Heating: The World Health Organization recommends a minimum indoor temperature of 18°C, and ideally higher if babies, vulnerable, or elderly people live in the home. New Zealand homes regularly fall outside this comfort zone with consequent health implications. A healthy home should have some form of fixed heating in the main living room and ideally some form of heating in each of the bedrooms.
Why having a well-heated home is important
A disturbing number of homes in New Zealand have no form of heating at all and this is one of the main reasons for New Zealand’s internationally high rates of hospitalisations for respiratory disease.
Electric resistance heaters are the most common form of space heating in New Zealand, but these are expensive to run for long periods of time (particularly in the main living space). These electric heaters may be acceptable in smaller living rooms (they have to be fixed to the building to meet both HomeFit and the Healthy Homes Standards), but more energy efficient heating types are available and either heat pumps or clean-burning wood stoves or pellet burners are recommended by HomeFit.