Have cold temperatures already knocked on your door? In fact, they continue to be above the seasonal average. Despite this, however, since last October 15, the law provides for the possibility of turning on the heating in over half of the 8 Italian municipalities, i.e. those belonging to the so-called climatic zone E, which includes the cities of Milan, Bologna, Turin and Venice, but also mountain areas of the peninsula where the climate is notoriously harsher.
Within this area the heating will remain on until 14 April 2020. Zone F, the coldest, includes only the provinces of Trento, Belluno and Cuneo and does not provide for any specific period for the heating to be switched on.
Zone D running from Genoa, Florence, Rome, Foggia, Caltanissetta, Nuoro, Vibo Valentia saw the heating turn on last November 1st, with shutdown scheduled for April 14th 2020.
Zone C is preparing for the next switch-on scheduled for November 15th and will remain active until March 31st 2020. The cities that make up this area are, among others, Naples, Bari, Cagliari and Ragusa.
Heating zone B of Reggio Calabria, Crotone, Trapani, Syracuse, Palermo, Messina, Catania and Agrigento will turn on the heating from 1 December to 31 March 2020, while zone A, the warmest, which includes only the municipalities of Lampedusa, Linosa and Porto Empedocle comply with the rules of zone B.
To protect the environment and save on bills, Aeneas, the public body that operates in the fields of energy, the environment and new technologies, has drafted a decalogue that proposes a series of practices to heat your home and avoid unnecessary waste and penalties.
Maintenance of the systems, control of the temperatures of each room and attention to the switching on times of the heating are the three golden rules drawn up by Aeneas. In fact, it is superfluous to leave the radiators on during the day when the parents are at work, the children at school and nobody is home. The legislation allows temperatures up to 22 degrees to be kept in homes, but 19 degrees are more than enough to guarantee the necessary comfort, according to Enea. Each additional degree involves significant energy consumption, with a consequent increase in the bill.
It's the same a waste to keep the heating on late in the evening or during the night when under the covers. In an efficient home, the heat that the structures accumulate when the system is in operation guarantees a heated environment even when it is switched off. The maximum daily switch-on time varies by law according to the 6 climatic zones into which Italy is divided: from a maximum of 14 hours per day for systems in zone E which includes the north and the mountainous areas to 8 hours in zone B which includes the coastal strips of Southern Italy.
The other tips from Aeneas' decalogue are: shield the windows during the night, avoid obstacles in front of and above the radiators and don't leave the windows open for long, check the condition of the building, use innovative heating systems, evaluate the replacement of the old boiler with new heat generators with higher efficiency, regulate the temperature, use thermostatic valves.
