TEN TIPS FOR HOUSEHOLD ECOLOGY
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the energy

• Let’s remember, that the most ecological and cheapest energy is the one, that we spare. The most considerable savings can be effected while heating, water-warming and cooking.
• Cuts in the costs expended on heating can be effected in 3 spheres: the best utilization of the thermal energy of the fuel, an appropriate heating regime without useless over-heating and aeration and thermal isolation.
     If we think about reconstructing the central heating, we should think on the gas. And if it is not available, then on heating oil. The electricity is very advisable, but also very costly. If we don’t have any special reasons why to use the solid fuel, than we rather keep clear of it. The advantage of gaseous and fluid fuels (and of course electricity, too) is the possibility to regulate the output of the boiler, in an electronic way. We prefer the boiler with smaller water-capacity, which is more suitable for quick regulation.
     The regulation of the solid-fuel-cauldrons is ”mechanic” (if there is any) and it is not adequate to the immediate ”needs” of the heater. In addition – these cauldrons haven’t got the wide range of regulation and when the output is smaller, the burning is not thorough – it is very inconvenient and what was saved on buying the fuel is lost in the running. Especially when the cauldron is over-filled (if it was very cold) and then it is heating properly only once every ten years and the other nine years it only contaminates its surroundings and throws the money of the owner out of the chimney.
     The suitable thermal regime should be provided by the indoor thermostat or thermostatic (thermal-control) valves. The indoor thermostat should be adjustable not only for particular hours during the day but for every day during the week, so that the heating could be damped down when there is no-one in the room. And before coming back home it would make to warm the room up to the required temperature. The thermostatic valves allow to set the individual temperature in each room, and then they keep it (also in case of the activity of another foreign source of the warmth e.g. the sun). The recommended temperature in the bedroom is 18° C, in the lounge 22° C and 20° C in the kitchen. This way we can save about 10% of the costs spent on heating (the 1° C increase of the temperature in all rooms means the 6% increase of the consumption of the energy). We should air shortly and in an intensive way (this is important especially when you have the thermostatic valves. When you air for a long time, the valves try to warm up the room and open themselves fully). The thermostatic valves must always be installed in a horizontal way, so that they are lest influenced by the hear of the radiators.
     Our grandfather did not have any expert knowledge of the thermal isolation, but they were able to conserve the valuable warmth: with the wood stacked up on the wall or the hay and straw stored in the garret. This was forgotten later on while building the new houses. Many new buildings unsatisfactory as for the thermal isolation. If we need to improve the thermal isolation of the house, there are two possibilities how to do it: to isolate the indoor or outdoor side of the circuit walls. The isolation of the outdoor wall is more effective but also more expensive and the unqualified work of the firm (blurs, breaches in the attachments) will already appear after the first winter. The inside isolation is not as effective, but it is easier and therefore cheaper. For the inside isolation we can use different faces on the basis of polystyrene, not only for the walls but also for the ceilings (their surface is bigger then the surface of the wall and the there is also the highest temperature there). You can find more about the thermal isolation on http://www.ecn.cz/ekolist/zdenr.htm.
     It is necessary to pay the attention to the doors and windows. First: because the doors and windows should have the comparable isolation ability as the walls (however the thermal energy runs away through the windows 3-5 times more intensive) and second: they should calk properly. It is advisable to calk the older windows and doors are with some of the high-quality silicon gasket (inserted to the milled groove or adhered), the plastic foam isolations have got short lifetime and the metal isolations should be casted away immediately. If we use a drapery over the windows and door during the night we can save up to 3% of the aggregate warmth-consumption.
• The water for bathing is usually warm up in the boiler. Here we cannot save while heating. It is favourable to switch on the boiler during the night, even if we don’t have the night stream. This way it is assured that the heating spiral will be switched on only once every 24 hours and not by every time when we turn on the hot water. Frequent and short switching on of the thermal spiral is not economic and it shortens its lifetime.
• The cheapest way how to wart up the water for making tea or coffee is to do it in the ”fast-boiling” kettle. All the heat reverts to the water and the kettle switches off itself, so that you can do any other activity. It is also advisable to warm up as much water as possible and to prepare the tea for the breakfast for the whole family at once. If you don’t have breakfast at the same time, it is possible to preserve the tea several hours in the vacuum flask (in the shape of tea-pot).
• The cooking is cheaper and also faster when you use a gas-cooker then an electric one. The disadvantage the ”oily” pots and pans and the fact that the waste products stay in the room and it is not good even for some plants. On the other hand the electric cooker has got a higher operating comport and an easier cleaning. When using the electric cooker we mark that the pots and pans haven’t got a smaller diameter than the hot-plate, because otherwise we lose some thermal energy. From the same reason the pots used for cooking on an electric cookers must have flat bottoms. We do not use pans with bended bottoms. We can use the electric oven with thermostat even for preserving. When we use the electric cooker we don’t forger about the thermal inertia and we switch of the hot-plates few minutes before the end of the cooking. If we only want to warm up the foot it is more favourable to use the microwave – we can prepare the dish directly on the plate. The warming up of the milk and coffee is also quicker.
• We try to place the freezer and the fridge – if it is possible – in the colder rooms or at least to the circular wall. While buying a fridge we should prefer izobutan (R600a) as a cool-medium, this does not damage the ozone-layer and doesn’t have any other negative effects. But these products are usually more expensive than those filled with so called soft freons (R134a), this doesn’t damage the ozone-layer but it belongs among the ”glass-house” gases. Some fridges and freezers and the combinations of their fillings and the power consumption are to be found on the address: http://www.ecn.cz/ekolist/z970601.htm. These appliances have to be defrosted and the fridge has to have the temperature of 7C and the freezer -18° C.
• While ironing we switch off the flat-iron a bit sooner and use the residual warmth. We also don’t iron too moist clothes.
• The indispensable part of the electric energy come to nothing while using the consumer electronics. These appliances are usually made without the line-switch (radios, satellites …) or they allow the operation is so called standby condition (TV-sets). In this case the appliances are all the time connected with the grid and they take away the electric power 24 hours a day. Their consumption is small (5-10 W), but if you try to count it, you get (when you have 5 appliances) about 40 W, which is the same if we were constantly shining with a medium intensive bulb. So we pay 1 kWh a day uselessly, disregarding other dangers (fire from the TV-sets that are in the standby condition). Here it pays off to think about adding line switch, no matter if it is in the cord.
• We can even save some money on shining. We prefer the local lighting rather than than the central one. According to our possibilities we prefer the fluorescent tuber rather then bulbs. In the rooms where we light more hours a day, it is convenient to use so called ”low-budget fluorescent tubes” (if we are not drawn back with their design). For the common use is the 12 W one sufficient and you can get if for already 200,-- CZK. We shouldn’t buy other than label tubes because they usually don’t have long lifetime. The fluorescent tubes, bulbs, TV-sets and computers should be turned on again after cca 20 minutes, otherwise we cut their lifetime.