Efficiency

Minimizing Heat Loss
Millions of homes in the Middle East and Africa do not have any insulation. If you have a snowy day in your country, just go outside when the snow comes and look at your property. If the snow is settling on your neighbor’s roofs and not on yours, you are paying the energy bill to melt that snow!

Cavity Walls - if you have cavity walls you can easily get insulation blown in. This is a tried and tested technology, there are thousands of qualified contractors nationwide, it can pay for itself within 12 months and takes less than a day to do.

Loft insulation is even cheaper to install and in most cases can be done by the householder. The more insulation you install, the less heat that is lost, although eventually the cost of the insulation (both environmentally and financially) becomes as great as the savings. The optimum thickness has been shown to be 350mm, Building Regulations insist on a minimum of 250mm. If your loft space has been converted into a room then you will need to insulate in the sloping roof. High levels of insulation can be hard to achieve because a free air space of 50mm must be left between the insulation and the tiling felt, unless this felt is of a low-vapour resistance type. The most economic way of achieving a good thickness of insulation in the roof slope is to have two layers of timber: the first to support the roof finish, the second to support the insulation and ceiling finish. Insulation can then fill in between the timbers, providing a thermal break between the timbers. If you wish to be as “green” as possible, fit loft insulation from a natural and sustainable resource such as sheep’s wool.

Floor insulation is easy to install if you can gain access to the space below the floorboards and can fit insulation bats between the floor joists. It is more difficult if there is no easy access to this space or you have a solid floor. It can be done by either lifting floorboards or raising the floor level.

Draught-proofing is a very simple home efficiency job. Draughts will occur down chimneys, around window and door frames, through letterboxes and cat flaps, where services enter, at skirting boards, and between floorboards. As a simple test to find out where there is unwanted ventilation, carry around a smoking stick (joss stick or cigarette) - if held near a draught you will see the smoke blown horizontally. Some ventilation is essential, for example providing air to rooms with fuel burning appliances and ventilating timbers in the roof and floor, but it is easy to minimize unwanted ventilation. Use a sealant paste to fill in gaps around skirting boards, between floorboards and around service ducts. Unused chimneys should be boarded up. Compression seals and wiper seals are available from your local ironmonger and can be used on openings such as windows, doors, cat flaps and letterboxes.

Low energy appliances and lighting can make a big difference to your energy bill. Low energy bulbs will save money, last longer and are more economical long-term. If you use a particular light for an average of four hours or more a day, then replace it with an energy-saving equivalent, using around a quarter of the electricity and lasting up to 12 times longer. Energy efficient bulbs cost around 5 to 8 USD each, but will give you a saving on your bills of at least 30 USD over the year.

When buying a new appliance it is useful to look at the energy rating especially for frequently used high energy items such as washing machines. Appliances are rated from A to G, A being the most energy efficient.

Always wash a full load and if you can't, use a half-load or economy program if your machine has one. Always use the low temperature program bearing in mind that modern washing powders will be just as effective at lower temperatures.

Lagging your hot water tank makes sense and is relatively inexpensive. Why pay to heat the water and then let the heat dissipate away? Fit a Water Heater Standard jacket that's at least 7.5cm thick. It will cost around 18 USD and will give a saving of 50 USD a year. Hot water pipes can also be insulated to stop heat escaping from them. The best pipes to insulate are the ones between the boiler and hot water cylinder. Cost: around 2 USD per meter.

Good energy practice is to remember to turn off lights in rooms that are unoccupied, turn off appliances that are normally left on standby, and consider turning your central heating down by one or two degrees. Have a look at the hot water cylinder thermostat; the ideal temperature for most people is 60°C/140°F.

Double Glazing, Thermal Glass and Glass Coatings:
Although rather expensive, double glazes windows are superb insulators compared to single glazed windows. If climate change is going to mean colder winters then the payback time will come down from decades to years on double glazing your home.

Underfloor Heating:
Underfloor heating is a low temperature heating system that, used in conjunction with a condensing boiler, can be 20% more fuel efficient than the equivalent radiator based system, is particularly suited to new build and is suited to taking heat from a ground source, solar or other renewable system. It gives a more even and balanced temperature across the interior space and avoids the need for radiators that can limit furniture placement. However the heat is not as instantly available as radiator based central heating so it is more suited to buildings that are occupied for longer periods in the day, a family home with young children for example.

Environmental Building Design:
Environmental buildings should aim to cause the minimum harm to the environment whilst maximizing the sustainability and adaptability of the building for its potential users throughout its lifecycle.
In its simplest form it means ensuring that a new building makes best use of its orientation and position for solar gain, that it is designed to minimize energy use, that it is insulated as effectively as possible, that it is constructed from materials from sustainable sources and that the wastes that are generated from its use are dealt with ecologically.

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