Dave Southgate is roasting in his cold Canberra home and is not paying any electricity bills.
A USB rechargeable warmer vest, worn under a sweater, and a heated scarf around your neck provide all the warmth you need. His heat-loving wife prefers an electrically heated seat. They have electric rugs on the couch.
A fellow cyclist wears heated socks, Southgate says, while hand warmers, whether disposable heat packs that use a chemical reaction to give about 10 hours of warmth or battery-powered gloves, are excellent at the pockets for going out on the street and in bed instead of a traditional hot water bottle.
“They’re using all of Bugger’s energy,” he says. “And you can warm up really well.”
Australia is in the midst of an energy crisis, a wider cost of living crisis and an unusually bitter cold in much of the country.
Google’s data shows that searches for “heated blankets” and “heated socks” have skyrocketed in their highest rates in the past two weeks. In recent years, the range of personal heating appliances available has also increased, usually with small filaments threaded through fabrics.
Do you want to allow Google content?
This article includes content provided by Google. We ask for your permission before uploading anything, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click “Allow and continue”.
Do you want to allow Google content?
This article includes content provided by Google. We ask for your permission before uploading anything, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. To view this content, click “Allow and continue”.
There are application-controlled “body ovens” that can be tied to the limbs or torso. Fashionable warm scarves come in a colorful rainbow with cheerful bows.
Remotely controlled insoles offer three levels of heating inside the shoes. The chemists sell cheap, disposable hand warmers, while a heated computer mouse will push you back a little further (and only help one hand at a time).
There are waist warmers that sit on your hips like corsets or fluffy pink bulges with rabbit tails attached and heated retrofuturistic backs.
Heated waist and shoulder warmers from Ozsale, Zarkie and Japan Trend Shop. Composition: Ozsale / Zarkie / Japan Trend Shop
Southgate, 74, describes himself as a “frustrated climate change bureaucrat,” who has been documenting his family’s transition away from fossil fuels for about a decade.
Solar panels now provide more than enough energy for the family home. He began by sealing the house from any drafts and installing energy-efficient infrared panels.
“Then we started wondering why we heat all the air?” Southgate says. “What good is a web site if it simply” blends in “with everything else out there?
So she started experimenting with personal heating devices and landed on her favorite outfit.
“My wife is from Malaysia, she wants very hot things. The heated seat is a big favorite, “he says.
“We left the hot water bottle for the heated hand warmers: they last all night and on a cold day … I’ll put them in my pockets.”
There are more conventional items, of course, such as Oodies and hats. Sometimes your child is engaged in the fan heater, but there is no fight for a thermostat.
“With personal heating, you can choose whatever you want,” says Southgate.
From left: a heated mouse pad and gloves, both from Amazon; Zarkie Composite Heated Socks: Amazon / Zarkie
Alan Pears, a senior member of the industry at RMIT, says he worked in a retirement home where half the people complained that it was too cold and the other half complained that it was too hot.
“So we offered heated rugs to those who felt cold,” he says. “They loved them.”
A lot of people don’t really understand the use of heating and energy, he says, there’s a particularly broad misunderstanding that small heaters are cheap. But even though they are cheap to buy, reverse cycle air conditioning in heating mode is much more energy efficient.
But a heated carpet only uses about as much energy as a light balloon, he says (the old ones, not the LEDs).
“With personal heating devices, you can be cozy and use much less energy than trying to heat a room.”
Chris Barnes, Choice Home Expert, points to research that found that Australians are more likely to die of cold than Swedes because Swedes are better prepared; while UNSW researcher Philip Oldfield wrote this week that Australian homes are closer to tents than modern green homes.
Barnes agrees, calling them “glorified tents.”
It shouldn’t cost much to build a more thermally efficient house, says Barnes. Using a candle to detect drafts, snakes on doors to stop them, and even wrapping bubbles to trap air against windows can help, he says. You can even have a ceiling fan with a “winter” switch, which will help push the warmer air down.
“Right now, with terrible electricity prices and so on, it’s obviously important to reduce the amount of energy we use as much as possible and get the maximum value possible,” he says.
From the left: a heated bed for Pet Circle dogs, a heated hat from Amazon, and an electric avocado-shaped hand warmer from Azau Composite: Azau / Pet circle / Amazon
Barnes reiterates the point that it is cheaper to heat a human than a house. But be careful when using products such as electric blankets and heaters. It is always worth checking if there has been any removal of products for defective goods to prevent home fires or electrocution.
Plug-in electric blankets carry particular safety hazards, Barnes warns, as the wiring can wear out over time, especially when stored together. “So if you have an older one, it’s worth replacing,” he says.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also warns of the damage that heaters can cause when they are removed from storage, used on top of each other or with other electrical products.
Damaged electric blankets, for example, can cause a fire or electric shock.
Even basic wheat packages or hot water bottles can cause severe burns, and battery-powered heated socks have been removed in the U.S. after malfunctioning and causing mild burns.
Southgate says it would not allow children to use heaters and great care should be taken with the elderly, who may not realize that they are overheating.
But her family is welcoming, has reduced her carbon footprint and has had no electricity bill for “a few years”.
“It can be done,” he says, adding that people can start small by lowering the thermostat just a couple of degrees and figuring out how to do it.
“You don’t have to go to the cold turkey.”