How to heat your Italian home economically and without polluting

Winter is almost here, and the weather is definitely already getting colder. We all know what this means: it's time to turn on the heating. Major Italian cities have just done exactly that, with cities like Milan, Bologna, Venice, and Turin turning on radiators on the 15th of October. But the annual problem of how to heat your home without your bills skyrocketing is somewhat more complicated this year. You might have heard that the world is going through an energy crisis! As prices for energy continue to climb, it is no wonder that people are looking for ways to reduce their bills. 

The problem of energy efficiency has been gaining more attention in recent years, as the world has grown more conscious of environmental responsibility, but at the end of the day you don't want your teeth chattering at home. You have to choose between your bills, the comfort of your home, and the wellbeing of the planet, right? Not necessarily: we have ten tips for you, drawn up by Enea, to heat your home economically and without polluting. Saving on your bills while safeguarding the environment is possible. So, where do you start?

Perform maintenance on your installations

This is the first rule in terms of safety, savings, and environmental protection. A system consumes and pollutes less when it is correctly adjusted, and when it is clean and without limescale deposits. And if saving on your bills, or not willfully wasting energy and harming the environment is not enough motivation to keep up to date on the maintenance of your heating system, for those who do not carry out this maintenance, there is a fine starting from 500 euros (Presidential Decree 74/2013).

Check the temperature of your home

Overheating your house can damage your health and your pockets: the current legislation allows for a room temperature of 20 degrees plus a tolerance of 2, but really 19 degrees is more than enough to guarantee that your home is comfortably warm. It might not seem like much of a difference, but it can have an outsized impact: for each degree the temperature is lowered, 5 to 10 per cent of fuel consumption is saved! 

Pay attention to the ignition times

It makes no sense to keep the heating system on day and night. In an efficient home, the heat accumulated by the structures when the system is in operation should be retained, and guarantees a sufficient degree of comfort even during the hours of shutdown. The maximum daily ignition time varies by law according to the 6 climatic zones into which Italy is divided: from 14 hours a day for plants in zone E (in the north and mountain areas) to 8 hours in zone B (coastal areas in southern Italy).

Shield the windows at night

Windows are one of the principal parts of your home where heat can escape. By adding another layer over the window, you put an extra obstacle between the heat inside, and the cold outside. Simply closing your shutters, or hanging heavy curtains in front of the windows will reduce heat loss in your home. 

Install reflective panels between the wall and the radiator

This is a simple but very effective solution to limit heat loss, especially in homes where a radiator is embedded in the wall. This might save space in the room, but it reduces the thickness and degree of insulation that the wall provides. To help reduce dispersion towards the outside, a simple sheet of aluminum foil between the radiator and the wall will reflect part of the heat that would be lost back into the room, preventing its waste.

Avoid obstacles in front of and above the radiators

This is the opposite of the last tip: placing curtains or furniture in front of your radiators or using them as a laundry dryer, hinders the diffusion of heat towards the environment and causes waste. And while you are trying to effeciently let heat spread around you home, don't let it go to waste letting air in. If you need fresh air, it only takes a few minutes for air to circulate once you've opened a windoow. After that, close it again, or it will lead to completely unnecessary heat loss in your home.

Get your home checked up

Asking a technician to carry out an energy diagnosis of the building is the first step you should take in order to assess the state of the thermal insulation of the walls and windows, and the efficiency of the air conditioning systems. Once you have the diagnosis, you can make an informed decision on the interventions to be carried out by evaluating their cost-benefit ratios. In addition to reducing the costs for heating, by up to 40% it should be noted, the interventions are even more convenient if you take advantage of the tax deductions for the energy requalification of buildings, the eco-bonus that allows you to deduct from the personal income tax or IRES taxes between 50% and 85% of the costs incurred depending on the complexity of the intervention, as well as the Superbonus, with a deduction rate of 110%.

Choose innovative heating systems

Since 2015 only condensing boilers can be installed in homes in Italy, with rare exceptions. If you have an older system, it is advisable to consider the possibility of replacing it with a condensing one or with a high efficiency heat pump. Biomass-fired boilers and hybrid systems (a condensing boiler and heat pump together) tjat combine with solar thermal systems to heat water and photovoltaic systems to produce electricity, are also available on the market. And remember: you can take advantage of tax reliefs for these renovations as well.

Choose innovative technological solutions

It is essential to equip your system with an automatic temperature control unit capable of avoiding unnecessary peaks or sudden changes in power. The possibility of hourly, daily and weekly programming guarantees further energy savings. Home automation also promotes savings: chronothermostats, presence sensors and electronic controllers allow you to adjust the temperature of the individual rooms and the switch-on time of the heating systems. This can even be done remotely via mobile phone.

Install the thermostatic valves

These devices are used to regulate the flow of hot water in the radiators, making it possible not to exceed the temperature set for heating a room. These are mandatory by law in condominiums, but even in other properties thermostatic valves can help to reduce consumption by up to 20%.