James & Vilija

Here is the next tip in our “Don’t be an Eel with Energy” challenge.

With summer in full swing in the southern hemisphere and not far off in the northern one luxury of cheap electricity is the liberal use of Air Conditioners. Whilst undoubtedly useful for some when extreme weather hits the need for an Air Conditioner is often a consequence of less than optimal housing design.  A recent study has also found that air conditioners can in fact make the outside temperature hotter by upto 2°!  (See the end of this post for more info)

Simple modifications can reduce and even eliminate the need for Air Conditioners;

• Installing/upgrading insulation in the ceiling and walls will stop your house heating up when its hot outside.
• Installation of awnings on the outside of the windows will prevent direct sunlight hitting and entering the house. Well designed awnings will block summer sun, yet allow winter sun in for warmth.
• On hot days, ensure you keep all doors and windows closed. Close the curtains to keep the sun out and door snakes to stop hot drafts from entering through gaps. When it does cool down at night, open the doors/windows to let the cool air into the house.
• If you have older windows/doors, consider fitting foam to help them seal and keep out hot air. You can buy the foam at hardware stores and is like sticky tape so is very easy to install.
• In place of an Air Conditioner install/use Ceiling fans. They are the most energy efficient form of cooling and are the cheapest to purchase, cheapest to run. They operate quietly and are suitable for rooms of all sizes.

If you already have an Air Conditioner installed try to optimise its use. Think of your elderly grandparents who may be without one when you are sitting in front of the telly with the thermostat set to 18°.

• Switch to “Green Electricity” to reduce your greenhouse emisions when using your Air Conditioner. Remeber to check our Green Electricity Watch which reviews and rates the different “Green” electricity plans from all the different energy suppliers. This ensures that you are getting what you paid for.
• Set the thermostat to 24°C+. You aren’t trying to keep milk fresh and the humidity indoors will be lower than outside so it will actually feel cooler. Try not to change the thermostat settings frequently as this will increase the power usage.
• If your Air Conditioner is installed in one room, try to keep this room sealed off from the rest of the house by closing the doors. This will let the Air Conditioner work efficiently rather than over-extend it by trying to cool the entire house.
• If the unit has adjustable louvres, adjust them towards the ceiling when cooling as cool air falls.
• Clean the filter on your air-conditioning unit every three months so that it runs efficiently and cleanly.
• For maximum efficiency, set the air-conditioning unit to recirculate cool air instead of pulling warmer air in from outside.
• Choose an air-conditioner with an inverter drive if possible as these systems are more energy efficient and will keep costs to a minimum.

At my old office, on hot summer afternoons we would have a black-out at around 4pm everyday as families got home after school and turned on their air conditioners overloading the network. It is interesting to note that the standard electricity supply for European houses is limited to 3kW maximum demand to stop this from happening. What this means, is that if you are using too many electrical things at the same time your electricity will be cut off. To have this limit increased you have to pay an installation fee and a monthly premium on top of your electricity usage. This for all intents and purposes prohibits the wide spread use of Air Conditioners here in domestic houses and maximises the efficiency of the electricity network by evening out the required power.

You can help maximise the efficiency of your electrity usage by thinking about what and when you have things on. ie: Try doing the washing at night, avoid using the oven and Air Conditioner at the same time.

Another intersting program to note is that recently the Japanese government have been encouraging companies to raise the temperature in offices to 27° in the summer in order to save power. The Cool Biz campaign (Warm Biz in winter) then encouraged workers to dress appropriatly (short sleaves, light clothing) for work. This is a great example of a simple action that can make a big difference in the amount of energy used. Actions ALWAYS speak louder than words. If you are in a position to change the temperature of your office, why not try it and then use the moeny saved for Friday afternoon beers?

UPDATE!!!!: Regarding an earlier challenge - “Compact Fluorescent Lights” it looks like it might be announced soon that traditional Incandescent light bulbs may be banned in Australia from 2009. (Article - The Age) Why not try to ban them ourselves by the end of 2007!

Update #2:  A Japenese researcher recently did a study where they modled the effect of air conditioners on the immediate surrounding environment.  The study found that air conditioners dump enough heat into the streets to raise the temperature at least 1 to 2ºC.  The study also calculated that Tokyo sucks up about 1.6 gigawatts of electricity for every 2° of warming on a hot summer day. That’s equivalent to the output of one-and-a-half nuclear power plants. Source - ABC

Source Energy Australia

Tags: Energy Eel

This entry was posted on Monday, February 19th, 2007 at 8:36 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.