Saving Energy: Throwing Money Into The Fireplace?
Saving Energy: Throwing Money Into The Fireplace?
Imagine you are walking down the street on a cold evening and you see a family sitting in their front garden in front of a bonfire. They are having a really great time and from where you stand it looks like the perfect activity for a night like this.
As you get a little closer you notice that the fire is really blazing and that some of the family have taken off their jackets and coats and even some of their long sleeves and are just toasting themselves in front of the fire.
You begin to feel a little uneasy.
Imagine now that you are right across the street, on the opposite corner to this bonfire loving family. You’ve got a really good view now and despite the cold, they are now sitting in shirtsleeves and some of them don’t even have their socks on. You are now fascinated by the sight before you and you cross the road and peer over the fence just in time to see the parents add more fuel to the fire.
They pick up a bucket and toss its contents into the flames and to your horror a bucket full of money flutters helplessly into the awaiting flames.
You scream… and wake up. Of course, this is an extreme example of a waste of money and a waste of energy.
However, many people are doing both these things every winter because they heat their homes in ways that are very inefficient. Some of this inefficiency comes from poor insulation and sealing of homes, some of it comes from poor heating choices but much of it comes from habitual behaviours and unconscious choices in the heating of homes. To make matters even worse, during the summer they do it again – with air-conditioning.
Is there no end to their madness, or are they just victims of some habits they developed with there was an abundance of cheap energy with no end in sight? These habits are costing you a lot of money when it comes to heating and cooling your home. This results in you using energy which you don’t need to use. You could cut your home heating energy use and costs and not feel any reduction in your comfort level or your sense of wellbeing.
There are some simple, effective, and necessary steps to take if you would rather save a bucket of money and further reduce your energy consumption and we will be looking at a few of them here over the next week or so.
This introductory video will give you some ideas to get you thinking about how you can take steps to stop “throwing money at the bonfire” all winter and all summer long. This one is from Australia and was part of a series – I love it because it’s so simple to see what happens when you use and abuse electricity and how simple it can be to make a change for the better.
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