NZH Spaces - May 2018

A New Zealand Herald Commercial Publication

Wednesday, May 9, 2018

warm up for winter

DOUBLE GLAZE AND SAVE

STOP THE HEAT LEAKS

INSULATION The unseen hero of your home

POWER

SAVING

TIPS

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Inside Spaces p7

Be smart with power

p4

p9 Healthier homes

Moving to sustainable living

p6 The

p8

benefits of double glazing

Keeping the heat

Win with Unovent

p10

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The Unovent® is easy to install, has a lifetime warranty, low running costs, no annual maintenance contracts and costs up to 75 per cent less than other complex ducted systems.

The system pulls dry air from the roof cavity into the home living spaces, reducing moisture and window condensation. It is composed by individual ductless outlets, each with its own fan and washable filter, connected in series to a simple low voltage power supply using light-weight cabling.

The UnobrainTM controller switches ventilation on and off, depending on the air temperature and moisture.

Spaces has one DIY Unovent® v-line™ Kitset with three outlets to give away valued at $1,351.25. To learn more, please visit unovent.com To enter, simply send an email to warmupforwinter@nzme.co.nz with Unovent please in the subject line — remember to include your name and contact address in the body of the email.

Warm up for winter

Editor Greg Fleming Advertising enquiries Ben Trethewey ben.trethewey@nzme.co.nz Spaces is a NZME Commercial Publication

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SUSTAINABILITY

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

SUSTAINABLE SHIFT SUSTAINABILTY CHECKLIST

The race is on to introduce innovative new builds that are environmentally sensitive, writes Louise Richardson

I

n the years since scientists first became aware of climate change and sounded the alert, there’s been a worldwide move towards modifying behaviours that might be aiding its progression.

Of course, there are still deniers but it’s generally accepted that the signs are there and this isn’t going to go away, so it must be addressed.

In New Zealand — and Auckland especially — where the race is on to build extra housing the city needs so badly, architects, developers and designers are finding opportunities to introduce innovative new features designed to be environmentally sensitive and improve sustainability.

The Auckland Council Unitary Plan has opened up many new opportunities to allow for more diversity — and for the sharing of resources and infrastructure — in a move towards greater density, with much more vertical living than ever before.

While this type of accommodation has been taken for granted in other countries for years, it’s only recently that population growth and the need to make greater use of natural, sustainable materials have become necessary here in New Zealand.

Awareness levels have risen quickly and educated, empowered property purchasers know exactly what they’re looking for, with sun and light, good insulation and energy efficiency firmly on their shopping lists.

Challenges Scott Cracknell, a principal at Context Architects in Kingsland is finding these challenges very stimulating, and the many positive outcomes satisfying.

“It’s all about taking account of the lack of land available and designing well, with what we have,” he says.

“Small and perfectly formed is what we’re looking for, with lots of efficiencies.”

While apartment living is growing in popularity, many would-be purchasers would still prefer to buy a house, so, increasingly, new developments are a combination of both, with apartments, townhouses and terraced housing.

These are just a few of the environment-friendly features that architects are working into new build properties:

● Passive solar heating makes

He cites Kerepeti at up-and-coming Hobsonville Point as a good example.

Within this are two new neighbourhoods: Kerewhenua and Uku. “One of the things that we had to address there is the size of the sections, with the biggest at just 220m2 and we committed to producing a third of them as affordable homes, with prices in the $450,000 to $550,000 range.”

Creating a sustainable village Cracknell says that the planners and architects kept the idea of creating a village in mind and aimed to incorporate as many sustainable features as possible.

“They don’t have solar panels but we are recycling rainwater to flush toilets and water plants. This cuts down the burden on the water system to some extent, and these particular dwellings are going to be very well-insulated in order to reduce energy use.”

He says not all of the properties have garages as residents move towards walking, cycling and other means of transport, especially those who work or study nearby.

Cracknell points to another project recently undertaken by Context, in Onehunga, which is New Zealand’s first passive house apartments. This voluntary standard involves producing homes that are energyefficient.

“It’s basically all the trappings of a suburban house but in a vertical building with a set level of energy usage per year. To achieve that target we’ve thought very carefully about insulation, ventilation, low-energy appliances, LED lighting and harnessing the sun’s light to heat the apartments,” says Cracknell.

Also incorporated is a porch-like shared area with lots of space for parking bikes and baby buggies — and electric car charging points are available in the basement carpark.

Cracknell says the complex will have a greenhouse, roof-level gardens and outdoor kitchen — and there’s even a workshop, for those who like to potter. He points out that with these shared amenities people

perfect sense, given that our houses tend to be north-facing in New Zealand. For this to work best you need a thermal sink, such as a concrete or tiled floor for the sun to warm during the day.

● Double glazing reduces heat loss

significantly, by trapping a layer of air between the two panes, where it acts as insulation and reduces condensation. There are many options available in lowemissivity glass, and the building code now requires double-glazing in all new-builds.

● Insulation is vital in keeping the

energy that’s been preserved inside a dwelling. Fully insulated properties are warm in winter because the heat can’t get out and cool in summer, when it can’t get in.

● Grey water systems work by

recycling bath, shower and laundry washing water to be used to flush the toilet or water the garden. A permit is needed to include this feature in a build or renovation.

The Kerepeti development at Hobsonville Point (top and above); passive apartments in Onehunga (centre).

Pictures / Supplied

It’s all about taking account of the lack of land available and designing well, with what we have.

Scott Cracknell, Context Architects

are going to live in a much more communal way than is usual in an apartment building, thus creating a true, traditional community.

With the march of technology, new advances in virtual reality programmes are making it possible for architects to model all the aspects of a new-build in advance, in order to ensure its energy efficiency.

Traditional means such as rendering, 3D models and paper plans look set to become obsolete as virtual-

reality head-mounted displays (HMDs) grow increasingly more sophisticated. These clever goggles show how a new building will work, looking for an ideal orientation, based on where it gets the light, for example.

When it comes to choosing materials, there’s a definite shift back to nature with extensive use of (renewable) timber, concrete, terracotta and recycled or reclaimed resources.

Architects are also exploring materials such as straw, earth, cob and hemp, all of which have sustainable qualities.

Also increasing in popularity is the use of pre-fabricated elements in a building and if ambitious projects such as the government’s plan to construct 4000 houses in Mount Albert come to fruition, this type of approach may help in terms of saving time and capital, while other possibilities, such as pre-constructed ‘pods’, could also work well.

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

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DOUBLE GLAZING

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Double glazing’s double benefits

T

Raewyn Court

he vast majority of New Zealand homes have singleglazed windows. We’re accustomed to using thermallined drapes to block out the winter chill, waking up to windows dripping with condensation and finding nasty spots of mould on our curtain linings.

But it doesn’t have to be this way, even in older homes. Double glazing is standard in most new houses these days, but there are various ways to retrofit double glazing to reduce condensation and heat loss through existing windows, as well as benefiting from reduced external noise — handy if you live under a flight path.

We know it’s important to insulate our homes, and double glazing is basically a way of insulating our windows. It creates an insulating gas layer between two panes of glass, with the gas being either normal air or heavy gases such as argon — which are better insulators than air.

New double glazing Double glazing lets in as much sunlight as single-glazed windows, but is better at holding in heat. Recent changes to the New Zealand Building Code effectively require higher glazing thermal performance in new homes. But it’s worth installing double glazing in older homes if existing windows need replacing, because double glazing can halve heat loss through windows and eliminate or reduce condensation. It can also reduce outside noise by up to 70 per cent. If budget is a problem, prioritise installing double glazing to the main heated areas of the house as well as to large windows.

If you’re installing new double glazing, EECA recommends you look for the following to ensure best performance: ● Frames that have a thermal break (a plastic or resin section in the centre of the aluminium joinery) or are made of insulating materials such as uPVC or wood. These are less likely to attract condensation and will lose less heat than windows with standard aluminium frames. ● Low-emissivity (low-E) glass. This allows light and heat in, but reflects some of the escaping heat back inside

Double-glazed windows (left); a window pane with PVC laminated wood grain (far left).

Pictures / Getty Images

densation at the glass edge.

If you’re putting skylights in your new home, it’s critical to choose ones with good thermal performance characteristics to avoid heat loss in winter and overheating in summer. If your skylight is installed through a roof space, make sure the light shaft between the roof and the ceiling is well insulated.

the room. Double glazing with lowE glass cuts window heat loss by 20-30 per cent compared to ordinary glass. ● Multiple layers of good seals.

These will keep draughts, moisture and noise out. The joint between the glazing unit and the frame also needs to be well sealed. ● Spacers made of plastic or stainless steel (instead of aluminium).

These spacers separate the glass panes to reduce heat loss and con-

Retrofit alternatives Secondary glazing works by forming a sealed, insulating air gap on the inside of existing, single-glazed windows. There are a number of options available in New Zealand, including: ● Installing a new double-glazed glass unit into the existing sash. ● Replacing existing sashes with new, double-glazed sashes. ● Installing separate aluminiumframed secondary glazing on the inside of the existing glazing. ● Attaching heat-shrinkable thin

plastic film to the window sash or frame using double-sided adhesive tape. ● Magnetically attaching an acrylic sheet to the inside of the existing window sash or frame.

EECA advises checking with a professional before purchasing, as not all of these options are suitable for every glazing situation. Ceiling and underfloor insulation needs to be up to standard, windows in good condition and you must have an effective heating system. Check also that it will cost less than installing new double glazing! And make sure you shop around and ask for independently verified performance guarantees.

Cost Benefits The Building Research Association of New Zealand (BRANZ) recently conducted research to assess whether secondary glazing is a cost-effective alternative to replacing existing single glazing in older houses. They tested four common systems — heat-

shrinkable thin plastic film, magnetically attached acrylic sheet, aluminium-framed sliding-sash secondary glazing, and that same glazing with low-E glass. All of the secondary glazing systems tested provided a significant increase to the thermal resistance of the window but the low-E aluminium-framed secondary glazing provided the largest improvement. And although this was the most expensive option, it produced the greatest cost benefits.

Low-E film is a low-cost, DIY option.

The micro-thin, transparent metal coating on polyester film reflects heat back into the room, reducing heat loss. However, because it can increase condensation it works best in houses that rarely experience condensation on windows. The BRANZ research shows that while low-E window film reduces heat loss by up to 25 per cent, double glazing and secondary glazing are more effective options as they reduce heat loss by about 60 per cent.

POWER

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

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Power Saving Tips

● Choose an efficient heater

When buying a new heater, choose an efficient system suited to your needs. Look at size and energy efficiency controls. Avoid unvented gas heaters as they release large amounts of moisture into the home, and can emit other pollutants too.

● Choose an energy-efficient

heat pump If you’re installing a new system, an efficient unit can produce twice as much heat as a lessefficient model using the same amount of electricity.

● Only boil the water you need

Make sure you only boil the water you need so you can save energy and reduce your power bills.

● Save with a plug-in energy use

monitor Use a plug-in energy use monitor to learn which devices use the most energy.

Be smart with your power

W

Greg Fleming

inter hits consumers’ pockets and the monthly power bill in the cold months can hold a nasty surprise.

Julia Jack chief marketing officer for Mercury Energy believes the most important thing people can do to avoid that is to put in steps to monitor their usage.

“Mercury has the GEM service that send you emails each week which shows your usage and most importantly, how that compares it to the previous week’s usage and preceding years and other similar-sized homes.

Keeping track of that usage can help you to see when things are increasing but also if you do start introducing

some steps to try to lower your usage, you’re able to see whether they’re having any impact or not.

“If we see big changes in their bill we’ll get in touch with them with some options.

“There’s an overall misconception that the small things don’t make a difference. Even something like not leaving your appliances on standby — people still leave their computers on sleep or on and that can add up to quite a few dollars. And even simple things like closing your curtains to keep the heat in can have a significant impact to stop heat escaping out your window.”

And there’s no good spending money on heating if your home is not adequately insulated, and around 600,000 homes are in that category.

It’s important that people check out the efficiency rating of heating appliances before they buy.

Julia Jack, Mercury Energy

But there are simple things anyone can do to ensure the monthly bill is manageable.

“It’s important that people check out the efficiency rating of heating appliances before they buy,” says Jack.

“Newer appliances are likely to be more efficient than older ones and generally speaking heat-pumps do tend to be more effective than other

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forms of electric heating.”

“When it comes to washing machines, don’t use too much water, wash on cold and again, make sure you have a machine with a good star rating.”

Other power-saving tips are to wrap your hot-water cylinder and change out your lightbulbs for energy efficient or even better, get LED ones.

“These last a lifetime and come with an added bonus, which is you’re not having to climb on to furniture to change them every few months.”

Ms Jack says that if consumers put in place a range of small power saving steps they may save up to $300 a year, while bigger changes — for example upgrading insulation and ventilation — can stop heat loss by up to 50 per cent.

If possible use an outdoor clothes line to dry laundry. If you do have to tumble dry, use the moisture sensor to prevent over-drying and reduce energy use. This feature senses the amount of humidity in your clothes and turns off the dryer once items are dry.

● Cooking

Cook big batches of food and freeze leftovers. When using your cooktop or oven, double your recipes to make cooking more energy efficient.

● Choose an efficient TV

As TV technology continues to advance, some new features can raise your power bills significantly. When purchasing a new TV, look for ENERGY STAR® certified models, which use up to 25 per cent* less energy. source: Mercury Energy

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INSULATION

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

Keeping the heat

WHAT INSULATION SHOULD YOU CHOOSE? ● Wool: Natural and non-toxic,

although it tends to be blended with other ingredients such as polyester or resin to enhance its efficacy and keep its shape. It needs to be treated in order to protect against pest, mould, fire and potential slumping.

Louise Richardson

I

t was only in the immediate post-war years that insulation began to feature in New Zealand houses.

Prior to that, the inhabitants took it for granted that heat would escape through the ceiling or through loose doors and windows, and in the absence of a solution, the ‘harden up’ approach prevailed.

According to BRANZ.nz, early Maori houses were often better insulated than those of European settlers, because of the materials they used.

Maori often built with earth, which is a good thermal performer. As part of current moves towards more sustainable homes, it is enjoying renewed popularity.

While the idea of insulating homes in order to reduce mould and mildew and improve the health of those living within did catch on in the 1940s, it was to be many years until it was put widely into practise.

This is partly because the materials that were used at the time had to be imported into the country.

We finally began producing a local type of insulation made from fibreglass here in the early ’60s, and, by the ’70s local and central government were on board with promoting its use — including television campaigns featuring walking, talking bales of pink batts.

Heat is lost through means of conduction, so the aim is to slow down or eliminate this waste.

Experts use a system called R-values, first introduced in the mid’40s, to rate a particular form of insulation’s effectiveness at achieving this.

The higher the R-value, the better

● Fibreglass and Mineral Wool:

This type of insulation is made from recycled glass and other minerals, spun into a dense layer (or blanket) of what looks like candyfloss. It’s easy to install yourself, but care must be taken to cut it accurately in order to ensure heat can’t slip through.

Fibreglass is safe and sustainable. Just take care when installing it, don’t inhale its dust, and limit contact with the material itself. Because it’s made from recycled materials that are widely available, fibreglass and mineral wool are considered sustainable.

● Polystyrene: This synthetic,

There are many different types of insulation to choose from.

your insulation will work at keeping your home warm and dry.

Since 1977, insulation has been mandatory and the levels to which it is used have ramped up markedly, both in new-builds and in retro-fits.

There are many options for builders and homeowners to choose from, depending on their own particular goals and requirements. And, no longer confined to insulating ceilings, new homes should have wall and

Picture / Getty Images

under-floor insulation too.

“Many studies have identified the benefits of insulation, including improved health, greater comfort and reduced heat loss. Quality, wellinstalled insulation is now recognised as the most critical factor in what we call the thermal envelope of the home,” says Andrew Caseley, the Chief Executive of the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA).

Insulation is a big investment, so it’s important to look at appropriate options in terms of where and how you live.

While there are many choices in the insulation market there are also plenty of experts who can help you evaluate your own property and decide what it needs for the ultimate in warm, dry homes.

There’s also lots of useful information at: energywise.govt.nz

man-made material is based on petrochemicals. It provides good insulation and is very stable.

Because it’s rigid it can be tricky to work with and it’s vital that you measure very carefully before cutting it or its benefits will be compromised. It can be recycled and used to make new polystyrene so is reasonably environment-friendly.

● Paper: this is another innovative

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form of insulation — made from wood and recycled paperproducts. It can be blown into the ceilings of older homes where retro-fitting of other forms of insulation is difficult.

Retardants against fire and pests need to be mixed with the wood or paper, and after a couple of decades this particular material can lose some effectiveness.

HEALTHY HOMES

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

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Is your home making you sick?

The lack of secure tenure for tenants means they are often rushed into choosing a home, with insufficient space to live healthily. Picture / Michael Craig

Changes need to be made to ensure a healthier housing stock, finds Diana Clement

O

ur homes are killing us.

Every year thousands of Kiwis are admitted to hospital and many die as a direct result of living in cold, damp, unhealthy homes. Even brand new homes often don’t meet internationally recognised standards for healthy homes.

The issue of healthy homes is a much broader concept than simply increasing insulation, adequate ventilation and heating and reducing injury hazards, says Philippa HowdenChapman, professor of public health at the University of Otago, Wellington.

Howden-Chapman and fellow authors of the 2018: Stocktake of New Zealand’s Housing report found that many factors contributed to the issue.

For example, the lack of secure tenure for tenants means that they are often rushed into choosing a home, with insufficient space for occupants to live healthily.

A lack of affordable heating means that many Kiwis are living and sleeping in rooms that are not insulated or adequately heated and therefore colder than World Health Organisation recommendations. Tenants inhabit homes that are statistically less likely to be healthy and are more likely to use unflued heaters.

One of the big problems, say both Howden-Chapman and housing and urban development minister Phil Twyford, is that there is no independent system of evaluating the health of our homes as there is overseas.

This means the evidence is anecdotal and may not necessarily identify the full scale of the problem.

The consequences of our unhealthy homes can, however, be documented well through health statistics. Every winter, mortality rates rise compared to the warmer months with 1600 mostly older New Zealanders dying premature deaths.

Still not insulated Despite previous government-led insulation programmes, only 300,000 New Zealand homes have upgraded to adequate insulation, says Twyford.

“There remains something in the order of 800,000 that are still not insulated.”

In order to move forward and make our housing stock healthier, says Howden-Chapman, a whole host of co-ordinated changes need to happen, such as updating the Residential Tenancies Act and the Building Code

as well as strengthening regulatory action and accountability.

The new government’s first step towards improving the health of our homes was the Healthy Homes Guarantee Act (HHG), which brings in higher standards for rental properties. Twyford says the HHG is the single most important public health reform his government can make.

Landlords will be asked to guarantee that any new tenancy from July 1, 2019 is either properly insulated or contains a heating source able to make the home warm and dry. This is instead of requiring individual landlords to have three-yearly WOF inspections.

Investigations will be “risk based” and run the by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), says Twyford.

The move might not be popular with landlords but Twyford likened it in parliament to the butcher who isn't allowed to sell meat that will make their customers sick. Yet in New Zealand, he said, a landlord is allowed to rent out a house that damages the health of its occupants.

When the HHG is fully operational, tenants who believe their landlord is breaching the rules will be able to take a case to the Tenancy Tribunal.

Although the details have yet to be nutted out, Twyford says the tribunal could send out an inspector in disputed cases.

The HHG will have minimum standards, but these will be implemented through supplementary regulations that will be developed after public consultation.

Building Code beneath standard New houses often aren’t up to standard in New Zealand. Howden would also like to see changes made to the Building Code to ensure new homes and renovations provide for healthy living and meet a certain standard of thermal efficiency and heating.

According to the New Zealand Green Building Council, the Building Code is the equivalent of a 4 Homestar rating on a scale from 1 to 10. A 6 Homestar rating is about the equivalent of standard of new homes in other OECD countries.

Twyford says the Building Code will be reviewed but says he hasn’t committed to a date. “It is something [that] in time we will do.”

Filling our hospitals Healthy Homes aren’t just of concern to the wider housing industry. The Ministry of Health is also very con-

cerned and launched Healthy Homes Initiatives (HHIs) between 2013 and 2015 in 11 District Health Boards (DHBs) that recorded a high incidence of rheumatic fever.

The initiatives began in the Auckland region and more than 9600 families have been referred to HHIs, collectively receiving over 24,000 housing-related interventions to make homes warmer, drier and less crowded.

Interventions given to these families include help to get insulation, curtains, beds, bedding, minor repairs, floor coverings, ventilation, heating sources, Full And Correct Entitlement assessments through Work and Income, support with power bills, and finding alternative accommodation as needed.

Training the salespeople One of the many issues New Zealand is facing is a lack of training for salespeople who advise how to make our homes healthier, says Vicki Cowan of Beacon Pathway, an incorporated society committed to transforming New Zealand's homes and neighbourhoods . “[It] is quite well-recognised there is aggressive marketing of some products to households. For example, a

house may have damp issues caused by something such as a broken pipe, but the private companies will attempt to sell products that don’t address the problem.”

As a result, Beacon Pathway, Toimata Foundation and Community Energy Network, have launched a Home Performance Advisors initiative to ensure that practitioners giving households advice on how to improve home performance have robust training and an ongoing professional development pathway.

So far, 87 practitioners have passed the training.

Good news It’s not all bad news on the healthy home front. Howden-Chapman sees some improvements. In the case of Housing New Zealand, the government is providing additional funding to ensure that new social housing is healthy and older properties can be retrofitted to an acceptable standard.

The government has also announced $2000 subsidies (details to be announced) for insulating, ventilating and heating homes. It has also announced a $140 monthly winter power payment for all NZ Superannuation recipients and beneficiaries.

E10

HEATING

nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

WARM up for winter Pictures / Getty Images

O

Louise Richardson

nce upon a time, home heating was generally by means of an open fireplace — now banned in many regions — or an expensive-to-run bar heater and little else. In fact, we Kiwis actually took pride in our ‘putanother-jumper-on’ attitude to keeping our homes comfortable — heating the living areas, while stoically enduring ice-cold bedrooms and bathrooms.

These days, however, the array of heating options on offer is extensive, with something to accommodate almost every need.

We’ve also grown much more savvy about insulation, doubleglazing and ventilation, without which no heat source is going to function particularly effectively.

In 2017, Consumer found that heat pumps were the most cost-efficient means of home heating, noting that, for each kilowatt of electricity going in, 3-4 kilowatts came out. Wood burners and flued gas heaters were next on their list but these can be expensive to install.

Here’s a rough guide to the most popular modern heating systems: CENTRAL HEATING This option uses a number of means including gas, a heat pump, water, wood, oil, or solar electricity to heat your whole home by transferring warm air between rooms via ducts or pipes. Gas boilers are popular in the North Island because natural gas is very well-priced and readily available there, but they can also be powered by LPG cylinders. The

boilers are designed to eliminate the risk of damp and condensation in a dwelling. Underfloor heating coils are a good means of heating a new build, but they’re tricky to retro-fit.

FLUED GAS HEATERS AND FIREPLACES Ideal for heating large spaces, these clean options are very convenient, offering the ability to control temperature, using timers and thermostats. Gas fireplaces look just as good as the real thing without any fuss or bother in terms of cleaning. Choose a fireplace model with or without a glass door for your property or a gas space heater, depending on your own particular requirements. You can still find un-flued gas heaters but it’s generally accepted that these are expensive to run, fairly inefficient and potentially harmful to your health.

CLEAN-AIR-APPROVED OPEN FIREPLACES This is the modern version of the traditional open fireplace and it complies with current regulations with regard to emissions, providing up to five times the heat output of the old-style fire. Most of these models have a glass front and you can easily control the output. There are still ashes to contend with, but, for many consumers, the attractive, classic ambience of this type of heating makes that effort well worthwhile.

WOOD BURNERS These are another popular choice and that popularity is, in part, because wood is a sustainable source of fuel and if you have your own supply,

that’s better still. Wood burners can also heat water during winter through a wetback system. A built-in fan enables you to move heat to the places in your home that need it but you’ll need to consult with experts who can tell you if your fire is big enough to do this.

Wood pellet burners are yet another heating option.

The pellets are made from wood shavings and sawdust so, like wood, they are carbon neutral. Some pellet burners are powered by electricity. There are very strict rules around installing wood burners and you may need council consent. The fire you choose must be one that’s on the Ministry for the Environment’s ‘approved’ list. The government’s energywise.co.nz website has lots of advice and information.

ELECTRIC HEATERS There are many choices in this category: Panel heaters and convection and oil heaters can heat small spaces quite effectively, especially if they have a built-in fan. Micathermic heaters warm up quicker still and you can move them around, according to need. Everyone knows that fan heaters are energy-hungry but

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they’re cheap to buy and again, work okay in small areas.

Modern bar heaters are good in terms of convenience and portability.

ECCA says that all electric heaters are equally efficient, as they convert all the electricity they use into useful heat, while Consumer points out that a 2.4kW electric heater can cost around 60c per hour to operate, compared with approximately 38c for a 4.5kW heat pump. It may not sound like much but, in the course of a long, cold winter these sorts of costs can soon mount up.

HEAT PUMPS The science behind heat pumps is becoming more and more advanced, and modern examples have many extra features that were previously not available. They are quiet, safe, have effective timers and thermo-

stats for you to control their output and modern versions are very sleek, in terms of appearance, and discreet.

As a heat source, they rate extremely well and are very energy efficient, working a bit like a fridge but in reverse.

Two units, one indoors and the other outside, work as a sophisticated engineering system to draw warm air in from outside your house, reversing in warm weather to cool your house down. Essentially it is moving heat rather than actually creating it, which means it costs less to run and this is why heat pumps are becoming so popular. EECA suggests setting the temperature inside your home to between 18-20C. A heating expert can advise you as to what size heat pump your dwelling requires, and bear in mind that some are still more efficient than others, so look out for the highest possible ECCA star-rating.

Depending on the layout of your house, you may need more than one heat pump in order to heat all the relevant rooms.

SOLAR HEATING ECCA explains that solar panels convert sunlight into electricity when light energy (photons) hits the panels and conducts electrons through a semi-conducting material, say, silicon, and the moving electrons thereby create a current. Going solar can be complicated and many homes simply wouldn’t benefit enough to justify the cost of purchasing and installing such a system, especially if you need to buy electricity on dull days.

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

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nzherald.co.nz | The New Zealand Herald | Wednesday, May 9, 2018

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