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Saving Energy, money and the planet

johnola

johnola

Dean Austin
How to save energy and how to reduce our domestic and business bills.

Here for both arguments and ranting and also advice and tips.

My view
I need to use less energy. Reducing my domestic demand results in:
Lower costs for me.
Lower costs for everyone else.

My only practical tip is to listen to Martin Lewis at MoneySupermarket.

Any good tips out there ahead of what promises to be a very difficult winter?
 
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Honestly
Lights off as long as possible
And I’ve one room as much as you can
Close doors and fix any leaks
Domestically, unless you have renewables you are stuck
So it’s a case of use less

4 ways to save… and I dont are what anyone says im a procurement expert and teach this stuff too

Buy less… use less of a product, commodity or service
Buy for less.,,. Get a better rate, which is impossible in this market
Re-engineer… find an alternative solution, something like PV which is an investment un reality so isn’t a saving for today
Get some else to pay… we always use transport and packaging as examples, but in the energy market there isn’t anything that springs to mind. But keep an eye out for free products that may help the home
 
Bedfordspurs said:
Buy less… use less of a product, commodity or service
Buy for less.,,. Get a better rate, which is impossible in this market
Re-engineer… find an alternative solution, something like PV which is an investment un reality so isn’t a saving for today
Get some else to pay… we always use transport and packaging as examples, but in the energy market there isn’t anything that springs to mind. But keep an eye out for free products that may help the home
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Reduce (buy less) and Reuse are serverely underrated as much as Recycling is serverly overrated.

Re-engineer is a good one - food substitutes for healthier and less expensive might be possible for some, for others its just for healthier however both hopefully help reduce medical costs in the long run. Speaking of which, https://costplusdrugs.com/ not sure if there's a equivalent in the UK.
 
I spent 10 years as a domestic energy assessor and later on as a heat pump assessor. I still do it as a sideline. I am about to launch a venture into PV panels so know a bit about that also. So feel free to hit me up with any questions. Make them specific.
 
Rorschach said:
I spent 10 years as a domestic energy assessor and later on as a heat pump assessor. I still do it as a sideline. I am about to launch a venture into PV panels so know a bit about that also. So feel free to hit me up with any questions. Make them specific.
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Solar panels? Why now, is there a new generation tech and what's break even number of years? Asking as I installed some end of last year with 5+ years breakeven point, shorter now as tariffs have gone up recently. (I'm in a tropical climate, sunny all year long).
 
metalgear said:
Solar panels? Why now, is there a new generation tech and what's break even number of years? Asking as I installed some end of last year with 5+ years breakeven point, shorter now as tariffs have gone up recently. (I'm in a tropical climate, sunny all year long).
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The ROI on PV solar in particular is improving all the time - more efficient panels per sqm, plummeting prices, feed-in tariffs and rising energy prices are all variables in the equation. I couldn't put an accurate figure on your situation as there are too many variables in play, but generally speaking I would not be surprised if the 3 years or less is the new break-even point and this is shortening all the time, even taking into account the war/covid/etc. It is the perfect example of Wright's law in action.

My advice for those considering it is you must view it in those terms, an investment that will pay back in a few years. So this winter if money is tight then I can't see how this will help because of the upfront cost involved.
 
Generally
Bleeding radiators and turning the radiator thermostats right down in spare rooms.
Turning the fridge and freezer temperatures up a bit.
Using eco on the dishwasher
Turning the shower off when you are lathering shampoo/body wash
Led light bulbs and turning off lights

Cooking
A roast costs up to a fiver in energy. A stir fry will be a few tens of pence by comparison.

But if you do have your oven on for hours then try and use it to pre cook pies and other things that can keep for a few days in the fridge.

Keeping boiled kettle water in a thermos so it takes less heating next time. I boil the kettle every couple of hours as wfh.
 
I worked for a debt advice charity for a couple of years, helping people with personal debts or business related stuff. My best advice is to master the practice of apathy to a level that money and all these systems sort of dissolve in to the silliness that they are - It's an absolute wonder I don't work there anymore :eek:

When the people in charge consider GDP the be all and end all with wellbeing / workers rights seemingly an annoying afterthought it doesn't help.

Energy wise because profits are more important than say, the health of the planet it's hard to progress there either.
 
I recently installed 2 Daikin inverters/heat pumps. Previously I had 1 older Panasonic installed in the staircase between the floors. Never got warm downstairs, and even upstairs, where we have the kitchen and living room, I had to supplement with other electric ovens. Now with 2 pumps, one downstairs and 1 upstairs, I don't need additional heating, and the power use is down 25% compared to last year, despite it being colder this autumn than last year..

I've previously built an insulated box around the hot water tank. That made quite a difference too.
 
Improve food waste, cook what you need, cut down on quick fix food which is expenses, include meals you have earned like takeaways as a treat not the norm.
 
Kandi1977 said:
I recently installed 2 Daikin inverters/heat pumps. Previously I had 1 older Panasonic installed in the staircase between the floors. Never got warm downstairs, and even upstairs, where we have the kitchen and living room, I had to supplement with other electric ovens. Now with 2 pumps, one downstairs and 1 upstairs, I don't need additional heating, and the power use is down 25% compared to last year, despite it being colder this autumn than last year..

I've previously built an insulated box around the hot water tank. That made quite a difference too.
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When @Rorschach mentions heat pumps, I think he means the sort where you dig a very long OR very deep channel and bury a pipe and pump water into it and the few degrees difference in temperature between the surface and deeper underground, enable you to harvest that energy.
Sounds like you are talking about a heat exchanger perhaps?? Not sure.
I was thinking about these earlier i.e. each morning I open the bedroom window for about 20 minutes to get some fresh air in. I know this is not great as heat rushes out, so was wondering if it makes sense to install a heat exchanger which would blow fresh air in and stale air out, but grab the heat from the stale air and apply it to the incoming fresh air... what is the cost/feasiblity of that please chaps?
 
Bullet said:
When @Rorschach mentions heat pumps, I think he means the sort where you dig a very long OR very deep channel and bury a pipe and pump water into it and the few degrees difference in temperature between the surface and deeper underground, enable you to harvest that energy.
Sounds like you are talking about a heat exchanger perhaps?? Not sure.
I was thinking about these earlier i.e. each morning I open the bedroom window for about 20 minutes to get some fresh air in. I know this is not great as heat rushes out, so was wondering if it makes sense to install a heat exchanger which would blow fresh air in and stale air out, but grab the heat from the stale air and apply it to the incoming fresh air... what is the cost/feasiblity of that please chaps?
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Those types of heat pumps you describe are pretty rare actually. They are called ground source heat pumps and you need to have lots of pipes buried all over your garden (or alternatively bore down). Very good but very expensive so you don't see them very often as you need a big garden and wallet. There's another similar type heat pump where you throw the pipes into a body of water. A lake on your property would be ideal but I've never seen one in the flesh as I stay away from those types of people.

The most common type of heat pump in these isles is an air-to-water heat pump. This transfers heat from the air to water (unsurprisingly) which gets pumped around your rads. You can retrofit this to your current system usually. I'm guessing what @Kandi1977 has is a split air-to-air system. These have units up on the wall or ceiling which blow hot air in (or cold in the summer).

Heat pumps will be everywhere at some point in the future but there are a few hurdles. One is that they are not cheap to buy at the moment (air to air is not bad actually) but they will drop like everything else over time so that will solve itself. Problem two is they only work efficiently in well-insulated and relatively airtight houses. I check that houses meet the minimum criteria for the government to pay out a grant for their installation. If the house is not up to spec the heat pump will be working as hard as a victorian child all day long and cost too much to run.

The heat exchanger idea you describe is called heat recovery ventilation which is a little different. You can get these as small units to replace your wall vents, or a more sophisticated MHRV system with ducts running to each room (hard to retrofit). There are few other systems that are halfway between these extremes. As you say, they recover some amount of the heat from the air being exhausted so you are not pumping all your money away.
 
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What @Rorschach says. I've got air-air heat pumps. You don't need very well insulted houses for them to work though. My house is from the 60's, with only 5-10cm glass wool insulation, which isn't much nowadays, at least up north here, where the norm is now 30+ cm.
They should be perfect in Britain, where the climate is relatively mild. A decent one like those I have, will have a COP (coefficiency of performance) of over 5, measured over a year, meaning that for every kW you put in to it, you get 5 kW output. And they're relatively inexpensive and easy to install compared to other units.
 
Kandi1977 said:
What @Rorschach says. I've got air-air heat pumps. You don't need very well insulted houses for them to work though. My house is from the 60's, with only 5-10cm glass wool insulation, which isn't much nowadays, at least up north here, where the norm is now 30+ cm.
They should be perfect in Britain, where the climate is relatively mild. A decent one like those I have, will have a COP (coefficiency of performance) of over 5, measured over a year, meaning that for every kW you put in to it, you get 5 kW output. And they're relatively inexpensive and easy to install compared to other units.
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We'll I'd disagree with some of that, especially the point on insulation. How big is your place?
 
Rorschach said:
We'll I'd disagree with some of that, especially the point on insulation. How big is your place?
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Each floor is about 65sqm which would be about 700 square feet, and upstairs I have a high ceiling, approximately 3,8 meters, so a lot of volume. The house is naturally vented, which means we have vents everywhere, and the house is by no means air tight. You can feel the draft if you feel with your hand along windows and walls.
 
Kandi1977 said:
Each floor is about 65sqm which would be about 700 square feet. The house is naturally vented, which means we have vents everywhere, and the house is by no means air tight. You can feel the draft if you feel with your hand along windows and walls.
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I dare say you the pump is short cycling and your actual COP is lower. Always better to have your compressor working less as that means less electricity used and your bills will be cheaper. You should fix whatever drafts you can with some sticky back draft excluder or similar. The amount of heat that tinkles out those holes is surprising. It is like trying to pump a tire with a puncture. Anyway if it works for you and you are happy then cool.

edit: Sorry I mean continuous cycling. Not short cycling.
other edit: I missed this but 3.8m is very high.
 
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Rorschach said:
I dare say you the pump is short cycling and your actual COP is lower. Always better to have your compressor working less as that means less electricity used and your bills will be cheaper. You should fix whatever drafts you can with some sticky back draft excluder or similar. The amount of heat that tinkles out those holes is surprising. It is like trying to pump a tire with a puncture. Anyway if it works for you and you are happy then cool.
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No they definitely are not. They are rated for much larger houses than what I have, so the little draft here does not make them struggle. That said, I am going to change some of the large windows in the living room, and that will improve things. But right now everything is way too expensive. Windows are ridiculously priced atm.
 
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