The days are getting shorter and the nights colder. After a long late summer, autumn seems to have finally arrived. For some people, these are weather conditions they are not looking forward to. Helmond resident Joop Martinali (80) has no problem with it and does not fear a high energy bill with the winter approaching. He swears by his electrically heated pants that he bought last year.
“I had a 1,300 euro lower energy bill last year!”, Joop says proudly. “My bill was about 250 euros. It could also be a little less.”
“I need to be warm, not my furniture.”
His secret? He turns the heating down at home – about 17 degrees – and only warms his body.
The 80-year-old Helmond has been particularly interested in sustainable energy for some time. He reads all kinds of books and goes to meetings about the transition to sustainable energy. He noted last year that it takes a lot of energy to keep your home comfortable in the autumn. “I need to be warm, not my furniture,” he realized. “Heating the entire house is not really efficient.”
Joop then went looking for stores that sell electrically heated clothes. “It is the same technology we know from electric blankets for people who are cold in bed.”
“I put my pants on and then I found myself with a wind chill of 22 degrees again!”
In the Netherlands those clothes are very expensive. “Heated trousers cost 150 to 200 euros here.” That’s why he ordered one from China, for a third of the Dutch price. “You just don’t get a power bank, but they aren’t that expensive here.”
Due to the late summer, Joop has hardly needed his heated pants lately. “It was still 21, 22 degrees in mid-October.” But when the temperature recently dropped seriously, he immediately put the pants back on. “Then I suddenly felt a bit cold in the evening. Then I wore those pants for an hour and a half turned on. I carry the battery of those pants with me. Switch on, switch off and then I was back at a perceived temperature of 22 degrees!”
“I only heat the entire room when visitors come.”
“Look, I’m single,” De Helmonder explains. “I assume that only my body needs to be heated. So the doorknob here at home is just cold. I only heat the entire room when visitors come. Then the visitors have to let them know in advance, then I set an hour from Turn on the heating beforehand. When the visitors have left, I turn it down again.”
He doesn’t know how long he can last with the electrically heated pants. “But it’s working perfectly so far.” Laughing: “A lot of people question things that come from the East, but I prove the opposite!”
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