Heating & Ventilation

HOW TO SAVE ENERGY IN HEATING

Heating in office environments is another big user of energy.
Like with lighting ensuring that your methods of heating are energy efficient can lower significantly your energy bills.

By requiring less energy to produce the heat, so emitting less CO2 gasses, it will also help to protect the environment:

Here are some ways in which energy can be saved:

• Installing good insulation.
• Turning down thermostats by one degree - You will save 8% a year.
• Using heating controls such as timers and programmable thermostats - You will use heating only when it is necessary.
• Switching to electric heating - 100% of the energy input to the heater will be returned as heat, compared to a traditional boiler based which can lose up to 30% via through the flue for example.
• Using air curtains and barriers - Constant temperatures are maintained in premises by minimising loses from both warm and cold environments.
• Using Heat pumps - Use freely available, inexhaustible solar energy stored in soil, ambient air or underground water and converts this energy in to usable energy for the heating system. A heat pump will be able to abstract 75% of its heating energy directly from the environment. Consequently it can cut carbon emissions by half compared to a traditional boiler based system.
  Using Heat pumps helps to lower your energy bills and makes a valuable contribution to the environment.
• Using Solar Energy Collectors - You can find two types:
  
• Photo-voltaic that generate small amounts of electricity.
• Solar Thermal Collectors which generate free hot water.
  
• Solar Thermal Collectors work by passing water through thermal vacuum glass tubes which convert the solar energy into hot water. The vacuum enables the energy to be locked in and prevents heat escaping much like a vacuum flask.By using these technologies, you can cover around 60% of domestic hot water requirements from sustainable sources.
• Installing a ventilation system - By recycling lost heat, a ventilation system will reduce your heating costs and protect the environment. Others benefits:
• Better indoor environment.
• Lowering of humidity levels which have many health benefits for allergy suffers.

For more information on the savings that can be achieved with energy efficient heating and controls please refer to the Sector Plus catalogue or pop into your nearest branch and ask a member of staff.