We are coming to the end of the oil era. But still about 80% of the world´s energy consumption comes from fossil fuels. Most experts are in agreement. We are at “peak oil” and oil production will go down. But we live like there would be oil for all of us forever. Just around a percent of the energy comes from sustainable sources like wind or sun.
We know that we must reduce our energy consumption and our CO2 emissions drastically. At the same time we know that the world energy demand will increase by 45% in the next 20 years. An increasing population gives this effect. The common response is to increase energy production, but what about emissions into the atmosphere and climate change?
We believe that we have to use our world energy more efficiently and reduce consumption by smart energy solutions.
Industrial heat is wasted.
The industrial nations – who should know better – are not using their industrial skills to reduce energy consumption. They continue to consume energy. And they continue to waste energy. Of the energy consumed in EU about 75% is wasted in the form of heat losses. This is the forgotten energy source which few mention in the energy debate. We talk about building nuclear power stations and wind farms but we forget that we could half our energy demand by becoming more energy efficient. I f we could reduce the energy waste from 75% to 50% we could half our energy consumption. The solutions are simple and based on well known technology. It is called district heating. The energy source is waste heat which is just vented away from coal condense power stations and from household waste burning sites.
District heating in the EU is just 6% of the energy production. If it were to increase to just 10% the emission of greenhouse gases would be reduced by the entire emission volume from France.
How is district heating done? You simply utilize the heat from power stations – which are producing electricity but not using the heat generated. You heat water with the surplus heat and pump it to adjacent towns and cities for the heating of homes and other properties. Likewise household waste can be burnt in waste burning plants and the heat used for heating of the population centra producing the waste.
We waste energy in our homes.
Irrespective how we heat our homes, the warm air is often allowed to escape the house. The simplest way to prevent warmed air to escape is to insulate the building. That can save 30-50% of the energy consumption by rather simple measures.
Even well insulated houses will often lose heat by ventilation. Our bathrooms and kitchen are ventilated to get rid of damp and contaminated air. If not ventilated these areas will develop damp areas, mildew and rot which may cause damages to the house and allergies to the inhabitants. The remedy is the Heat Recovery Heatpump based on exhaust air.
The air in your home may be as toxic and damaging to your health as the London street air. Even if you live in the country. Your home air is polluted by chemical substances, dust, bacteria, viruses and mould.
The most efficient way to deal with this is to ventilate the building, extracting the foul air out and injecting fresh air.
The air vented out is warm and the fresh air injected will be cold during a large part of the year. The method used is to have a controlled domestic ventilation with heat recovery. The warm exhaust air is used in a heat recovery unit to reuse the energy from the exhaust air. It also reuses energy from lighting, people and domestic appliances.
Not only does energy recovery ensure a healthy and comfortable form of heating. It also produces considerable savings in terms of heat energy which also reduces the CO2 emissions. And as an extra bonus: Your domestic air will be clean and well balanced for the benefit of your family.
In a well insulated house you may anticipate that about 75% of the energy used for heating can be recovered by an exhaust air heat recovery unit.
It is wise to use our energy resources cleverly saving energy and reducing emissions. You can start doing your share today.
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