As part of Step 5 on the journey to energy freedom, I installed a Wood Burning Stove with a back boiler to reduce our dependence on natural gas for heating the house (and hopefully eventually remove it completely). That was one year ago, and so I wanted to calculate how much money it has saved […]
The amount of heat that leaks out of the building, which you then have to replace with expensive heating (or cooling) is primarily driven by the fact that there’s a difference in temperatures between your house and the outside. (That’s why installing insulation saves you so much money!) There is therefore one thing you can […]
Installing a Wood Burning Stove is step 5 along the path to complete energy freedom, and I am happy to say it is now complete! There is nothing like the smell of a wood fire. It takes me back to camping trips in Ireland, and across the US in summers gone by, and hopefully summers […]
Certain things, it turns out, are bad for your wallet, your lungs and your future. However, whether you care about your wealth, or the environment (or hopefully both!), then it makes clear sense to stop spending money on incredibly inefficient energy systems in your life. And so whatever your motivation, taking The Journey to Energy […]
Transport is one of our largest energy expenditures and as a result, is one of the greatest sources of financial cost. In fact, a lot of people spend a good proportion of what they earn at work just to get there. As such, if we can make the transport we use more efficient, we can […]
This is a simple step with quite astounding results. In 2011, after yet another spilled glass of water on a bedside table at night, my entire family bought a Bobble bottle each. They are a reusable water bottle with a charcoal filter at the top. Why am I talking about them? Because not only did […]
Step 1 in the Journey to Energy Freedom was buying an energy meter. Step 2 was replacing all light bulbs with LEDs Step 3 was installing radiator heat reflectors Step 4 <– We’re now at step 4. I’ve installed attic insulation, and the figures are in: Step 4 Summary: Capital Cost: €598 Payback: 2.93 years […]
The energy consumption (e.g. cost) when Heating a Building (or cooling one) is pretty simple to calculate. It’s defined by the Average temperature difference with the outside multiplied the leakiness of the building. If the energy source isn’t renewable, then that’s decided by the efficiency of the heating source. I live in a cooler country, so […]
Thus far, we have installed an energy monitor to track our electricity costs, and what is consuming the power. This will have delivered some results just by seeing the consumption on the monitor. Next, we replaced all light bulbs with LED bulbs, spending €22 and saving €27.01 per year. The next step addresses another form […]
There is no doubt that Solar PV has taken off in a big way in certain parts of the world. It seems, in fact, that it’s on an unstoppable trajectory. It hit “grid parity” in sunnier places in the last few years (e.g. it can generate power cheaper than other power plants on the grid). […]