Hey, have you heard about the campaign to get everyone to try to cut their energy use by 10% in the year 2010? Well, if you haven’t and you are in St Mary’s, you can find some information on a temporary noticeboard at the back of church on Sunday.
Anyway, I was thinking about this on Sunday afternoon after hearing about it in the morning and decided to try to check my energy consumption at home this year. My provider makes it very easy to compare energy use between the current year and last year. I was very pleased indeed with what I found and though I’ve not taken travel into account, I think I’ve probably achieved the 10% reduction.
I had a new condensing boiler fitted in April this year, which leads to this change in energy use:
To be honest, it was a lot of bother, with carpets coming up and no heat for a while and stoor everywhere. However, looking at that graph it was worth it for me and worth it for the planet.
The solid line is last year’s energy use. The green blocks are this year’s energy use. The numbers are the percentage fall in energy use for each month.
Oh, and the flat feels warmer, the boiler is much more controllable and I’ve got hot water all the time without having a huge tank of hot water going cold all the time. I’ve also got back the cupboard space that the water tank took up.
I’ve easily exceeded the 10% target and am really pleased. Now to try other tricks to get it down by another 10% next year. First on the list is installing a pulley so that I’m not always drying clothes in a tumble dryer…
Ahh, a pulley. I love my pulley – the authentic sound of the Scottish tenement is the screech of a laden pulley being hauled upwards. Connects me with my foremothers just like knitting with fore (sp. deliberate) needles does.
BTW, did you know that the Norwegian for vacuum cleaner is stoorsooker (sp. conjectural)
So the condensing boiler, which I assume is to heat your home, also has instant hot water? Or how does that work?
We have an old 100 L tank-style water heater, but I have been thinking of getting one of the new Japanese instant tankless heaters. They only work with natural gas or LP.
Yes – boiler uses gas, which is piped into the house, to heat water for radiators and (almost) instant hot water for taps too.
I don’t know how it works. I’m just grateful.
The graph above includes both gas and electricity.
Pulleys? I always assumed, perhaps unrealistically, that there’s some kind of centralised clerical dry cleaners, who take care of vestments, altar cloths,dog collars, liturgically-accurate black socks, etc etc 😉
Remember to remove the clean clothes before you cook anything smelly! What about a wee rope outside? Hang the washing out?
Your grandmothers and great grandmothers had a pulley. Why has it taken you so long to realise the benifits? It will also help you with the keep fit programme