With increasing tariffs for housing and communal services, each owner of a private home is thinking about saving. In our country this became a general trend a few years ago, and, for example, in Poland it has been relevant for more than fifteen years – the mass phenomenon in the country has become the application of energy saving, installation of modern double-glazed windows and insulation of houses with the active support of the state.
A resident of a house of 300 square meters shared a successful experience in this topic. Yuri Trofimenko from the village of Trisvyatsky settlement – home residents are only paying ten hryvnias per square meter of public utilities!
He and his associates since the beginning of the 90s began to embody the experience of energy conservation – three families sold their apartments and bought a large house in Trisvyatsky settlement. One of them was Victoria, who lived in Warsaw for a long time and helped translate Polish energy-saving technologies. The general rule for them was the principle of maintaining the heat and using exactly the amount that is need for each of them. “This is important not only in terms of cost savings, but also because everyone should consume exactly as much as he can afford,” Victoria says.
What steps helped to achieve such an effect?
First, the installation of solar collectors. As Yuriy said, due to them, they manage to save about fifty cubic meters of gas each month – the energy goes to the heating of water, and the total savings in the season is about 2 000 UAH. On sunny days, the collector heats up to 150 liters of water to 50-60 degrees. If the day is not sunny enough and the temperature of the water does not reach the desired mark – the water is digest in the second circuit by an electric boiler.
Secondly, the installation of energy-saving windows – windows are two-chamber, energy saving, at least three glasses with a distance of not less than 32 mm between them. The space between the glasses is not fill with ordinary air, but with gas argon, which reduces heat loss by 40% and increases the temperature in the rooms by an average of 2-3 degrees. The minimum heat resistance of such windows should be greater than the standard values of 0.60-0.75 m² / W. Existing tariffs allow you to full redeem the installation of such double-glazed windows for 4-7 years. “There were a lot of large and beautiful windows in our house that were not suitable for our climate and through which we lost a lot of heat,” explains Yuri.
Thirdly, installing a solid-fuel boiler – gutted stacks of firewood are carefully stored under the house. The boiler consumes firewood and saves natural gas and does not change the overall energy balance in nature – burning out, the tree allocates just as much carbon as it consumed throughout its life.
In the fourth, insulation of the house. The thick walls have an additional outer layer of foam, which effectively retains heat inside the house. All doors are externally equipped with vestibules.
In addition, Yuri has many plans, including installing a heat recovery system and an air solar collector. This collector does not heat water, and the air – in the off-season, when the sunny days is kept; the heated air is distributed over the rooms and warms up the house.
The system of heat recovery is an energy-saving technology that selects the heat of used air from rooms, bathrooms, etc. and transfers it to fresh air coming from the street. Such fresh air is distribute throughout the rooms and used as heating.
It should be note that Yuri willingly shares his own experience – many people go to him and ask to tell and show his belongings. He is convinced that in a few years such eco-homes will be in Ukraine the same norm as in Europe.
