Healthy Homes & Energy Efficiency
Being able to live in a warm, energy efficient home is crucial to our health and wellbeing, and also helps lower power bills and climate emissions. Historically New Zealand homes have performed poorly, resulting in families experiencing high power bills and cold, damp living conditions. This has resulted in more doctors visits, higher rates of asthma, hospitalisation and tragically, higher mortality rates especially in Winter. Rising energy costs are also exacerbating financial difficulties and increasing inequality.
Here are five tips to keep your home warmer, healthier, drier and cheaper to heat:
- Reduce time spent in the shower. Did you know 27% of the average power bill is from heating water alone? You can save up to $500 or more per year by reducing a 15 minute shower down to 5 minutes. For extra savings, wrap your hot water cylinder in a cylinder blanket and wrap/insulate the hot water pipe above the cylinder so your cylinder doesn’t have to work as hard.
- Fix dripping hot taps and leaks. Enquire with your landlord/property manager if you have any dripping taps to get the washers replaced. If you see any water running down the roof from the vertical hot water cylinder pipe outlet – alert your landlord – fixing this hot water loss will save you money on your power bill.
- Use your heat pump wisely. It’s easy to set and forget a heat pump and/or heater but heating makes up 23% of the average power bill. For greater efficiency and lower running cost, set the temperature on your heat pump lower Eg 21 degrees and run it for longer rather than blasting it at a high temperature. Use the timer on the remote to set it to come on a few minutes before you need it. When heating, direct the airflow down to the floor. When cooling in Summer, direct the airflow up towards the ceiling. The WHO minimum healthy room temperature is 18 degrees and 20 degrees if anyone is sick in the home.
- Don’t dry your clothes inside. Hanging your damp clothes on an indoor clotheshorse makes the air extremely moist. Moist air takes longer to heat (in turn costing you more) and risks mould growth and health complications.
- Curtains are key. The main way heat escapes is through windows and draughts. To keep your house warm for less, open your curtains to the sun everyday and shut them before the sun goes down to trap in the warmth. This will help you heat your home for less. To go the extra mile, thick and long curtains that go to the floor will help to trap in the heat even better. You can often find good quality and affordable curtains from op-shops and curtain banks.
To help achieve better outcomes with warmer drier and healthier homes, GoEco offers:
- a comprehensive, unbiased Homefit assessment service for owners or tenants, with certified assessors who provide practical, tailored advice to help improve home performance and lower energy bills. Click here https://goeco.org.nz/product/homefit-assessment/ to find more information on this service.
- Home Energy Workshops.
- Advocacy for better home building standards.
- Information and advice on home energy efficiency (Feel free to come in and see us).
GoEco is grateful for the support of the WEL Energy Trust’s Whare Ora programme .