The idea of lounging around outside in bubbling warm water may be appealling, but the eco footprint is appalling…
So you want to place a large bath outside in our variable climate and maintain it at a consistent hot temperature…
Although I’ve been dispensing eco advice for a decade, this is the first time I’ve been asked to green-light a hot tub. I should have known this day was coming, because figures suggest the country is awash with them – there are between 2.6m (according to a Lloyds Insurance survey) and a more likely industry estimate of 300,000 out there. The hot tub appears to have transitioned into a “wellness appliance”. According to the many brochures I’ve perused on your behalf, hot-tubbing (which is now a verb) helps to reduce chronic stress and conditions such as circulatory disorders. I’ve even seen a model that purports to be anti-ageing.
But in the marginally less joyful world of energy-efficient analysis, hot tubs are categorised as “portable electric spas” and carry a terrible energy profile. According to the US Consortium for Energy Efficiency, the energy used to operate a small pool or hot tub can account for more than half of a home’s total energy use. As one of the online UK retailers puts it: “Relaxing in your hot tub can prove difficult when the bills it produces are anything but.”
It’s worth spelling out what you’re attempting to do here: you want to place a large bath outside in our variable climate and maintain it at a consistent hot temperature, using a pump to make a whirlpool through a series of jets. (Hot tubs lose heat more quickly when the jets are on.) Heating and hot water already account for an estimated 84% of domestic energy consumption and 71% of CO2 emissions in the UK, a situation which must be tackled if we’re to meet 2020 targets.
So hot tubs are hard to love from a sustainability point of view, unless you’re skilled enough to go the DIY solar-powered route. To do this, you’d have to integrate a solar water heater and build the tub from reclaimed materials. If this is beyond you, there are “eco” models. These include Hydropool’s Serenity hot tub which cabinsandspas.co.uk reckons is “engineered to be the most efficient in the world”. Eco models are highly insulated and should have a hard, heavy cover (most energy escapes through the cover, so look for the highest insulation value).
Also go for one with low-energy LED lights. This isn’t just greenwash: an energy-efficient hot tub uses 7 to 11 fewer kWh per day than its rivals. This would take some of the environmental heat out of your back-garden Jacuzzi.
The heart-shaped solar farm built on Grand Terre using 7,888 solar panels
Green crush
Would we love large-scale solar farms more if they were heart shaped? It’s an idea that will be tested by a new farm being built on Grand Terre, an island 750 miles east of the Australian Gold Coast, in the French territory of New Caledonia. On Grand Terre, 7,888 panels will generate enough electricity to supply 750 homes. The design is inspired by the Coeur de Voh, the naturally heart-shaped wild mangrove vegetation documented in Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s book The Earth from Above. The Heart of New Caledonia is expected to save 2m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over its 25-year life span. It will be ‘a landmark for clean power generation and perhaps the first beautiful power station’ in the world, according to solar-energy company Conergy.
Greenspeak: Passive clean-up {pæsiv klīn-up} noun
Does not mean watching someone else vacuum, but rather a system of floating barriers and platforms attached to the seabed, invented by 17-year-old Boyan Slat. Driven by winds and currents, plastic is trapped and extracted from the ocean (theoceancleanup.com)
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/19/what-is-environmental-cost-of-hot-tub-lucy-siegle
Visit us: http://energyhousefresno.com/
from energyhouse http://energyhouse.livejournal.com/31743.html
Although I’ve been dispensing eco advice for a decade, this is the first time I’ve been asked to green-light a hot tub. I should have known this day was coming, because figures suggest the country is awash with them – there are between 2.6m (according to a Lloyds Insurance survey) and a more likely industry estimate of 300,000 out there. The hot tub appears to have transitioned into a “wellness appliance”. According to the many brochures I’ve perused on your behalf, hot-tubbing (which is now a verb) helps to reduce chronic stress and conditions such as circulatory disorders. I’ve even seen a model that purports to be anti-ageing.
But in the marginally less joyful world of energy-efficient analysis, hot tubs are categorised as “portable electric spas” and carry a terrible energy profile. According to the US Consortium for Energy Efficiency, the energy used to operate a small pool or hot tub can account for more than half of a home’s total energy use. As one of the online UK retailers puts it: “Relaxing in your hot tub can prove difficult when the bills it produces are anything but.”
It’s worth spelling out what you’re attempting to do here: you want to place a large bath outside in our variable climate and maintain it at a consistent hot temperature, using a pump to make a whirlpool through a series of jets. (Hot tubs lose heat more quickly when the jets are on.) Heating and hot water already account for an estimated 84% of domestic energy consumption and 71% of CO2 emissions in the UK, a situation which must be tackled if we’re to meet 2020 targets.
So hot tubs are hard to love from a sustainability point of view, unless you’re skilled enough to go the DIY solar-powered route. To do this, you’d have to integrate a solar water heater and build the tub from reclaimed materials. If this is beyond you, there are “eco” models. These include Hydropool’s Serenity hot tub which cabinsandspas.co.uk reckons is “engineered to be the most efficient in the world”. Eco models are highly insulated and should have a hard, heavy cover (most energy escapes through the cover, so look for the highest insulation value).
Also go for one with low-energy LED lights. This isn’t just greenwash: an energy-efficient hot tub uses 7 to 11 fewer kWh per day than its rivals. This would take some of the environmental heat out of your back-garden Jacuzzi.
Green crush
Would we love large-scale solar farms more if they were heart shaped? It’s an idea that will be tested by a new farm being built on Grand Terre, an island 750 miles east of the Australian Gold Coast, in the French territory of New Caledonia. On Grand Terre, 7,888 panels will generate enough electricity to supply 750 homes. The design is inspired by the Coeur de Voh, the naturally heart-shaped wild mangrove vegetation documented in Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s book The Earth from Above. The Heart of New Caledonia is expected to save 2m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions over its 25-year life span. It will be ‘a landmark for clean power generation and perhaps the first beautiful power station’ in the world, according to solar-energy company Conergy.
Greenspeak: Passive clean-up {pæsiv klīn-up} noun
Does not mean watching someone else vacuum, but rather a system of floating barriers and platforms attached to the seabed, invented by 17-year-old Boyan Slat. Driven by winds and currents, plastic is trapped and extracted from the ocean (theoceancleanup.com)
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/19/what-is-environmental-cost-of-hot-tub-lucy-siegle
Visit us: http://energyhousefresno.com/
from energyhouse http://energyhouse.livejournal.com/31743.html
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