Dear bills, Enea advice for smart summer consumption

Save on billssafeguard theenvironment and contribute to reduce dependence on methane gas even with the ‘intelligent’ use of air conditioners. To optimally use the air conditioning systems without sacrificing comfort in the summer season, Aeneas provides some practical and behavioral indications which, combined with the use of high-efficiency models and solar panels to produce domestic hot water, would allow national savings of up to 1.8 billion cubic meters (m3) of methane gas per year, about 2.5% of Italian consumption in 2021 (76 billion m3).

“In summer air conditioning, the essential measures to obtain lighter bills consist in increasing the internal temperature setting by two degrees, bringing the thermostat from 26 to 28 degrees, and closing the shutters when not at home. In particular, in the summer it is essential to screen the windows facing south and east ”, he stresses Nicolandrea Calabrese, Head of the Enea Laboratory for Energy Efficiency in Buildings and Urban Development.

With these two measures it will be possible to reduce up to about 50% the electricity consumption for summer air conditioning, variable savings depending on the exposure to solar radiation in the home. “Assuming that 30% of the approximately 25.7 million Italian families have two indoor air conditioning units in operation for 350 hours a year, with these two simple actions, up to over 1.3 billion kWh of electricity could be saved, corresponding to about 100 million m3 of methane in a year ”, Calabrese emphasizes.

Replacing an old class D air conditioner (consumption from label 243 kWh) with a new model in class A +++ (consumption from label 103 kWh) can save 140 kWh of electricity, equal to about 60%. “If even only 5% of households replaced their energy-intensive air conditioner with a model with maximum efficiency, a saving of 180 million kWh of electricity could be obtained, corresponding to 14 million m3 of gas in a year”, he adds. Calabrese.

To these annual cuts linked to the sole summer air conditioning (approximately 115 million m3 of methane), the most significant gas saving could be added, equal to 1.7 billion m3 per year, thanks to the installation of solar thermal panels for the production of domestic hot water . “We calculated this figure assuming the installation by 80% of families residing in single-family homes, for which the intervention is simple to implement, and by 20% of those who live in condominiums, for a total of approximately 9.75 million households. The use of thermal solar panels can in fact fully cover the needs of a family for the production of domestic hot water from April to October, with a saving of about 175 m3 of gas, considering an average consumption of 25 m3 per month “, he concludes. Calabrese.