Greenkama

Energy saving tips

We have collected a few energy saving tips for you to create at least a little more coziness in winter with less energy.

Author: Elke Haberl

Almost all of us dread the next energy bill. It is not yet possible to really estimate how prices will develop and since almost all of us grew up in warm, cozy luxury, we can't really imagine how we will get through the winter with less warm luxury. That's why we've collected a few energy saving tips for you here:

Energy saving tips

Always leave the radiator running or switch it off?

Opinions differ here. Is it more energy efficient to leave the heating running even when you are not in the house or is it better to turn it off as soon as you leave the house? Martin Brandis from the energy advisory team at the Federal Association's Consumer Center is of the opinion: "Heating through heating is a significantly more consumption-intensive measure." It is therefore better to turn down the heating if there is no one in the living rooms during the day or the rooms are not used at night. Nevertheless, the interior rooms should at least 16 degrees .

Do not let the apartment cool down to below 16 degrees! 

Despite saving everything, it is very important that you do not let the apartment cool down below 16 degrees mold can form below 16 degrees In addition, it is very important to ventilate thoroughly and with the windows completely open, even when it is cold outside or when it is raining. article here about heating and ventilation in humid weather.

Do not cover the radiator!

Make sure that radiators are not covered by furniture or curtains . Because “radiators need freedom”. You should also make sure to vent the radiators regularly . This requires a small key, which you can certainly borrow from friends or neighbors if you don't have one yourself. The heating engineers have created great step-by-step instructions for venting for you.

Warm up just one room more:

Especially in times of home office, we sit in the same room almost all day. That's why it's not necessary to heat the entire apartment to 22 degrees +/- all day long. It is also important to close the doors in the apartment , especially those to cooler rooms. This saves up to 5% on heating costs.

In addition, the toilet, for example, does not necessarily have to be comfortably warm. Remember that some of our grandparents still had the toilet in the yard and had to go to the toilet in their dressing gown in the freezing cold. Of course it's nicer when it's warm, but in an emergency there's another way. Take it as a challenge – only the tough ones get through!

An alternative – just warm your body instead of the whole room:

In Japan, for example, there is rarely heating in apartments and the houses are only very sparsely insulated. That's why you had to find ways not to heat the whole room, but rather the body. In Japan there are heated tables called kotatsu . There is a radiant heater under the table top.

Since the table has two table tops on top of each other, a blanket can be placed between these two table tops. The tables are usually low and you sit on a floor cushion at the table with your legs under the blanket and warm yourself in the small room heated by a heater. Unfortunately, there is currently no market for such tables in Europe. But you can do something similar here with simple means:

  • You can e.g. For example, you can also place a blanket over your legs . If this warmth is not enough, you can also place a hot water bottle under the blanket and create a warming room similar to a kotatsu.
  • If you have a heated blanket , you can also use it. If you buy a new electric blanket, pay attention to the energy efficiency class (you can find out more about this in the next point). Because there are big differences in the energy consumption of electrical devices. The more watts an electric blanket has, the more energy is used. Stern.de compared electric blankets. Click here for the test results .

When buying electrical devices, pay attention to good energy efficiency ratings!

If you have to buy new devices, be sure to pay attention to the energy efficiency classes . These show you on a scale how energy-saving or energy-consuming a device is. It's better to use devices that are in the green A or B range .

A tip for everyday home office life:

Sometimes it can get pretty chilly sitting still at your desk. Warm drinks and exercise help against this . Doing a lap around the block warms up the body from the inside and if you need a little more, there are plenty of sports instructions on various online portals for in between. The frozen ice crystals quickly give way to the hot beads of sweat.

Better no standby: 

TV etc. don't always have to be on standby. This uses up electricity unnecessarily and could currently be more expensive than we would like. If some devices can no longer be switched off properly, you can easily use a power strip with a switch to unplug the devices from the power supply whenever you don't need them.

Save on light:

An apartment does not always have to be completely and brilliantly lit. Only turn on the light where you really need it. Pay attention to which light bulbs are in your lamps. Older light bulbs use significantly more electricity than LEDs . There are also differences when buying LEDs, which is why the consumer advice center recommends paying attention energy efficiency classes

Ways to save hot water:

Long before our time, not even queens and kings were as exquisitely comfortable as we are. Nowadays, water comes out of the tap at the desired temperature at any time of the day or night. Most of the time we can bathe and shower as our heart desires without any limits. But does that really always have to be the case? What can you do to save money on hot water?

  • Install water flow restrictors yourself : They only cost a few euros and are available in every hardware store. These are small inserts that can be installed without any technical knowledge These inserts often come in different colors to reflect the different heights of the water barrier. So you can decide for yourself whether, for example, B. wants to use 20%, 50% or 70% less water. In fact, the shower experience is significantly different at 70%, but 50% is easy to get used to and with 20% savings you can hardly tell the difference to normal showering.
  • Washing your hands actually works with cold water . So it makes sense to only turn on cold water in the sink.
  • Shower instead of the bathtub. Our skin would probably appreciate not being constantly soaked in the bathtub with various nice-smelling, but certainly very chemical products. Instead of jumping into the bathtub, it's better to jump into the shower.
  • Shorter showers : Admittedly, a long, warm shower like that is nice. And you should treat yourself to something like that every now and then. But for daily body care it is not necessary to take an extra long shower. Set a timer and take it as a challenge. Less is often more. And we probably won't get much cleaner after a 5-minute shower if we stood under the water jet for 20 minutes.
  • Washing laundry : The Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection advises: “30°C is sufficient for normally soiled colored laundry and 40°C for white laundry. The 40°C program saves around 45 percent electricity compared to the 60°C program! Above all, use energy saving programs (Eco program) ; Although these run longer, they save the most energy and money thanks to the lower washing temperatures with the same cleaning performance. Energy-intensive washing programs such as prewash or an additional spin cycle are rarely really necessary.”

Please note the monthly heating and hot water consumption overview:

In Germany, it has been mandatory since this year that landlords must inform their tenants of their current heating and hot water consumption every month. The comparison to other customers is also mainly given in percentages. It's worth taking a look at this statement every month. Especially when you have started to change your consumption behavior, it is very exciting to see every month how successful you have been. In addition, you can then look for further options to optimize consumption.

Here's a tip for all pet owners:

Furry, hairy animals can be excellent living heat “bottles . From my own dog experience, I can say that the dog is no longer allowed on the sofa, but has to go on the sofa... At least when the dog or cat isn't really wet or wallowing in disgusting things. Use your animals to avoid freezing. Animals want to be useful anyway, so your animals get an important, responsible evening task. And don’t be ashamed if you put your animal warming “bottles” in your bed at night.

An alternative to animals:

Well, if you're not one of those lucky animal people or you accidentally chose a snake instead of a dog, then unfortunately there's hardly any way around a partnership. Find someone to cuddle with in the evening .

Energy saving and social issues:

Meet up with friends. Shares heated living rooms. Cook together. Watch films together or tell each other exciting stories or stupid jokes. This not only helps against physical cold, but usually also warms the heart and mind.

Get through the winter well! And as I said, only the tough get through. Take it as a challenge and save as much as you can.

Source:

Utopia, Mimikama, Utopia , dein-heizsbauer.de, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection , EFAHRER.com , stern.de , Federal Environment Agency, YouTube , Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection
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The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual articles (not fact checks) were created using machine help and
were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )


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