The Greening of Gavin

Cover Your Windows

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Did you know that glass can be the cause of around 10-20% heat loss in winter and around 25-35% heat gain in summer. 

Windows are not a very good insulator at all and are a bit of a mixed blessing. You can let a cool breeze flow through at the end of a hot day and it can let out VOC pollutants and cleanse the internal air. 

Double Glazing

So what can you do about this potentially unwanted heat loss and gain. Well, one solution can be double or triple glazing but it is an expensive fix to this problem.  Its benefits are that the pocket of air trapped between the two/three panes of glass prevent most of the heat loss/gain.  In colder climates it is well worth the capital expense over the longer term, and can save you a small fortune on your energy bills.. 

DIY Double Glazing

A much cheaper alternative is fixing a layer of bubble wrap, bubble side to the glass over the window frame.  It acts like a simple double glazing without the cost associated with it.  This works well, as my mate Mick demonstrated on his blog post titled “Cold Feet“.  He reports that it works very well.
As we have sliding windows in an aluminium frame (more heat loss through the frame) I could not place bubble wrap up against the windows as we still wanted to open them. 

Awnings

We did not choose to replace our windows with double glazing because there is a cheaper alternative which we already had installed, which is to cover the windows inside and out.
In summer we pull down heavy canvas awnings to the ground to prevent direct sunlight from entering the house from the north, and the east and westerly windows are underneath verandas. 
This stops most of the heat gain due to the pocket of air trapped on the outside of the windows between the glass and the awning.
In winter we roll the awnings all the way up to let in maximum light and heat causing a mini greenhouse effect in the living areas at the front of the house.

Natural Coverings

Since the photo of the awnings was taken, we now have two pear trees in pots that are growing well in front of the windows.  As these are deciduous  the leaves will block the heat in summer and let light through in winter.  A larger tree planted in the ground will have the same effect.  Do not plant an evergreen in front of you sun-ward facing windows.  This natural cooling/heating effect is lost.  

Curtains

Also with the aid of curtains, we also cover the insides of our windows on hot days and cold nights to stop heat transfer either way.  However, curtains must have a very important feature in which to work more effectively and that is to install a box pelmet.  

Closed Pelmets

Closed pelmets fitted to the top of blinds or curtains stop the air from flowing over the window pain and reduces heat loss in winter, and heat gain in summer.  Heavy curtains were the norm a while back, and are still a great option, but you can modernise with these options.

This example is a Holland blind with a closed pelmet in Kim’s office, which was installed during the last retrofit.  This room is on the south side of the house, but stays quite warm in winter.

The rest of the house has Vertical blinds, which are not as efficient as the Holland blind due to the many gaps.  All of these were installed before our greening, and had open pelmets.  We closed them off with some long pieces of cardboard and some duct tape.  This stopped the airflow behind the curtain and I am happy to say that it works well.

Shutters

Internal plantation shutters are another option which trap a pocket of air in the window frame acting like double glazing.  A little bit more expensive than fabric blinds, but work in the same manner.  

Summary

If you want to keep the heat in winter, and cool in summer, then you could do not better by covering your windows.  
Hopefully you now have some ideas to work on to save on those energy bills!  It certainly has helped us to reduce ours.

5 Free Things You Can Do Right Now To Save Money

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Now that there is a price on carbon emissions enforced by law upon the 294 biggest polluters in Australia, many of them being energy companies, I thought that it would be beneficial to post five easy ways to lower your energy costs, as they will be passing it on to customers.  However, that said, most householders should have been compensated with the new income tax cuts and increase in social benefits that also came into law today.

Here is my five point list for saving money on your energy bills.

1.  Shop Around.  If an energy retailer really wants your business, then try this tip.  Give them a call and ask for a better rate.  If they don’t come to the party, tell them that you are going to change retailers.  They will try soon change their mind and sweeten your current deal with them, which would probably be a better deal than swapping retailers.  I find that by doing this step first, you save the hassle of stuff ups with billing swap overs between retailers, and you usually get a few cents off of your kWh tariff.

2.  Turn Off Standby Equipment.  Entertainment and computer equipment left in standby mode equates to about 10% of your electricity bill.  Yes it is that high.  So, last thing at night before you go to bed, or after you have finished using the equipment, turn it off at the wall socket.  You don’t have to pull out the plug, just turn off the switch.  You will be amazed when you look at your next bill, even if you only implement this small behaviour change.

3.  Turn Off The Second Fridge.  Do you really need that spare fridge turned on all the time? If you only use it on weekends, take out the beer or soft drinks, turn it off, and reap the rewards.  You could save at least another 10% off your bill if the fridge is an old model.  When you need to use it again, just turn it on a few hours before your party to cool down, or alternatively sell the fridge, and buy a bag of ice for your esky (icebox).  It will actually cost less  in ice than the electricity to run the fridge all week!

4.  String Up An Outside Clothesline.  Ditch the clothes dryer and realise the financial savings instantly.  Our dryer broke a few years ago, and we never replaced it.  I strung a line up under the carport and bought a few clothes horses, and we haven’t looked back.  Expect to save a small fortune in the winter months if you are usually a heavy user of this appliance.

5.  Cover Windows At Night.  Did you know that 35% of a homes total energy bill is spent on heating and cooling.  With winter upon us here in the Southern Hemisphere, the nights seem to be getting colder.  Here is a money saving tip.  Cover your windows with blinds or curtains as the sun sets, to keep the hot air locked in the house from escaping through the glass.  You can lose 40% of your heat through a single pane of glass.  Additionally, by installing a closed pelmet above the curtain or blind you stop air flowing behind the covering, which traps a pocket of still air between the curtain and the window.  This provides an additional layer of insulation.  Just because pelmet as deemed to be unfashionable and not look pretty, it should not be a reason to install this energy saving device.

These are all things that you can do right now to save money on your energy bills.  All of these tips are free or very low cost, and are mainly behavioural changes.

Also there are lots of energy saving tips in my eBook that may help you to reduce your energy costs.  Purchase details can be found in the right sidebar.

You may have even implemented them already.  Those who have, kudos to you.  You may even be better off with the implementation of the carbon price when you take the income tax cut and extra family payments into account!

Does anyone else have any low or no cost methods of saving energy off their bills?

Greening The Office

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Photo: Loungepark/Getty Images

I write a lot about greening my own home, but what about the workplace?  I do have a few tips that will save money in energy and help to green up the office by reducing the environmental footprint.

• Reduce paper. When printing, use both sides of a piece of paper in order to conserve. Keep a scrap paper pile for misprinted or unnecessary documents to either print on or write on.   Also, think before printing, you may not need a hard copy.

• Reduce your waste. Bring your own coffee cup or water bottle to work to avoid buying Styrofoam or paper cups and throwing them away every day. Also, bring your lunch in a reusable container rather than a disposable paper bag. Lastly, make sure your company has an easy-to-use recycling program and that everyone is educated on how it works.

• Be conscious of your supplies. Some office supplies are better for the environment than others;  Consider refillable pens and mechanical pencils rather than disposable ones.  There are even corn starch based pens that break down in landfill.  Most office supplies can be made from recycled materials and a cheap to buy.

• Office Equipment – Computers, printers, fax machines and photocopiers all contribute to an office’s electricity consumption. New office equipment has become more energy efficient and includes facilities to automatically reduce power when not in use. This is known as ‘stand-by’ or ‘sleep’ mode. For most office equipment the power consumption in sleep mode is between 5% and 50% of its operating power.

• Turn off equipment if it isn’t needed – This is the easiest way to reduce energy costs. A check at the end of the day (especially on Fridays) should be done to ensure all equipment is off.

• Install plug-in timers – Use plug-in timers to automatically switch off some equipment after hours. These are especially useful for photocopiers, printers and appliances which do not have automatic switch-off functions.  The continuous boil hot water in the kitchenette is a great appliance to target for a time!  TIP – It’s a good idea to post clear instructions on how to override timers for people who may require equipment out of hours. Otherwise you may find them disconnected by a frustrated staff member!

• Computers – Make sure all computers are turned off when not in use, especially overnight, weekends, and at lunchtime. A notice reminding people to switch off computers when not in use will keep staff aware of energy saving initiatives. Each desktop computer left on a lunchtime costs about $5/year if not set to low power or sleep mode.  Increasing numbers of computers can be responsible for the increase in office energy consumption.

• Switch off monitors – The monitor of a computer uses more than half of the energy consumed by the machine. Newer computers have functions that automatically switch off the monitor after a set period of inactivity. For older computers turn off the monitor, even if the computer itself is left running.

• Turn off the Screen Saver – most computers allow a screen saver to appear when they become idle for a certain period of time. Screen savers do not save energy, they are merely a protection device to maximise your screen’s useful life. They do not replace the sleep mode or switching the monitor off.

• Use laptop computers – Laptop computers use about one tenth the energy of a desktop computer. Connected to a monitor a laptop still uses about half the energy of a desktop machine.

So, if you follow some or all of this tips, you will save money for your business and lower your environmental footprint, and you will find that staff will feel more engaged because the company shows that they care about the environment.  Give yourself a pat on the back if you have already implemented some of these tips!

Are there any others that I have missed?