In Greece, the energy production is mainly based on fuels that cause pollution such as lignite and oil. Approximately 40 million tons of carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere each year from energy used primarily for heating, cooling, air conditioning, lighting, hot water, etc., in private, commercial and public buildings. Many of these emissions can be drastically reduced if you stop waste energy.
The people that make wise use of energy gain financially and help the protection of the environment. The benefits of saving energy can be measured in euro gain and pounds of carbon dioxide not emitted into the atmosphere.
Warm up... ecologically
-Set the thermostat at a reasonable temperature, as a difference just one degree can reduce your bill up to 10%.
-Maintain your boiler in a regular basis.
-Do not use aimlessly electric radiators that are particularly energy intensive or replace them with new technology electric radiators with extremely low consumption.
-Aerify and do not cover the radiators.
-Use more efficient heating systems (e.g. underfloor heating system)
-Convert your conventional fireplace to energy fireplace with water exchanger.
-Install an energy fireplace instead of a conventional fireplace.
-Close blinds and curtains on winter evenings. Insulate!
-Give emphasis on insulation, shading and cooling while constructing your building, resulting in lower heating and cooling loads.
-Choose double glazed windows.
Stop energy leaks
Thermal energy:
-Strong insulated hot water tanks and pipe networks.
-Stop the water flow during the “non-active” time of the shower.
-Reduce leaks.
-Reduce water pressure.
In electricity:
-Devices on standby still consume energy. Shut off the main switch or unplug the cords. It is estimated that in Greece the energy leakage from standby is responsible for about 45million Euros in bills and annual release of 600,000tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Improve the efficiency of appliances and machines.
-Maintain your appliances in regular basis and chemical cleaning of exchangers and filters, air condition units, maintenance and cleaning thereof where necessary, frequent defrosting of refrigerators and freezer
Let the sun offer you a shower
-For the production of domestic hot water use solar heaters that help the electricity bill to be reduced at about 20-25%, or the central heating system, instead of electricity that costs much.
Be careful what appliances you buy
-Many electrical devices, (air condition units, refrigerators, washing machines, cookers) must have their energy efficiency on them. Choose appliances that belong to A or B category. Take information as for the consumption of a device that you are about to buy. Could it cost you a fortune in electricity bills?
Change your lights
-Replace the conventional incandescent light bulbs with energy saving ones. Only 10% consumed by common incandescent lights is used. The remaining 90% of the energy becomes heat and lost. Compact fluorescent lamps require low 4 to 5 times less energy and last 8-12 times longer.
Cool your house inexpensively.
-Install interior blinds.
-Open the windows of all the rooms at night.
-Plant deciduous trees.
-During high temperatures, keep doors and widows closed.
Invest in renewable energy
(solar heating, geothermal and solar electricity)
-The solar thermal systems convert solar energy into heat which is then transferred to the heating system (e.g. underfloor heating)
-The air-water heat pump “pumps” energy from the outside air and heat or cool the water facilities with the lowest consumption.
-Geothermy is a standardized, environmentally friendly and reliable technology for heating, cooling and hot water production that presents significant economic and environmental benefits, using ubiquitous available thermal energy from the ground.
-Photovoltaic systems convert solar energy into electricity, replacing the kWh purchased from the electricity grid and produced mainly from the coal or oil.
Recycle. Protect the climate
-Every product that we buy is produced using energy, each unit of which the atmosphere of our country is infected with one carbon dioxide. The production of the recycled material requires less energy than the producing them from raw materials. Therefore, one of the many benefits of recycling is that it saves energy.