Improving the comfort of your home and lowering your fuel bills

1. ENERGY EFFICIENCY
METHODS AND
TECHNIQUES
Pat Murphy

2. Energy Efficiency Methods and Techniques
Choosing to manage the way you use energy means you
can have lower bills, a warmer, healthier home and less of
an impact on the environment
Essentially improvements in energy efficiency enable
achievement of the same result with less energy or
achieving an improved performance with the same energy
What does all this mean to you?
More comfort and more savings
More performance less energy

3. Energy Legislation
EU Energy and Climate Change Package agreed at the
European Council in December 2008, (i.e. 20% efficiency
improvement, 20% renewable energy penetration and 20%
greenhouse-gas emissions reduction by 2020).
EU Energy Services Directive (ESD)
Member States to achieve a 1% per annum energy
efficiency improvement, resulting in a cumulative target of a
9% improvement in energy efficiency by 2016.

4. Energy Efficiency
Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD)
Energy performance standards Part L
Limitation of Heat Loss through the Building Fabric
Building Energy Rating (BER) certificate, which is
effectively an energy label, is now required at the point of
sale or rental of a building, or on completion of a new
building.
http://www.environ.ie/en/TGD/

5. Building Energy Rating (BER)
kWh/m2/year
kgCO2/m2/year
CDER (TGD L)
carbon dioxide emission rate
Why?
Protect buyers and renters of property
You should know the cost of heating a
property before building buying or
renting it
Improve the standard of house building
in Ireland

6. Energy Efficiency Methods and Techniques
The average household in Ireland
uses approximately 25,000 kWh of
fuel and electricity each year
The cost per household is between
€1500 to €2000 per year on average
70% improvement ??

7. Energy Efficiency Methods and Techniques
Many common
air leaks are
overlooked
How many of
the avoidable
ones apply to
your house....?

8. Energy survey
What Can Be Detected:
Missing or improperly installed insulation
Energy losses caused by air infiltration and exfiltration
Building Defects
Benefits:
Reduce your heating energy costs
Improve the comfort of your home
Improved Indoor Air Quality

9. Non destructive test equipment
An air tightness test using a blower door will measure
the air leakage of your home and provide advice on how
to eradicate air infiltration and draughts leaving you
warm and snug in your home enjoying lower heating bills

10. Thermal Survey

11. Insulate, Insulate, Insulate…
Heat will always flow from a warm area to a cold one.
In winter, the colder it is outside, the faster heat from your home will escape into the
surrounding air.
It is therefore vital that as much as possible is done to prevent this.
Insulation makes it much more difficult for heat to pass through your house exterior.
Roof and wall insulation will greatly reduce what is known as the U value.
The lower the U value, the slower heat is lost - and the less energy you need to
keep your home warm.
Insulation
is your primary defence against
heat loss and heat gain through the house envelope

12. Insulate, Insulate, Insulate…
To get the biggest savings, the easiest place
to add insulation is usually in the attic.
U Value .16

13. Secondary Heating
Independent research shows stoves
are three times more efficient than
open fires.
While anything up to 70 per cent of
heat from an open fire goes straight up
the chimney, stoves retain as much as
70 per cent heat in the home.

14. Heating controls
Can you heat your domestic water independent of space heating?
Can you turn on your heating without heating your domestic water?
Can you easily adjust the heat output from radiators ?
Have you time control on your heating system that you can set for a week?
Have you a separate temperature control for you hot water cylinder?
Have you a separate time control on your hot water cylinder?

15. Heating controls

16. Energy efficient equipment
The systems you use in your home have a big impact on
your energy use and your environmental footprint

17. Glazing
Single Glazing 4.8
Double glazed Air Filled 3.1
Double Glazed gas filled 2.9
New Building Regulations 2011
U-Value of Windows < 1.6

18. Air Tightness
Good airtightness allows you to control
your home's ventilation. Ventilation is an
important part of a healthy indoor
environment, as it helps maintain air
quality and remove moisture

19. Efficient Lighting
INCANDESCENT MINIMUM LIGHT CFL LAMPS Saving over 70
LIGHT BULBS OUTPUT Hours
Watts Lumens Watts 1 K/Watt =
1 Unit of Electricity
40 450 9 - 13 1 . 890 Kw
60 800 13 - 15 3 . 150 Kw
75 1,100 18 - 25 3 . 500 Kw
100 1,600 23 - 30 4 . 900 Kw
150 2,600 30 - 52 6 . 860 Kw
One unit of electricity is exactly equal to 1000 Watts of power used for 1 hour
Install solar tube-type lighting in walk-in-wardrobes and toilets, where natural
light can easily and effectively simulate artificial lighting.

20. Turn it down – or off
Device Standby (Watts) On (Watts)
Hi-fi/Stereo 12 22
TV 10 100
Video recorder 1 13
DVD player 7 12
Digital TV set top
5 6
box
Computer +
15 130
peripherals
Computer
Buy A Rated Appliances monitor
11 70
Laptop computer 2 29
Wash at lower temperatures Broadband
14 14
modem
Answering
3 3
machine
Battery charger 2 14
Mobile phone
1 5
charger
Total: 83 Watts 418 Watts

21. Simple Improvements – At Home
Turn your heating down to a comfortable 20ºC -
lowering your thermostat by 1ºC will knock 10% off your
heating bill.
Wait for the dishwasher to be full before you switch it on
Switch off lights when you leave a room
Avoid unnecessary electricity use between 5pm and
7pm - help reduce national CO2 emissions.
Don't overfill your kettle
Use cold water for washing your clothes
Fix dripping hot taps

22. Some words of caution!!!
Don’t store water at temperatures less than 60°C
***– danger of Legionella disease ***
Mixing valves will enable distribution at lower temperatures
at 50°C to prevent scalding
For older people just 1°C fall in room temperature can lead
to a rise in blood pressure, a lower core body temperature
and colder extremities
Being cold in the home increases the risk of strokes and
heart attacks and exacerbates COPD Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disorder.
Don’t close room vents
***– danger of Carbon Monoxide poisoning ***
FIT a Carbon monoxide monitor

23. Ingredients for a warm, healthy home
Attic and wall insulation
Efficient Space Heating
Heating system + Controls
Draught minimization
Windows (if they are old or need repairs)
Alternative energy such as solar heating
Good Habits
Energy efficiency is not about going without
It is about getting more for your money and
stopping the waste

24. Where to get further information
Department of the Environment www.environ.ie
ESB www.esb.ie
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland www.seai.ie
Leitrim.ie www.leitrim.ie
Leitrim Development Company www.ldco.ie
Leitrim County Council www.leitrimcoco.ie
Smartheat www.smartheat.ie
www.facebook.com/Smartheat.ie
THANK YOU