Climate Change Series: How to cut carbon out of your heating, P4
- Shidonna Raven
- 13 hours ago
- 4 min read
By Shidonna Raven, Chief Editor
& Laura Cole, BBC
November 16, 2020
Source: BBC
Photo Source: Unsplash,
This Year we are bringing you Our 12 Months to 12 Climate Change Goals & New Habits Series. The series is designed to help you begin making simple and easy habit changing goals that can have a huge impact on your pocket and the environment, you are leaving to your children. We hope that you will be inspired to make your own Climate Change Goals and share them here with the community.
Climate Change can seem daunting as a whole, however, we are many. When we each make our own contribution, we believe these add up to huge numbers. Be inspired, encouraged and most of all enjoy yourself. Involve your children and help start their own space online where they can engage in Climate Change Habits.
We recently brought you the Cooling (Homes/Buildings/Office) Series for the July & August Climate Change Habit Changing Goal to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, This change can have a huge impact on Climate Change and is important Habit for Corporations and Community (Individuals) alike.
September is all about EnergyEfficiencies (at home, in the office and other buildings), which can have a huge impact on the environment. In September the 12 Month Habit forming Climate Change Goal is Solar Panels. Even if you decide to go another route, we invite you to learn more about Solar Panels. Solar Panels are having a huge impact in states and locations like California, that lead in such energy efficiencies. Choose carefully, in some cases Solar Panels have other environment impacts, some associated with production and longevity of usage. Heating and cooling can require a huge energy load depending on where you live and the weather differential.
Enjoy this Series, Apply what you have learned here and share the Journey with the community here by making posts and submitting photos and video to us. It could be featured on our eZine here. Also be a Climate Change Community Champions and share with your community and help empower them to make New Habit forming Climate Change Goals also in the community you share.
“People are often surprised to see their roofs are bright red with heat loss,” says Craig. “It’s one way to motivate communities to decarbonise the country’s housing stock en-masse.“
Once you have found where the heat is leaking out, it is then possible to do something about it.
Where to start
New builds are easier to tackle. Installing cavity insulation and new double-glazing during the construction stage saves replacement costs in the future.
For the majority of the people, however, the challenge is how to adapting their existing properties. Much of the housing in Europe and North America is more than 40 years old. In the US 13.5% of homes were built before 1940 while a third of the housing in the UK, Denmark and Belgium were constructed prior to 1946. In Germany, Hungary and Sweden 45-50% of the houses were built between 1946 and 1980 while in Italy, Slovakia and Romania the share of housing of that age rises to 50-60%.
Despite this, huge carbon savings can still be made by retrofitting the existing housing stock, according to Jones. Making sure doors shut properly is a good first step, and that they are draught proofed, with no gaps. “Door brushes, beading and rubber seals alldo their bit,” she says. “Not everyone can afford new cavity wall insulation, but everyone can drought-proof their letterbox.”
According to a report from the University of Sussex, new double-glazing (manufactured after 2002) provides one of the most significant carbon savings. If all houses got new double-glazing it could save the UK 20.3 TWh of fuel per year. Assuming the heat saved is generated from natural gas, the savings would amount to 3.76 million tonnes of CO2 per year – around 1.2% of the nation’s total annual carbon emissions.
In a house with five radiators, reflectors could save £20 ($26) a year from energy bills
For households that can’t afford to refit windows, there are also magnetised versions available, where a second pane can be stuck over the top superficially. They fit different size and types of window, and come at about one-fifth of the cost.
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