4 ms·
Sure, if you have shitty insulation. The proper strategy is to have good insulation, and then to have the heat on constantly using a CV system at low temperatur
by roel_v 12y ago
Sure, if you have shitty insulation. The proper strategy is to have good insulation, and then to have the heat on constantly using a CV system at low temperatures, because heating constantly with water of 30 degrees (C, that is) is much more energy efficient than heating in peaks with much warmer water (60, 70, 90 even 20 years ago). So yes, in houses with crap insulation warming constantly is less efficient. However in properly build houses, warming constantly is more efficient. (I'm living for a few months in New Zealand - oh my the quality of the houses here is atrocious. It's one of the main reasons I couldn't live here permanently. And then they put in a 'heat pump' (an air to air one) and call themselves 'green'. Don't get me started.)
- fulafel 12y agoMost houses have poor in insulation. Also, adding good insulation without degrading indoor air quality and causing moisture/mildew problems is tricky. So improving energy efficiency of heating for existing houses with lesser insulation is very useful.
- stinos 12y agotricky Well, it is mainly a matter of installing a proper ventilation system. So improving energy efficiency of heating for existing houses with lesser insulation is very useful. it is, but it can never reach the levels of energy savings coming form decent insulation (where decent means: German standards for instance)
- netnichols 12y agoMy German apartment has drafty, unsealed wooden window frames, and the window in the kitchen is a single large sheet of glass. We have to hang a rug over that window in the winter, as it feels like you've left a freezer door open if you get within 3 feet of it. But the walls are indeed very thick!
- stinos 12y agoI don't speak German so I cannot look it up, but my guess is these standards are for new buildings or buildings that are being renovated (and probably the numbers are different for private and commercial buildings as well, which is a shame), and owners of an existing building cannot be forced to adhere to the standard. Thickness of walls is of course related to insulation, but it isn't everything; for example 20cm of typical insulation still has a much lower U-value then a concrete wall of 100cm thick.
- sampo 12y agoIt is a common complaint among people who moved from Finland to Germany, how dodgy the German houses are. If the rest of the world is even worse, maybe I should never leave home.
- buyx 12y agoIn South Africa, most homes are built with little consideration of cold weather, since the winters are relatively mild. Problem is that draughts and poor insulation in winter then result in significant spiking energy usage.
- leni536 12y agoHow can heating be any less efficient than 100%? I get that engines can be less efficient than 100% since the remaining energy is dissipated as heat and heat is the not desired energy in that case. What happens with the remaining energy if you heat with less than 100% efficiency? Does it start to rotate things?
- DanBC 12y agoEnergy is used to heat something, which is then used to heat a room. Some devices will use more energy to get a room to X Celsius. Those devices are less energy efficient than the other devices.
- leni536 12y agoElectric heating has near 100% efficiency regardless how you use it[0]. Heating with furnace is less efficient since some of the heat escapes through the chimney directly and efficiency is typically disproportional to the heating power so it's better to heat constantly[1]. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_heating#Environmental_and_efficiency_aspects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_heating#Environmental... [1] experience
- abelsson 12y agoHeating can be more than 100% efficient. Before you go "what, lol, no" - let me clarify. Obviously it can't be even 100% thermodynamically efficient, but a heat pump for example can generate 3-4 kW of heat from 1 kW of power. The rest of the energy comes from the environment obviously, but naively assuming that the 100% efficient power-into-heat is the best you can do is not true.
- leni536 12y agoAre there any efficient electric heating systems for a household based on a thermodynamic cycle with the environment? I think the most electric heating systems I have seen are using the rather bruteforce and inefficient (only near 100%) method. The basic principle that they heat a resistor and something quickly transfers the heat away so the resistor doesn't burn out and/or your house doesn't catch on fire. An other fun method to increase the "efficiency" of electric heating would be heating with bitcoin miners. It wouldn't make the heating more efficient in the sense it would cost the same energy but at least you could get some of your money back spent on heating.
- Rapzid 12y agoYeah, you'd probably need to spend over 1 million on a home here to get one with good insulation(if). Housing costs/quality is my biggest complaint for NZ.
- MaysonL 12y agoHell, if you have good insulation, you don't really need any heating at all beyond that produced by cooking, lighting, and body heat of the occupants; except in really exceptional circumstances. You do need air exchange, preferably heat recovering.