Energy Efficiency
What it means and
How it could reduce your bills

What is Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency is maintaining the services of household appliances that we enjoy whilst reducing the energy that they cost to run. In Cyprus as in other countries this is taken seriously and the government here is pro active toward it. This can be achieved in several ways:

Solar Panels

Here's how Solar Energy works... The powerful rays from the sun is converted into electrical energy. It is a powerful and renewable energy. As long as there is sunshine there is renewable energy. Even when its cloudy, the rays from the sun still gererate powerful rays to a lower degree.

The minimum savings is 70%, It all dependents on the temperatures of your country. The cost of solar energy is the equipment needed and installation. If you are considering installing additional solar panels,or would like more information. Check with your local government office and ask about grants available.

In Cyprus, solar panels are installed in most houses as standard at no extra cost to you.

We only use our immersion heater for an hour on cold, cloudy days, between November and February. Saying that, we have only used it since December 08. Only occasionally until Feb/March 09.

Because of the temperatures here, it is very important to purchase an "A" rated efficient refrigerator; these units will cut your electrical consumption costs while maintaining your drinks and food cooling.

Washing Machine Energy Efficiency.

With the ever increasing costs for water and electricity, similar to refrigerators, it is important to purchase an "A" rated appliance; this will reduce your water and electrical consumption bills whilst maintaining the cleanliness of your wash. These appliances are readily available in from most distributors here in Cyprus.

Air Conditioning

Heating and Cooling Energy Efficiency.

Over the years air conditioning units for domestic use has changed considerably. There are now units which are called "Inverter" type which will reduce your electrical bills.

To explain the difference between the existing units and the "Inverter" type, it is like driving a car. The faster you travel, the more petrol you use. "pushing the pedal to the metal" is heavy on the petrol. But instead of petrol think electricity.

The existing units are like starting your car with your foot hard on the accelerator and going full speed to bring the temperature to the required setting and stopping then restarting at full speed again and again an again... to maintain the temperature.

While "Inverter" units use just enough acceleration to reach the set temperature "speed limit". In other words they use just enough energy to reach the set temperature, de-accelerating when the temperature has been reached, re-accelerating slightly to maintain it.

In Cyprus the majority of air conditioning units fitted are the heating and cooling type, but not inverter driven.

You can purchase inverter driven air conditioning units fairly cheaply now in Cyprus. The cost is around 40-50% more. Prices are starting to drop now. In the long run it is worth changing to inverter driven air conditioning units one room at a time. The energy savings achieved with every unit you switch to inverter driven can achieve 30-40% savings on your bills

Solar energy usage is evolving all the time. Amazingly, solar lighting can be used inside as well as outdoors with the right equipment. A solar light kit is required to transfer the energy generated outside.

An example price for an indoor solar lighting kit is under 200 US dollars. I think many of us could make considerable savings, depending on where you live.

With the cost of solar lights dropping, it is worth considering the switch to solar lights for driveways, gardens, entrances and exits.

Indoors is worth investigating in your area. The cost of solar energy home equipment is also reducing now as many people are becoming more conscious of costs. So it maybe the right time to start making adjustments a little at a time.

The potential savings that can be achieved in this area are impressive, when you consider that replacing a normal 60 watt light bulb with a low wattage type of 11 watts with no change in the light output level, in other words a saving of 80 % in running costs and remember this is only for one bulb, think how much you would save if all your lights were running on energy efficient lighting bulbs.

Although the initial cost of the low energy bulb is higher, the longer life span more than compensates for this. An important point to remember is that the low wattage bulbs come in different output colours, warm white, which is very similar to your normal incandescent bulb that you would use, say, in a side lamp, cool white and daylight are very sharp, similar to a fluorescent tube light.

At the present time and up 2010 the Cypriot Electricity Authority (EAC) is giving six low energy bulbs free of charge to all households on production of your electricity bill.

If you would like to learn about insulation for your home for greatly reducing your household energy bills click here...
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