environment and garden patio heaters
Patio heaters and the environment
There are estimates that put the number of garden patio heaters in use in the United Kingdom in the millions. This is a huge number of outdoor patio heaters whose job it is to basically warm the open air. This incurs huge energy use and is something that environment groups and people concerned about climate change are against. So is it really responsible to use outdoor garden patio heaters at all? Many people and now-a-days some companies too feel that it is not. As they are in open spaces the heat that they produce has practically zero insulation so in effect is just sending the heat out into the atmosphere. And to actually make them feel like they are warm, they have to consume serious quantities of electricity or gas depending upon what type they use.
According to a report in the Guardian newspaper in 2008, the homeware and DIY store chain B&Q pledged to stop selling outdoor patio heaters once their current stock ran out. This was predicted to be sometime in 2008. The reason for this decision was to do with them wanting to become a more environmentally responsible retailer. This may well make business sense for them as consumers are turning in large numbers towards more ethical and environmentally responsible producers and retailers. So while there will certainly be a loss in revenue from no longer stocking these patio heaters, they may well be able to make up this money in other ways.
Undoing your environmental effort by using a garden patio heater
Many of us these days are much more environmentally conscious than we have been in the past. Not only this but many of us are now taking concrete steps to make our own lives greener. This may involve things such as recycling beer cans, turning the thermostat down and using energy saving light bulbs. These are all great things that help to reduce the amount of energy that we consume as human beings. However if we then go out and purchase our own garden patio heaters this is kind of like walking to work all year instead of taking the car but then deciding to buy a round the world plane ticket. Sure we save energy on one hand but we then go out and literally burn more with the other. So there are some garden appliances like these outdoor heat devices that do consume vast amounts of energy and may be considered by some to be superfluous household accessories. So before we decide on the purchase of a garden patio heater we must carefully consider whether this is the right thing to do. Of course there are plenty of people who simply either do not care so much or are unaware of the environmental cost of outdoor garden heaters. However by raising people's awareness of the issues surrounding the use of patio heating equipment it may become possible to lessen their use. This will then impact the amount of energy overall that is consumed by these devices.
Garden patio heater alternatives
One simple option to consider instead of using patio heaters for warmth is to simply put on an extra layer of clothing. Surveys have shown that the summer months are the times when outdoor patio heaters are used most. This implies that people are simply using them to try and extend their evenings and may well still be wearing summer dress. So rather than trying to keep warm by turning on an electrical patio heater, it may be a better option, certainly is a better option as far as the environment is concerned, to simply put on a shirt, cardigan, sweatshirt, or something else to keep you a bit hotter. Failing that, you could also just call it a night and go inside.