Energy Prices and Winter

I don't use a heater here in Australia during winter and it can drop to 12C during the day. Normally it's around 16-18C during the day and down to 4-6C at night.

Just let your body adapt to the cold and when you get icicles hanging down from the door frames, then turn the heater on.
 
When I had my wood burner installed in November 2021 it was purely for aesthetic reasons at first. I love the rustic look of them in a home. This was before the energy prices went really daft.

I no longer look at it as an aesthetic buy now, but purely practical, and it is going to save me a fortune once winter kicks in. Without doubt it will turn into one of the best purchases I've ever made, given current energy circumstances.

Without my wood burner I've no doubt I'd be digging the blankets and quilts out too. Very sad in this day and age that it has to come to that for millions of households.
 
I've learned that the farther south you live (to a point), the colder you are in winter. If I go out on a windy -25 days, it's cold. I throw on the right clothing, and it's okay. I'd prefer less cold, but my clothes are insulated, and so is my house.
Last night it was 13, windy and foggy. I closed the fishroom windows, except for a slow fan in one window. It was 23 degrees in there, higher than the 19-22 I want. When I went out this morning, the room was at 22. The heat was off and the lights were off - the only heat source is the air pump, and that is very little in a 9m by 4m room. But I have high grade wall insulation, no unsealed entry points, 2 tight doors and a metre of insulation over the ceiling. I think that's the direction UK members may need if ocean current change from climate change makes your winters more like ours.
I read fish friends in the balmy Carolinas freezing in winter, and I figure it's the construction differences doing that.

When I think back to growing up on the wrong side of the tracks here, houses were less well built and less insulated, and you often rented a flat with no central heating. You'd have one gas or oil heater in the hallway, and would wear warmer clothes indoors. Fishkeepers liked to concentrate their tanks in one warm room, and often had shrink wrapped window frames and insulation around the door of the room.
There were policies brought in in the 90s that made it affordable, indeed profitable, for landlords to add electric baseboard heating and insulation to old flats. That cut down on fires, and made a lot of those old freezing places fairly decent to live in. But you still have a radically different indoor clothes all winter.

I have never felt cold and damp like I did in England in the winter. The same for Ireland. Insulation rules, and the investment pays off if you can make it.
This is true. My family in Florida freeze at 50* F
 
When I had my wood burner installed in November 2021 it was purely for aesthetic reasons at first. I love the rustic look of them in a home. This was before the energy prices went really daft.

I no longer look at it as an aesthetic buy now, but purely practical, and it is going to save me a fortune once winter kicks in. Without doubt it will turn into one of the best purchases I've ever made, given current energy circumstances.

Without my wood burner I've no doubt I'd be digging the blankets and quilts out too. Very sad in this day and age that it has to come to that for millions of households.
that's all fine and good if the wood is cheap or free? Do you get your wood for free?
 
We think we have issues.......The Swiss have come up with a slightly more...erm...unusual way to regulate their citizens energy usage....


In a nutshell......turn your heating up and over 19 degrees.....and you're nicked!

(translated)
If there is not enough gas in winter, the federal government wants to crack down. In buildings heated with gas, the interior rooms should be brought to a maximum of 19 degrees. Hot water should only be heated to 60 degrees. Radiant heaters or warm air tents would be forbidden. Saunas and swimming pools would have to stay cold.

But it gets even worse: Anyone who violates the guidelines faces imprisonment or a fine. In the case of intentional action, a prison sentence of up to three years or a fine is possible. Even in the case of negligent violations of the measures, a fine of up to 180 daily rates is conceivable.

This is provided for in the federal law on national economic supply, to which the Department of Economic Affairs (EAER) explicitly refers in an official document.
 
We think we have issues.......The Swiss have come up with a slightly more...erm...unusual way to regulate their citizens energy usage....


In a nutshell......turn your heating up and over 19 degrees.....and you're nicked!
19C is meant to be the optimum temperature for sleeping.
 
We have a pellet stove here. It does a pretty good job as supplementary heat, at a running cost of around $3 CAD a day for an average day. I don't run it at night and not every day, but it is a useful tool. It was here when we bought the house, and it is a good one.

We usually set our heat at around 19 all winter. This will be our first winter in the current house. I know the fishroom will be set at 18. I got a clearance price deal on an energy efficient dehumidifier, which a room that tightly insulated will need once everything's closed up. The house itself was built in the 1990s, so the insulation levels should be good - we replaced the windows, which were rotten (seaside fog works wonders...).

We don't have European costs, but we do have winter looming up. Summer's just when winter's gone out for a pee..
 
With the new agreed energy price freeze with a cap of £2500 per year for the next two years along with fracking ban lifted and oil & gas production accelerated in the North Sea...there should not be an issue with bills unless people get too flippant with their spending habits and extend their credit debt further with non essential purchases.

The £2500 cap on bill cost is going to make a significant difference from what had been forecast beforehand with predictions of £6000 + per year.

Doesn't mean people should sit back and relax or go on spending sprees. Budget yourself to live within your actual means and not what you have as credit limits on your credit cards etc.
 
I disagree with number 9 and number 18 in this article, but the rest are worth considering:

 

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