Which heating is the most efficient for Tasmania?

With one of the coldest winters on record, which heating is the most efficient for Tasmania?

With warm weather ahead there is no need to worry about heating anymore, right? Well, actually no. After one of the coldest winters on record, there is likely to be one more large bill appear in your letterbox this year.

The warmer months are the best time to upgrade your heating because you can go without it for a while.

Todd Houstein, Sustainable Living Tasmania’s Executive Officer and a self-confessed “energy nerd”, has prepared a side-by-side analysis of the most common heater types and found that heat pumps come out on top for efficiency, cost and functionality.

“Through helping thousands of households with their energy bills over 15 years, we’ve learned a thing or two about home heating. The most appropriate type of heater for a household depends on many things including the house design and construction, and the occupants’ needs,” Houstein said.

Sustainable Living Tasmania recommends heat pumps in the majority of cases, and wood heaters in some circumstances.

Operating over three times more efficiently than any other type of heater, heat pumps also have the advantage of starting at the push of a button, and being easily programmed to switch on and off automatically.

“That’s why we’ve partnered with local specialists and are pooling the community’s purchasing power to get a great price on high quality heat pumps through a bulk buy scheme. We need at least 100 people to get on board for this special community offer – so express your interest now at www.slt.org.au/bulk_buy“

Wood heaters can be the most appropriate choice of heating for some households, but chopping and carting wood is too strenuous for some people, and local air pollution is a big concern in populated areas and valleys.

“Firewood supply is unregulated and there seem to be more and more people selling wet wood that burns poorly, or underweight loads that seem cheaper than they actually are,” Houstein said.

“Gas is expensive and set to become more so as prices rise to match that of Australia’s growing export market.

“Other hardwired electric heaters and plug-in heaters are just too inefficient to use as the main form of heating, but can be appropriate for use in a bathroom or bedroom if use is limited.”

For more information and to see if a heat pump is right for you come along to one of our info sessions slt.org.au/info_sessions or the Sustainable Living Festival slt.org.au/festival to find out more.

• Leo Schofield in Comments: Anything but electricity. Aurora’s usage meter system is at best flawed, at worst dishonest. When I lived in Kempton my electrician assured me that my bills were three times as high as TWO HOTELS he serviced in Claremont. The correspondence with the Ombudsman, which I have kept, is beyond Kafkaesque with one functionary telling me the system was clearly faulty and another assuring his masters that all was hunky dory. If Tasmania is to lure its ‘expats’ back home, they need to be assured that they will not freeze to death in winter or be sent broke by outrageous heating bills …