Down a Degree – to ensure energy for us all

During the campaign, this page will be used to collect timely, useful tips and monitor the results of both Heka’s energy conservation measures and the campaign. We will also be using this page to provide information about any instructions and regulations regarding energy consumption issued by the authorities.

Heka’s results and lessons learned from the Down a Degree campaign

The national Down a Degree campaign, launched in October, has ended for now. Heka participated in the campaign with actions that could be seen in a variety of ways in our tenants’ everyday life. These actions yielded results, too: the consumption of electricity, heating energy and water decreased. Of course, energy conservation remains important even after the campaign has ended and the worst energy crisis has passed, and over the course of the campaign, we learned useful lessons and came up with ideas for more energy-efficient living and housing.

Between October and April, electricity consumption in Heka buildings decreased by 2%, heating energy consumption by roughly 4.5% and water consumption by nearly 3% from the previous year. The energy consumption figure only includes electricity used in the maintenance of Heka buildings. By contrast, Heka tenants also contributed to the decrease in heating energy and water consumption through their own conservation actions.

The campaign was seen in Heka buildings

The campaign could be seen in Heka buildings in a variety of ways. We posted five-language energy conservation tip posters on bulletin boards and encouraged our tenants to save energy via channels such as social media, the Hima magazine and our newsletter. We lowered the target indoor temperature of our apartments from 21 to 20 degrees in all buildings in which this was possible. We condensed sauna reservations, lowered the sauna temperature and cancelled the traditional Christmas sauna in many buildings as per the decision of the building committee. Moreover, we began performing inspection rounds to ensure that the technical systems of our buildings function correctly. We also inspected the ventilation systems of buildings, adjusting the appropriateness and duration of mechanical ventilation times. We will continue inspecting the technical systems of our buildings even after the campaign.

Once the campaign ends, the target temperature of our apartments will be reverted back to 21 degrees. The condensed sauna reservations will remain in effect. Going forward, the sauna temperature will be 70–80 degrees.

Data steering towards energy efficiency

The significance of data was highlighted during the campaign: the more detailed the information we have on the operation of the technical systems of our buildings is, the better we can ensure their operation at an optimally efficient level. We are planning to continue our inspections on technical systems.

There is plenty of energy conservation potential in the collection and utilisation of data. The next important step is to increase the amount and quality of measurement data. In the autumn of 2022, we introduced our new energy management system, Enerkey, which enables us to monitor building-specific consumption rates at the hourly level, among other things. In our data analyses, we utilise the possibilities of artificial intelligence.

We received plenty of good energy saving ideas and tips during the campaign. Thank you all for them! In addition to data, the activity, development ideas and observations of our tenants and employees play an important role as we develop our operations to make them even more energy-efficient.

Schedule your electricity consumption outside of the peak consumption hours

Nationally, there are two peaks in electricity use on weekdays: in the morning between 8:00 and 10:00 and in the early evening between 16:00 and 20:00 with peak consumption often occurring between 16:00 and 17:00 and 19:00 and 20:00.

• Try to balance out your electricity use and shift your use away from times of peak demand, especially for high-consumption appliances. Avoid unnecessary electricity consumption. 
• Adopt new device uptimes and timer functions in your everyday life. 
• Charge electronic devices and batteries before or after peak hours of use.
• Always switch off all electrical appliances and unplug charging cables that you are not using.
• Alternate between high-consumption electrical appliances, such as the electric sauna stove, water heater and oven and comfort underfloor heater in the bathroom.

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Quicker showers: Conserve hot water

 

Heating water takes a lot of energy and most of domestic hot water is used for washing. 

Here are some simple tips on how to save warm water at home. 

• Take shorter showers.
• Avoid running the taps unnecessarily. Turn off the shower while applying soap.
• Check the taps and shower heads. If you notice a leak, submit a defect notification.
• Reduce the number of times you wash your hair, if possible. You don't have to wash your hair every day.
• Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth.
• Change your routine and teach children and young people how to shower sparingly.

Ensure adequate ventilation of the premises. Long showers increase the moisture load in the bathroom, which requires heat and improved ventilation to compensate – and uses more energy.

You should also save singing performances outside of the shower.

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The Down a Degree campaing

The Down a Degree campaign will be visible at our buildings and service locations and through the Ekoekspertti and other communications channels. The campaign is organised by Motiva, the Energy Authority, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of the Environment and Sitra.

For more information, please visit the campaign website.

How residents can participate in the campaign?

Do at least these:

• Quicker showers: Conserve hot water.
• Do not cover radiators and thermostats: doing so prevents them from functioning.
• A quick airing is enough! Do not leave windows open.
• Report any defects that waste energy.
• Turn off unnecessary lights and electrical appliances and unplug unused devices.

Do you have a good energy saving tip in mind? Submit your own energy-saving tip and you could win movie tickets. We reward the two best tips every month with a movie ticket package (2 tickets/per package).

Send your own energy saving tip here.

We publish the best tips on this website and on Heka's social media channels.

How is Heka participating in the campaign?

We are encouraging all tenants to conserve energy.

We are encouraging our entire staff to identify places where energy could potentially be conserved and come up with new ways of conserving energy while carrying out their everyday tasks.  

We are lowering the target temperature of apartments from 21 to 20 degrees.

• If your apartment is feeling noticeably cold, please submit a defect notification via the Resident Portal or Heka’s website.

We are reviewing the functioning of our buildings’ technical system.

• We will be organising a round of inspections for ensuring that our technical systems are in good working order: during the round, we will inspect all locations equipped with heat recovery or exhaust air heat pumps and solar panels.
• We will also be inspecting the ventilation of each building for the purpose of determining the appropriateness of periods of increased ventilation and adjusting them, if necessary.

We are mapping the lights of outdoor and shared facilities to determine whether it would be possible to bring forward the goal of replacing all lights with LEDs by the end of 2025.

We are reviewing the temperatures of basement and storage facilities. 

• If necessary, we will be adjusting the temperatures of these facilities, with the new target temperature being 17 degrees. 

Heka runs energy-efficiently and on renewable energy

Heka works determinedly to reduce the energy consumption of our properties. All new buildings completed are energy class A. In renovations, we aim to improve the energy efficiency by at least 32 per cent for blocks of flats and 36 per cent for terraced houses compared to the year of completion. We are installing heat recovery systems to significantly reduce energy loss. New and renovated properties will always get a solar power plant when it is technically possible, as well as geothermal heating if it is possible and viable. Our goal is carbon-neutral energy consumption by the year 2030.

The electricity used for Heka’s properties is produced by renewable energy sources. Our properties’ gas stoves use biogas made from organic materials, such as biowaste. The electricity and biogas Heka purchases are not produced in Russia.

Electricity purchased by Heka is used for, among other things, yard and stairwell lighting, electrical outlets for car heaters and joint saunas and laundry rooms. Our residents purchase their home electricity from a provider of their choice with their own electricity contract.