Air conditioning or thermo-fan. Which one spends more to heat the house?

Are you doing head-to-head accounts to guess how much the electricity and gas bill will skyrocket at the end of January, because of the cold that was felt at the end of the year and throughout the first month of 2021? With the Portuguese already at home, in telework because of the covid-19 pandemic, the new general confinement at the door and most of the houses poorly prepared for low temperatures, it is certain that energy consumption and bills will again skyrocket.

Even without cold mixing, in the months of March to June 2020, electricity consumption in homes (compared to 2019) rose on average about 23%, due to the significant number of people in teleworking, in confinement, in telescola or covered by lay-off programs. The Government has now decided to refreeze the price of gas cylinders and has announced support for the payment of 10% electricity bill (40% for those who have social tariff), with reatrotive effects from 1 January and which will take effect until the end of this new period of confinement.

Meanwhile, to help the Portuguese heat the house without triggering the electricity bill, Deco did the math and recommends: opt for air conditioning or salamander pellets (6.56 and 7.72 euros per year, respectively), forget the oil radiators, halogen appliances or heat emitters (about 85.53 euros). But if air conditioning is not an option, prefer the thermofans (26.26 euros) and convectors (64.43 euros), says consumer protection.

"For use twice a day for five months a year, we find that opting for air conditioning is the cheapest and least polluting solution. Another economical option is the pelletstove, but the installation is always dependent on the possibility of installing a chimney, which may not be possible in apartments", deco said. In the case of air conditioning, it is also with the double advantage of being able to air the house in summer.

In this scenario, the heat emitter is the most expensive and polluting heating system in the house, with an annual energy expenditure of 85.53 euros and a CO2 emission of 87.97 kg per year. By opting for air conditioning instead of the heat emitter, the savings are 78.97 euros per year on the electricity bill and 81.22 kg in annual CO2 emissions.

If the need for home heating is more intense -- six times a day for six months a year -- Deco warns that spending increases greatly by opting for the heat emitter, with an electricity cost of €308.93 per year and CO2 emissions of 317.74 kilograms annually.

Here in this scenario, in the impossibility of opting for an air conditioning system, consumer protection recommends opting for thermofans and convectors. "In addition to being faster to heat up and ensuring good temperature stability, they are more economical," says Deco. Against a heat emitter, savings on electricity bills can reach €59.27 per year and reduce CO2 emissions by 60.97 kilos.

"The greater the use of the air conditioning system, the more compensates for the use of air conditioning or pellet salamander when it is possible to install, as they are efficient systems with low environmental footprint. Even with higher acquisition costs in the medium and long term, energy savings end up paying for the additional investment," deco concludes. .