I am still thinking about home births, but thinking that it might not be a possibility due to the severity of my pph with K and that fact I had to go to theatre afterwards. But if its not I will still be investigating the possibility of a water birth, I really want one, I found the pain so much easier to deal with when I was in the bath with O.
In other things happening, we are thinking about heating for our new house... do we go with heat pumps (air conditioning) or something else? I am leaning towards the heat pump option, and possibly something like a pellet fire for winter ambiance. I have to ring banks today to make an appointment to organise a mortgage which is really scary.
We had a nice long weekend, it was very strange though without our K, she should be back tomorrow and I have missed her more than I thought I would. We still had our traditional Easter egg hunt, which was great, but it would have been better with K here. L seems a bit lost with out her big sister here, but shes been taken out with her godparents twice which she really loved. It left us down to just O which was really different too....
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Hmm I'm interested in the heat pump option because my initial reaction is that it is not a very environmentally friendly option - but I don't know if that is actually the case or not when all the facts are taken into account!
Usually the best option is to invest money into energy saving features before investing in any energy generation (or transfer if you prefer) technology - eg better wall or loft/roof insulation, better windows. But I'm not precisely how that adds up in the NZ climate.
"...not precisely sure how..." that should read
heat pumps seem to be the most cost efficient form of heating, we are also looking at insulating the house as well. but it currently only has an open fire which isnt efficient at all.
most of nz's electricity is made from renewable resources so its possibly not as bad to be using as in other countries...
True, NZ generation is predominantly from hydro. However, I'm not sure that is still as sustainable as traditionally seen to be - been quite a few years of shortages and low water levels I seem to recall. Still definitely seems better than nuclear and/or coal.
In terms of forms of heating, one issue with heat pumps and the like is that you are heating the air not the space as such. This means that as soon as a window or door is opened all the hot air is lost and you need to put new heat / hot air in = high energy use. With radiant forms of heating (radiators typically, underfloor heating also though and some other forms) the air isn't heated so much (although still a little) but rather the space is heated. This means that although the air temperature is lower, the space feels warm to be in and typically more comfortable. (Imagine being outside in the warm radiation of the sun while there is still a pleasantly cool breeze.) It also means opening a window or door doesn't have such a great effect. However, radiant heating does work best within a well insulated building! But then again, if the building isn't well insulated any form of heating is going to be expensive as the heat will just leak out!
Of course there are a number of other factor involved also and it is never a simple equation. In the end it needs to be within your own means and practical for your use.
We also now have more windfarms around, there are at least 3 here in Palmy, which is good for sustainable electricity production.
We are thinking that a wood pellet fire would be a good option, its easier for me to look after than a wood burner but just as efficient, and gives radiant heat that you talk about.
there area few schemes in place for insulating houses that give rebates or do it for free if you are low income, we will look into these as the house has some roofing insulation but it definitely needs some underfloor too.
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