made of clay and straw can be as durable as brick ones, but have several advantages. Firstly, they are built quicker – their construction can be finished within a month. Secondly, those houses are extremely warm as they retain heat better. What is important, the construction process itself is more environmentally friendly, as it requires only 2% of the energy used to build using cement.

All in all, when planning to build a new home, there are plenty of aspects that you should consider to make it as environmentally friendly as possible.

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Do you know what I realized today? The summer holiday months are nearly over and Autumn is almost here. I was looking through a mag when I noticed the face of Simon Cowell and Louis Walsh. Yes thats correct it was because the 2009 version of the X Factor was starting soon. I mean the year has literally flew by so quick, it seems as though the X Factor has just finished. And we all acknowledge that the X Factor signals the commencement of the winter time of year. So what has happened to the summertime. I mean I did not experience any of it.

Let us briefly cast our minds back, I believe it was in June when we had about a weeks worth of sunshine, but I unfortunatley was not around to experience it on that occasion. We then had lots of rain and then suddenly another huge heat wave hit which lasted for around five days and which I did experience. Since then it has been a ceaseless course of rain and drizzle.

Well it seems to be all over now as we head into the Autumn, so instead we have to think about switching on and checking the Central Heating. There are a few things that you should be looking at doing to keep your costs lower this wintertime.

First and foremost you should look at ordering the heating oil that you need right now, if you do you may still be able to get some discount prices, the second thing is to plan for the winter. I acknowledge that a lot of people merely switch the heaters on when they feel it getting a bit chilly, but this is altogether the incorrect thing to do. I mean its not cold every day of the winter, so why run up your bills?

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