All about Loungy Interiors & Interior Design
RSS icon Home icon

  • Tips On Saving On Your Energy Expenses By Draught Proofing Your Sash Windows

    Posted on August 30th, 2010 Craig Beck No comments

    In these tight economic times, it might be more important than ever to reduce your energy costs by draught proofing your sash windows. Typically, more than a third of a home’s heat is lost through leaks and drafts that are preventable. Sash windows are among the biggest offenders. Here are some considerations to keep in mind when dealing with this problem.

    Sash windows commonly cause a great deal of a home’s heat loss. They are usually older and less technologically advanced than other window designs. There are a number of ways you can try to reduce or eliminate heat loss from sash windows, and they all have advantages and disadvantages.

    A quick way to reduce drafts around windows is to hang blinds, curtains, shades, or other window coverings over the offending windows. Window coverings help reduce heat loss, but they are not as effective as other more substantial approaches. Meanwhile, drapes and curtains need to be cleaned, repaired, and eventually replaced, all of which adds costs that offset whatever energy cost savings they may affect.

    Another approach is to completely replace the window units. Replace your old leaky units with new, double-glazed, energy graded windows. This is not an inexpensive alternative. Also, you my have difficulty matching the new windows to the design of your home without the added expense of customized window units.

    Another lasting solution, especially for older windows, is to have the windows re-glazed. This could allow you to improve your old panes while allowing you to retain the original sash design. Accompanying this with a complete overhaul and re-fitting of the windows with upgraded parts, fixtures, and seals will ensure the best protection against heat loss.

    Upgrading your sash windows may be expensive, but the long term savings in energy costs will far outweigh the one-time repair and upgrade costs. Additionally, resealing the windows will reduce external noise. The upgrade will also add years to the life of your entire window unit through the repair and replacement of worn parts.

    There are many ways to reduce heat loss in your home, and most of them are worth pursuing. But attending to your window units is the most significant way to increase your home’s energy efficiency. The initial casts may seem high, but in the long run they will be out weighed by the savings you’ll receive when you reduce your energy costs by draught proofing your sash windows.

    Locate the best sash window insulation company to use by looking online. There you can find secondary glazing London and other areas to consider using. Head online today and learn more.

  • Solar Energy It is Popular. So Why is it Not Yet Widely Used?

    Posted on April 26th, 2010 Larry Wood No comments

    The fact is, the 350,000,000 terawatts of power available from the sun is so large that an exposure to a full sun in only 15 minutes will be sufficient to generate the world’s energy requirement

    Compare that with power that is generated by nuclear and fossil fuel. Presently, the obtainable data for fossil and nuclear fuel is 10,800,000 terawatts which we all be aware of to be non renewable.

    To produce electricity, utility companies burn fossil fuels that translate to 1.3 pounds of carbon dioxide to produce 1kw of electrical power. This unwanted CO2 emissions are dumped into the atmosphere. This then translates into each typical home being accountable yearly for 22,000 pounds of CO2 emissions.

    The harnessing of the sun’s rays is clean and safe. It produces no emissions and it is practical and might in the years ahead, prove very economical. Within the United States, only 0.1% of energy that’s generated is solar energy driven. So what are the obstacles?

    According to the Wall Street Journal (in an article that was released in its August 2008 issue), you will find groups, backed by political groups that are lobbying against the putting up of transmission lines for pv power. The construction of distribution lines for solar energy is also becoming blocked by environmental activists that restrict the delivering of solar energy to those who want it in their houses.

    An additional obstacle is that the power grid within the United States which was designed more than 100 years ago is now so congested in many regions. To deliver the solar power to consumers, scientists and engineers will need to come out with an additional price efficient plan to transfer huge amounts of power from one location to an additional.

    Solar panels are considered expensive. Although a house increases its value by folds when solar powered, the costs still might be prohibitive to most that unless the non silicon flexible solar panels that are now becoming developed are released for market consumption, powering homes through solar energy could still be very limited.

    Other forms of rewards to avoid fossil fuel use should still be effectively placed. The 30% tax cut to projected price previously awarded is going to be a lot more attractive if other federal credits are included to encourage further investments.

    The global warming issue that has been brought to the papers is really a recurrent subject of talk shows and remains to be a great news item. Also, the too unstable pump prices, should and for most part, already be a great incentive to use this alternative source of energy.

    However, effective solar energy transmission to homes will stay to become very hard unless these obstacles are breached. Assuming that these obstacles are solved these days, it will still take some years to convert 20% of American homes into solar energy users. Meanwhile, solar panels on individual homes remain to become the most viable option.

    The great part to solar energy quest is that technology is advancing very rapidly. Nano technologies for solar power is being produced and might be available in five many years time. Other breakthroughs in cell designs are also being developed that could, in the next few years, be a cost-effective way of generating energy without having to rely anymore on fossil and nuclear power.

    Lastly, you got to check out the Energy Saving method that save the earth and my bill too. I didn’t know that I can make my own solar panel that only costs me less than one thousand dollar.

  • The Wind Could Be Powering Your House Right Now.

    Posted on November 1st, 2009 Bart Forcey No comments

    Wind can be an awesome force of nature, just ask anyone who has been in a tornado or powerful hurricane. We can harness this wind for the use of generating electricity for our world. When the sun shines it heats the earth, but since the earth is made of different materials and is of differing heights and valleys it heats unevenly, especially over land and water.

    During the daylight hours is when the air over the land heats up more rapidly, and the air over the water heats up at a slower rate. The warm air above the land swells and rises, and the cooler air quickly spills in to fill the gaps, this process creates the wind. When night comes, the winds turn course, because the air cools more rapidly over the land than it does over water.

    Nowadays, we use the wind to create energy to produce electricity for homes, businesses or communities. Wind is an earth friendly renewable energy source; we know that as long as the sun shines on the earth the winds will continue to blow.

    Just like the windmills, turbines also use blades to capture the wind and turn it into energy. If there is no wind, then the turbines will not turn, this means that you must have a back up source of energy. Turbines are more sophisticated than windmills and they can use even the slightest breeze to turn the blades.

    Turbines today can use a horizontal or vertical axis, though most are made with a horizontal axis. They also come in many different sizes depending on what they are meant to supply energy for. If it is for a home or small office the turbines will be about 20 feet or more and can put out about 1000 kilowatts. The larger ones can put out as much as 5 megawatts, and these are used for commercial purposes. You might see wind farms which are made up of the larger turbines, and these supply a grid which can power a whole community.

    You will find that most turbines used today have a horizontal axis. They have blades that are made much like airplane propellers are. A horizontal turbine will typically stand about as tall as a 20 story building and will generally have three blades which can span as much as 200 feet.

    One major drawback of electric wind power is that the windmills used to generate power are massive and make a lot of noise. It can be used in remote places of the countryside as space and higher terrain is needed for it. Due to this reason it has a limited scope of use and not practical to install in densely populated areas.

    Is wind power the way for you to be power self sufficient? Some parts of the country have enough consistent wind to make enough electricity to serve everyones requirements.