Make an impact!

This workout has increased your energy awareness and improved your home’s energy efficiency. Once you have your own house in order, you can start promoting energy-related issues also outside your own walls. This chapter focuses on energy advocacy in housing companies.

You can influence the energy issues in your housing company. The most direct way is by joining the board or the residents’ committee of your housing company. But there are other ways to make a difference, too! Every housing company is certain to benefit from active residents who care about the building they live in. 

First of all: your housing habits affect not only your personal emissions, but also the emissions of your housing company. Keeping an eye on your own energy consumption and reporting any faults and deficiencies help keep the building in good condition. The amount of energy used by the housing company affects the company’s expenses, and therefore also the rent level and maintenance charges. When residents change their housing habits, the housing company can achieve energy savings of up to 10% without having to do any energy renovation.

Reporting problems is important. As a rule, you should report all energy-related problems and changes first to the housing company’s board and the property management. They will take the matter forward. You should only report acute problems, such as water leaks and other emergencies, to the maintenance company. The maintenance company will do what they are asked to, but information about the repairs will not necessarily reach the housing company’s board and the property management. The board and property management should stay up-to-date on what kind of maintenance work has been done, so that they can make plans for the long-term maintenance of the building.

Residents can also participate in the housing company’s decision-making processes through various resident activities, for example. After the Climate Workout, you can take the course Energiaviestintä (in Finnish), which will give you communications-related ideas on how to influence the energy efficiency of your house.

Another important way to make a difference is to get to know your neighbours and discuss issues related to the building together: perhaps several other residents have also considered switching to geothermal heating or solar panels? Making an impact is easier together.

By being an active shareholder in your housing company, you can influence how the company is managed and which energy efficiency solutions are chosen.

The best way to influence matters is to participate in the housing company’s board’s activities, where matters concerning the company are prepared and brought to the shareholders’ meeting for decision.

Even if you think that board work is not your thing, your contribution still matters. By participating in shareholders’ meetings, you influence the direction and timetable of the housing company when it comes to energy efficiency issues, for example.

The temperatures in the common areas of the building, such as the stairwells, can often be lowered considerably, which also affects the comfort of living. The temperature in the stairwells should not exceed 17 °C. For storage rooms, 12 °C is enough, and as little as 5 °C is sufficient for garages.  You can ask the housing company to look into the temperature of the stairwells in the winter and have the radiator thermostats adjusted to keep the temperature low enough. Do not adjust the stairwell thermostats yourself. 

Housing company’s sauna: overheating the sauna does not make the sauna experience any better, 70–80 °C is enough. The arrangements for sauna slots are also worth examining. It is better to keep the sauna warm a couple of days a week and for a longer period of time than to heat it several times a week for shorter periods.  

Having an unnecessarily high flow rate in the water taps consumes energy and is bad for the plumbing. If water gushes out with pressure every time you turn on the tap and you hear a bang when you turn it off, the water pressure in the pipes may be too high. Ask your property manager to check the water pressure. The pressure in the pipes can be adjusted to a proper level by installing a constant pressure valve in the building. There are also various water-saving nozzles available for water taps, which can be used to reduce the flow rate even when the water pressure is suitable. 

Apartment-specific water meters can be used to achieve significant savings, since they allow water consumption to be billed according to apartment-specific consumption.  This way, everyone pays according to their own consumption, motivating them to save water. This is why installing meters is mandatory when repairing the plumbing. Apartment-specific monitors should also be installed during renovation, as they allow residents to easily monitor their daily water consumption. The meters should be remotely readable, as this makes billing easier. 

If this got you interested in energy advocacy in your housing company, you should take the course Taloyhtiön energiaekspertti (in Finnish) next.