Insulating an attic and sealing doors and windows will help make a home more energy efficient.
The energy crisis is impacting everyday lives with shortages of petrol and electricity power cuts. However, there is an abundance of energy available from the sun.
The sun supplies us daily with more energy than we could conceivably use.
Before supplies of fossil fuels run out, these alternative sources of energy need to be embraced. The question needing immediate attention is which source of energy is the most efficient to supply populated areas.
Brian Hurley, lecturer in physics at the College of Technology Bolton Street and member of Low Energy Systems, outlines the challenges.
Our basic problem is not an energy crisis. It's more a difficulty in relation to how to make use out of the available solar energy.
Most of the population lives in urban housing estates, residents are reliant on a central energy supply from the grid. Heating is the greatest use of energy in the home. Practical tips are provided on how to go about insulating an attic to make the home more energy efficient. Lagging the pipes and the water tank is also important. Heat loss also occurs through doors and windows so these need to be sealed properly.
This is the simplest and quickest way to keep the heat you have paid for from disappearing into the back garden.
This episode of 'The Other Ways' was broadcast on 12 December 1978. The reporter is Doireann Ní Bhriain. The programme was produced and directed by Bob Quinn.
'The Other Ways' was a six-part series on environmental issues.
