Humanity actively consumes energy -efficient technologies and forces the world market to produce more appropriate products. Moreover, for the construction of houses now they carry out not just construction control, but global study of the geodesy of the site, building materials, the history of the area, etc.P., In order to build a building that will save the costs and resources of the future owner. With all this, a recent study showed that an average person is not able to calculate his benefit and understand how much money will save him in favor of energy -efficient techniques and products.
Of course, everyone knows about the advantages of energy efficiency. Moreover, periodically people even try to calculate how much money they save. In a number of countries, reports are published from time to time how much energy people saved by switching to energy -efficient practices. For example, the United States recently published data that the country has saved about $ 800 billion last year due to effective resource consumption (although most of the benefits were brought by hybrid cars that allowed people to save on fuel).
The main stimulus of transition to energy -efficient practices is saving on constant expenses like utility bills. However, the change will not bring benefits right away. Moreover, in some cases, they will not bring financial benefits at all, and sometimes they will even turn out to be financially unprofitable. At the same time, energy -efficient practices remain popular even among those who know about this.
The fact is that this topic is not as simple as manufacturers or builders describe it. For example, energy -efficient windows will really be useful, because they will not let the warmth get out of your heated room, therefore you will not have to pay extra money for the electricity spent on using the radiator in the cold (you have enough heating batteries). But this does not work from everyone, and many families even buying energy -efficient windows are forced to use electric heaters in winter or air conditioners in the summer. This happens because sometimes one energy -efficient practice is not enough. It may require insulation, isolation, checking cracks in the walls, etc.P.
Researchers conducted an experiment in the USA. They provided several homeowners with an energy -efficient update of houses worth $ 5,000. Modernization included the replacement of batteries, installation of insulation and some other work. As a result, the average resource consumption in families decreased by 10-20 percent. And no matter how sad it is, this savings have retained homeowners only $ 2,400, that is, only half of what went to modernize. This is sad, but do not forget that all the changes have made a certain level of comfort to the life of people (at least the climate in the house has become better). In addition, if people really needed repair work in the house (replacement of batteries, isolation, etc.P.), and they would have chosen non -energy -efficient options, they would spend a smaller amount initially, but would not save in the future. As a result, perhaps, total expenses would be identical to expenses on energy -efficient options.
At the same time, it is still worth saying that it is more convenient to live in an energy -efficient house, even if it actually does not bring benefits. For example, it is much more comfortable to live in an apartment, where there is always the right temperature than to constantly turn on and off the radiator. This is a very simple way to explain the difference between an energy -efficient and non -energy -efficient house, if there is no material benefit.
Nevertheless, energy -efficient practices happens to the financial benefit, it just needs to be correctly calculated. For example, LED lamps, although they are more expensive, make you spend less on electricity, because they consume it less than simple incandescent lamps. And even if it were not so, LED lamps do not need to be changed often, which simplifies life. Passive houses are more expensive, but they consume less resources, which also affects your expenses in the future. And even if it would have been like that, living in a passive house is more pleasant and more useful.
Some energy -efficient practices require only the use of resources and knowledge wisely, that is, you do not invest too much money in the project initially. An example of this is the house that the architect builds himself. Many eco-architects calculate the position of the Sun at one time or another in order to place the windows in accordance with. The landscape designer plants or cuts down a tree near the house for approximately the same purpose – to reduce the heating of the house and use the sun for its own purposes.
Over time, energy -efficient goods will become the main in the market. If now we can still observe the lack of direct benefit, then the increase in the price of resources (and this is gradually happening), we will notice a sharp need for their savings. And we will do this either with the help of energy -efficient taps and bulbs, or with the help of washing in a basin and reading by candlelights.