Heating bills received during the cold season have become a major headache for many residents. However, while owners or tenants of old-built apartments are left to look for more efficient ways to use heat and electricity, owners of new buildings can plan in advance, even during the finishing phase, how to save money during the heating season.
Experts provide some practical advice on what to consider when decorating your home and how to use the devices in your home efficiently, thus saving electricity and heat.
According to Rokas Norgilas, BIM specialist/HVAC engineer at Eika, if your future home has radiator heating, try not to block the radiator with furniture or other decorative elements when planning the interior. “If the window sills completely cover the radiator, consider installing grilles to ensure proper convection,” advises R. Norgilas.
Choose heat-conducting materials for underfloor heating
The engineer also evaluates the effective use of underfloor heating – if it is installed in the future home, it is recommended to choose heat-conducting finishing materials for the floor covering. It is worth looking into heating thermostats, as they are often automated and can be programmed according to the desired mode.
“The underfloor heating system is quite inert, so you will not achieve the desired comfort conditions very quickly. When programming, estimate how long it will take for the room to warm up or cool down, and set the thermostat mode accordingly. So, for example, if you like to sleep cooler, set the thermostats to change the temperature 1–2 hours before bedtime, then you will not have to open the windows and forcefully cool the room,” advises R. Norgilas.
Maya Nikitina, “Finishing format” Finishes project manager, draws attention to the materials used. “For example, if you choose parquet boards, there will always be a feeling of warmth in the room – both visually and perceptibly. The warm colors used in the interior also psychologically create a warm atmosphere. If you are decorating large areas using tiles, it is advisable to integrate an underfloor heating mat. When your feet are warm, it will be cozier and warmer at home,” advises the finishing expert.
She suggests paying attention to the fact that devices such as floor mats or heated towel rails use a lot of electricity, so it is recommended to use them regularly, rather than turning them on and off. It takes much more energy to warm up such a device than to keep it constantly at the appropriate temperature.
Arrange your lighting according to your daily routine
Nikitina says that it is important to assess the use of the premises when decorating. In order to use the equipment economically, it is advisable to take into account your daily routine.
“If you are often in the relevant rooms, design several lighting options taking into account the time of day. Maybe next time you don’t need to design ten lights in one room, but it will be enough to provide several spot lights that will be used during the day. In this case, dimmable lighting is also useful, which can be of varying intensity. This way, you can simultaneously illuminate the rooms with the same devices, but with different moods,” says the home decoration expert.
Smart lighting, which has various colors in its light spectrum, will also help save electricity. When working, you can set the lighting to be pleasant to the eye, and in the evening it can become more intense. Smart lighting will help if the newcomer forgets to turn off the lights. You can check whether all the lights are turned off when you go to another city or even on vacation in warm countries.
To save electricity used to cool an apartment in the summer, it is worth considering various passive measures, such as external shading canopies over windows or external blinds. Internal blinds also help reduce external solar gain, but not as effectively.
Open windows responsibly.
According to experts, modern buildings are very airtight, so in order to use energy efficiently, it is necessary to understand that internal heat gains from used devices have a significant impact on the temperature of the house.
“If you plan to bake a cake, you can safely lower the temperature on the kitchen thermostat, which will turn off the circulation of the coolant in your system, and the heat in the room will be maintained by the heat emitted by the oven. Also, to save heat, open the windows responsibly, especially if there is a ventilation system,” says R. Norgilas.
The decoration expert advises those whose apartments have air conditioners or recuperators installed to consult with specialists who can explain how the devices should work and how to most conveniently set them up according to their needs.
“Without sufficient knowledge of how to use the equipment, windows are often opened in order to ventilate the rooms faster. In fact, it would be more efficient if the recuperator circulated the air and thus ventilated the rooms, and the temperature of the radiators or underfloor heating would not have to be increased,” says the specialist from “Apdailos formato”.