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Thursday, December 6, 2012

A Natural Way To Cool Our Homes

Space heating is one of the top energy consumers in our homes. In hot summer days, air conditioners consume up to 43% of the country's peak load. Furthermore, home cooling accounts to 24%, along with heating, of the country's total sulfur dioxide production. This is the chief material needed in the creation of acid rains.

These are alarming figures but it can be really hard to keep our homes cool when the whole world outside is getting hot. This is the main reason why it is very easy to just turn the air conditioning unit on and in a couple of minutes experience cooler room. I am sure very few people would volunteer to sacrifice their comfort just to refrain from using their air conditioning units.

However, air conditioning is not the only means to cool the home. In fact aside from using electric or ceiling fans, there is even something better than it. There is such a thing known as passive cooling or a natural way of cooling the home. These are techniques that have been used in the past that may have been forgotten due to our dependence to technology. I can name a number of them but for this article let us look at a very simple technique of "blocking heat".

There are two simple ways to block heat and prevent heat from getting into your home and they are shading and the use of reflective barriers.

Shading Shading is the easiest and perhaps the simplest way to help keep your home cool but proves to be very effective. The use of the shading technique can reduce up to 40% off of your cooling costs.

One of the best places to perform the shading technique is our windows which are the common gateways for sunlight. The easiest way to prevent sun from getting in is to install drapes and blinds. You need to make sure though that it is installed as tight as possible to make it more effective. Light colored ones are advised as they also work as a reflective material and they do not absorb as much heat as that of the darker colored ones. Not only does it help prevent sunlight, it can also work as a good decorative piece for your window.

Another way to do it is to perform landscaping. You can plant trees, vines and shrubs to help shade the exterior of your home which helps prevent heat from penetrating your home. Trees for example can help you save as much as $250 off of your energy costs but make sure they are properly and strategically placed.

Reflective Barriers Colors which were seen as merely decorative in the past is now known and identified as something that plays an important role in cooling your home. Dark colored ones may seem like a good idea for the exterior of your home as dirt do not seem to stick on it quite easily but heat does stick to it. Dark colors are known to absorb heat. If you have a dark colored paint, you are sure to absorb around 70% to 90% of the radiant heat coming from the sun that strikes your home.

Light colored ones are seen as reflective barriers that prevents heat especially white. This is just one type of reflective barrier but simply choosing light colors for your home is perhaps the easiest way to implement.

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Saving Power Without Breaking the Bank

Saving power these days has turned into a must do activity and a habit which everyone should seriously take up.

Cooling and Heating

Approximately one half your own energy bill is used by simply heating or cooling your property, to try to greatly reduce that effect try the following suggestions

Clean up your air flow filtration systems at least once monthly.

Give heaters a good clean, radiators, and any hot air inlets regularly; check they are working without problems and they are not being obscured by curtains, carpets, and furniture.

Set the temperature as high as is comfortable when it is hot and as little as is comfortable when it is cool.

Turn off exhaust fans 10 or so minutes right after cooking or bathing. Keeping them on for an extended time can waste energy.

Lighting and Appliances

As much as possible, use natural illumination rather than switching on the house lamps. Make use of the benefits of sunshine.

Turn off all of the lamps whenever you leave an area.

If you have fluorescent lights, set up reflecting backings to optimize the light.

Change your lighting to fluorescent bulbs if possible. They give off a ton of light and use a great deal less energy.

Turn everything off when you do not need it. Unplug unnecessary appliances like microwaves, television, radio, laptops, and video recorders or DVD players. In addition, disconnect any charger if they are not actually charging anything. Every one of them uses energy whenever plugged in. Do not leave them on the 'stand-by" setting.

Seek out kitchen appliances and lighting that features energy efficiency ratings.

Use lights for studying or eating instead of lighting the whole area. For example, utilize a bedside light to study rather than the big light.

Laundry

Decreasing the heat of the water you clean your garments in helps to reduce energy consumption by as much as 75%. Also always air dry clothing whenever you can because tumble drying machines use a large amount of energy.

Always do full loads whenever possible. In case you are cleaning a smaller load, use suitable water levels and the proper settings.

Fridge

Maintain the correct temperature for your freezer and refrigerator.

Do not hold the refrigerator or freezer door open. The energy usage increases when the electric motor operates endlessly in order to maintain the temperature of the refrigerator and freezer.

Pay attention to leaks as well as cracks in the gasket. Be sure that your own personal freezer or fridge is totally sealed to maintain the temperature on the inside.

Insulation

Heat loss comes about when your household is not properly sealed. Make use of sealants or weather-stripping on home windows.

Make sure that air cannot escape or enter into the plumbing, entrances, wall surfaces, floors and ceilings. A properly insulated house will save you up to 10% in energy bills.

In a common power bill, 44% goes to the heating and cooling systems; one third goes on home appliances and lights; as much as 15% goes towards warming the water; and 9% goes toward the freezer or fridge. Keep these stats in your thoughts so that you can maximize your ability to increase savings.

Think about using renewable energy such as solar and wind power, although quite expensive to have installed the long term benefits are huge. There are also lots of information available on how to make solar panels or wind turbines which can be a cheaper option.

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Air Conditioning Unit Cost Cutting Tips To Help Reduce Your Electric Bill

Air conditioning comprises about 40 percent of energy consumption in most American homes. As such, cutting down on this cost can dramatically reduce your utility bills. Apart from the general maintenance of your AC system, like changing air filters, adjusting the thermostat, and plugging air leaks, there are improvements you can make to your house and environment to cut down on operational cost of your air conditioner.

1. Put Shades on Windows: one of the reasons most homes get too hot is because of the direct sunlight that enters the house through the windows. Shades on outside windows will prevent direct sunlight. You can also close curtains, but the effect will be limited.

2. Planting Trees: it is advisable to plant trees and shrubs on your property. This will prevent direct sun light from hitting your house, hence providing a cooling effect.

3. Light Colored Walls: light colors reflect light. You should paint your house with light colors and ensure the west side of the house is reflective. This will reduce your house cooling requirements.

4. Walls and Ceiling Insulation: this will ensure no heat penetrates through the wall or the roof. During the hot season, the roof absorbs a lot of heat and transmits that heat to the inside; insulation within the ceiling will prevent this. West side walls can be insulated to prevent transmission through conduction and convection.

5. Ventilation between Roof and Ceiling: to prevent heat from entering the house through the roof, you should ventilate the space between the ceiling and the roof. This ensures the hot air circulates above the ceiling hence keeping the house cool.

6. It has also been established that installing storm or double-glazed windows aid in reducing the amount of heat in your house.

If the house is under construction, the following tips will help you design and build a house that will save on air conditioning costs in the future.

1. Roof Overhang: your house should be designed in such a way that it has a wide roof overhang. This will help in shading; hence preventing direct light to the walls and windows.

2. Windows on the West Side: when designing and constructing your house, ensure there is very few or no windows on the west side. This will prevent direct rays that usually come from that direction.

3. Roofing: ask your contractor to use light or white colored roofing materials. This will reflect light as opposed to absorbing heat.

4. House Orientation: with the short of the house oriented to the west side, you will ensure that very few rays fall on the house walls. This reduces the amount of heat absorbed from direct light from the sun.

5. Insulation and Moisture Barriers: finally, installing moisture barriers and insulation in your house will reduce requirement of cooling system in your house hence less use of your AC unit.

On top of these measures, you should also shop wisely for your air conditioning unit. When buying a room air conditioner, ensure that you check the cooling power of the unit as well as its power consumption. Current high efficiency models are the best in low power consumption and is the industry standard.

Fire Risks of Solar PV Installations - Five Precautions a Home Owner Should Consider

Although correctly installed solar PV systems rarely cause a fire there is a greater chance that they may be involved in a fire that emanates from the building where such a system is installed. A fire in these circumstances would increase the risk to the home owner and to the emergency service personnel. There are some simple precautions homeowners can take which would help prepare for such an eventuality and perhaps reduce the severity of the consequences.

The most important precaution is to inform your local fire department that your property has been fitted with a solar PV system. They need to know the location and number of solar panels and also the location of the inverter and associated electrical equipment. In the event of a fire they would arrive fully aware of all the hazards and extra precautions they would need to take. This is best done at the time of installation. It should also be mentioned during a call to the emergency services. Again with the emergency responders in mind, ensure that the installers have correctly placed warning stickers on the inverter, isolators and all electrical switches associated with the PV system. This will help the fire fighters quickly identify how to shut down the system safely. Check with your house insurers before you install solar PV to see what their attitude is to insuring the PV system, any damages caused by fire associated with, or caused by, a solar PV system. Also ask how they would react if the fire service made a tactical decision not to try and save a property due to exceptional risks to their fire fighters. Don't just assume that your house and property insurance will cover every eventuality. It is better to check beforehand. When your PV system has been installed notify your insurance company in writing. It is quite possible that the installation of a solar PV system on your roof would increase the value of your property. When this and all the other risks are taken into account, it is important that you are adequately covered for all potential damage and loss. Finally, in the unlikely event of a fire let the experts deal with it. The emergency services will need all their specialised equipment and training to deal with the hazards. Any effort on your part will at best be futile and at worst be dangerous, creating even more problems for the experts to deal with.

It is better to be prepared than unprepared. In the unlikely event that a fire does occur, these few simple steps could facilitate the work of the emergency services, help reduce the risk of injury to them and to you, and prevent such an emergency becoming worse than it need be.

How Do Air Source Heat Pumps Work?

Air source heat pumps function as a heating and cooling system that utilises the air outside as its source. When used in a residential home one of these heat pumps will absorb warmth from the air and release it inside the home during colder months to make the indoor air more comfortable and warm. The opposite occurs during the summer months to cool off the home. You can also use an air source heat pump to warm the water in your hot water tank, roughly to about 80 degrees Celsius.

While it might seem impossible to use heat from the air in the middle of winter to warm your home you can actually take heat out of temperatures just a few degrees above absolute zero. The equipment itself uses a few key items such as a heat exchanger coil both outside and inside. The outdoor one takes the heat from the air while the indoor coil transfers the heat to either your air or your hot water tank.

The process of heating and cooling using an air source heat pump requires refrigerant to flow through both the indoor and outdoor coils. The refrigerant is boiled to create the heat and then proceeds further to make its way into the house. A compressor, condenser and evaporator are then used such as in a regular refrigerator to alter air temperature that is pumped back into the home.

Air source heat pumps are extremely cost effective. You can create up to four times as much heat as you would be able to from a traditional electric heater and you use the exact same amount of energy to accomplish this. Over time, however, electricity can add up and gas can be dangerous because of carbon emissions. Heat pumps are much cleaner and more efficient. If the weather does become extremely cold where you are located, there is always an option to switch off the heat pump and use your traditional HVAC system which is still in place and ready to function. The coils outside can become frosted over if you are dealing with below zero temperatures. Your furnace can be a back up or emergency option which is always nice to have when it comes to keeping your home comfortable.

The lifespan of an air source heat pump is approximately 20 years and this doesn't include very much maintenance over the time that you have it. There aren't a lot of parts associated with a heat pump and this means there isn't much to maintain. You are required to keep the outdoor exchanger free of high grasses, leaves and debris. Occasional inspections are an option as well, just to ensure that everything is working properly but if treated well and maintained, this can be a highly cost effective option over a 20 year term.

Intelligent Immersion Heaters for Solar PV Installations - Advantages and Disadvantages

The electricity produced by your solar PV panels is fed into an inverter which converts the electricity to AC. This electricity is now available for use in the household. Any of this electricity which is not used is automatically fed back to the national grid.

An intelligent immersion system continuously monitors the inverter output. Whenever it senses that surplus electricity is being fed back to the grid it switches on an immersion heater in the hot water cylinder, hence the description 'intelligent'.

ADVANTAGES

A solar thermal kit costs around £1,500 with possible further costs for installation and perhaps even a replacement hot water cylinder. A basic intelligent immersion kit could cost as little as £200. Some models are set up to continuously vary the power supply to the immersion in order to match the surplus power that would otherwise be exported. Installing an intelligent immersion involves no plumbing skills. The wiring is straightforward as it mostly uses clamps around existing cables. However, manufacturers always recommend using a qualified electrician. Some intelligent immersions use wireless technology so that the switching of the immersion can be monitored (or even controlled) from indoors. Such a monitor can usually be connected to a computer to enable downloading of historical data about electricity generation and usage. Some products can be used to switch on so-called smart plugs to run other facilities (such as air conditioning) from the surplus electricity. Larger PV systems, 3 to 4 kWp, are more likely to generate enough surplus electricity for an intelligent system to work efficiently.

DISADVANTAGES

The more sophisticated kits cost anything up to £700. For a medium-sized PV system, 2 kWp say, in a household where electricity or gas is the main fuel source, the savings could be quite modest. Even diverting 1 unit of electricity per day to water heating, which is fairly optimistic, would save around £50 a year. Pay-back time could be several years. More expensive solid fuels and propane gas would shorten pay-back time. For those systems which do not have variable control of the immersion heater, if the immersion heater is switched on at full power by an intelligent immersion they would consume more electricity than the surplus from the PV panels. This could easily negate the financial saving. This can be resolved in either of two ways. One is to fit a transformer to make the immersion work at 1 kW. This could add another £60 to the cost. The other is to replace the immersion with a Solaplug immersion, a conventional heater and solar coil in one unit. These are around £250 to buy. Some systems have an annually recurring cost of up to £48 for remote monitoring.

Conclusion

Whether or not to invest in an intelligent immersion system inevitably comes down to balancing the financial outlay against projected savings on one's fuel bills. But if the advanced features of the more sophisticated systems are tempting, the longer pay-back times might not matter so much.