Staying warm and having a well-stocked larder are the mainstays of human comfort. How we do that has changed so much over generations and today’s buzzword is all about “smart technology”. Put simply, this is using highly efficient machines that are intelligent, automated, and responsive to our instant control. Our journey of exploring and utilising green energy and environmentally friendly systems is about the take a new turn: heating and controlling our homes with apps.
Just about everyone carries and uses a mobile phone, but are you aware that this little marvel in your pocket can securely connect to devices in your home that can be monitored and controlled on your screen? And that all this can be done in real-time, securely through the internet, with access to only yourself, your family and those you grant permission?
Gone are the times when you might have suddenly thought, “did I leave the heating on, or off?” And let’s face it, waking up in the morning, or coming home to a cold house or room is not a welcoming part of your day.
You see, having control from a distance of ten or a thousand miles from home, and being able to see on your mobile phone that your heating is on or off is not only convenient but gives you peace of mind. It also contributes to better use of energy and that means a greener more sustainable way to live your life. The combination of intelligent monitoring systems at home, plus the precise control of heating a whole house, or just one room provides the most efficient means of staying warm with the least amount of energy use.
Recently we’ve seen the increase in energy prices for electricity and gas and that will soon translate to higher bills if you are not controlling your electricity in a smart way. So, did you know that the Government is planning to power gas-fired power stations with hydrogen by 2030? a cleaner greener low carbon option to fossil fuel.
It’s time to look at electricity in a new way. An energy source that can evolve from old fossil fuel power stations to a hydrogen fuel that produces just water as a by-product. Planning for heating your homes, at last, has a sustainable future and along with that, there are now smart options provided by innovative companies that connect smart energy to smart controls through your mobile phones.
You can have it both ways, comfort convenience and control from anywhere any time and the assurance that you use just the right amount of energy you need from an environmentally sustainable resource.
As long-term readers of this blog will be aware, we heat Chez Green with a woodburner. Word has it that the government don’t think too highly of this heating source. We can understand why. Green wood is not energy efficient and house coal produces particulates. So home-owners with solid fuel are being urged to rethink things.
So rethink things we are!
We don’t have mains gas in our village and so options are limited.
We recently heard about Yorkshire heating company, North East Heating Solutions, who offer app-controlled energy-efficient electric home heating. I always thought that electric heating was expensive and a burden to the environment. Yet they tell me this form of heating – when used properly – can reduce your bills by one third, which has a knock-on positive effect on the environment by reducing your carbon footprint.
The company use German manufactured radiators by ELKAtherm – widely acknowledged to be the best in the world (and fully recyclable no less) – which reach full operating temperature within minutes and can be controlled by an app to completely personalise heating requirements in every room of the house.
As well as our trusty wood burner, our electricity is sourced from a company which provide 100% renewable energy from solar, wind and hydro. Add an energy efficient heating system into the mix and we could be onto a winner! While we love our wood burner, it’s either going or it’s not, right? Getting that Goldilocks heat is nearly impossible. Usually our home is on the cold side, but occasionally we’re sitting there sweating in a t-shirt in the middle of winter. And although I’d never get rid of a real fire completely, I do secretly yearn to walk into a warm bedroom in the evenings and it would be nice to not have to run like the wind to get from the shower room in order to dry off somewhere warm!
Thanks to North East Heating Solutions, I’m beginning to see how electric radiators can indeed be part of a sustainable lifestyle. I confess that my thinking up until this point has been electricity for heating = bad, biofuel = good. But to coin a phrase ‘it’s not easy going green’ and there are rarely straight forward answers which tick all the boxes.
As Managing Director, Howard Klineberg puts it “Today’s electric radiators are technically advanced and app-controlled, which enables them to only draw down electricity for 30% of the time, even on the coldest days, to maintain a cosy room temperature. If you then consider that gas costs around 4p per kWh but is on constantly, and electricity is 16p per kWh but only on 30% of the time, and additionally electric heating is 100% maintenance-free, then overall electric running costs compare favourably with gas.” Not only that, but the company are committed to planting one tree for every installation they complete.
What’s not to love about that?
#Electric #Heating #Sustainable #Green #Blog
