£352 billion to convert UK homes to Heat Pumps

Redwurzel said:
Of course no one has mentioned where all the new electricity will come from - the new pumps will be fighting new very large demand from EVs for our limited electricity supply.

I agree we must reduce our carbon output, but the policy now seems to eradicate carbon completely and worry about having major shortages of electricity in the future.
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Even the treasury haven't got any idea or anything in writing as to how much this race to carbon zero will cost the taxpayer.
 
Now covid is on the back burner and the need for PPE and hand 🤚 sanitiser is diminishing , we need a new scheme to line the pockets of Boris mates..

How else will he get his holidays paid and Downing Street redecorated.. I mean how is he expected do all this on his salary???
 
When I lived and worked in Norway for a year, the Norwegians couldn't believe new British homes were heated using gas. Their homes are ultra-insulated and there's no need for gas.
 
Its not always sunny or windy in this country and bulk electricity is very expensive and difficult to store for medium to long periods. Very little is stored in bulk at present. Most people don't want a wind turbine close to their property, although quite happy for them to near other people's houses. Most of the land based sites have been developed.

Tidal has been talked about for 50 years, but there doesn't seem to any commercial progress yet.

Hydrothermal isn't that for countries that are on the edge of tectonic plates i.e. not UK.

I can see decent progress on renewables but not enough to replace all the oil, natural gas, coal, Pre 1992 nuclear stations, by say 2040.

There needs to radical actions on new homes to make them make them completely carbon neutral. 240,000 new homes a year would over 15 years make 3.60m carbon neutral by 2036.
 
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Lot of passive heating going on over here too now, although we do get the weather for it.

We are in the process of building. The house is single storey, on an insulated concrete platform, double glazed and fully insulated. Should hopefully provide warmth from the concrete mass for a few days if the sun goes in, and then we'll use the wood burner and heat pump, which will drive the CH.
 
The cheapest way forward is fleece jumpers or “Men only” adjustable thermostats. Just taking my jumper off now. Sweating again!
 
You shouldnt need to, but then it depends on the temp and humidity.

It gets seriously hot here in Summer, and they have a heat range index. It's not unusual to see it in the high numbers, which basically is no work outside unless you have to.
Normally happens between 2 and 5 in the afternoon.
 
I'd like to do this, but as another poster said, the tech moves forward so quickly, I think I'll wait a few more years until the costs come down. If my electricity generation is powered by gas, I'd rather wait until I'm in a position to be able to help generate my own with wind and solar at home to offset some of the that CO2 before I plump for redoing my entire house.
 
No
Redwurzel said:
Its not always sunny or windy in this country and bulk electricity is very expensive and difficult to store for medium to long periods. Very little is stored in bulk at present. Most people don't want a wind turbine close to their property, although quite happy for them to near other people's houses. Most of the land based sites have been developed.

Tidal has been talked about for 50 years, but there doesn't seem to any commercial progress yet.

Hydrothermal isn't that for countries that are on the edge of tectonic plates i.e. not UK.

I can see decent progress on renewables but not enough to replace all the oil, natural gas, coal, Pre 1992 nuclear stations, by say 2040.

There needs to radical actions on new homes to make them make them completely carbon neutral. 240,000 new homes a year would over 15 years make 3.60m carbon neutral by 2036.
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Norway is 100% renewable and the vast majority is tidal. So it does work.
 
BaronSmoggie said:
I'd like to do this, but as another poster said, the tech moves forward so quickly, I think I'll wait a few more years until the costs come down. If my electricity generation is powered by gas, I'd rather wait until I'm in a position to be able to help generate my own with wind and solar at home to offset some of the that CO2 before I plump for redoing my entire house.
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This is a salient point. Buying a heatpump in the UK doesn't actually stop us using gas at all
 
The_Big_Woodowski said:
That’s still over 20years payback, before you factor in inflation, services etc. What is the life span of one of those? All well and good but for the vast majority it had to be both financially viable and green.

Until you hit that sweet spot the vast majority will go with the cheaper option, that is familiar
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agreed, but I guess the more of these are fitted, the cheaper production and fitting costs will become. IT's so expensive because in this country its still a very niche product.

At the same time new gas boiler costs will increase.

The third point is as gas costs continue to rise, the yearly savings will increase.

Give it 10 years and maybe the equiv cost of a new gas boiler will be 3k, the cost of a new heat pump will drop to 8k, and the yearly savings will be £1k, giving you a 5 year break even.
 
Redwurzel said:
Yes, house insulation should be maxed up - I would offer free loft, wall, door insulation. Most houses that can off it must have it by now.

Faced with £12,000 pumps - wall mounted electric heaters and electric boilers are going to popular.

I heard solar panels were a lot cheaper than say 15 years ago and it must be cheaper for a housebuilder to buy them and fit them then the householder to go out and have them fitted years later. I understand there are environmental issues with their production and disposal, but it appears burning carbon is our biggest environmental problem at present with regard climate change.

I know this is not going to be popular but I would increase VAT on energy to say 10% and use the cash raised for carbon reduction projects. Sometime a higher bill is a push needed, with low income groups protected with warmfront and free insulation type schemes.
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There is already a carbon levy applied to electricity
 
I am looking at the possibility of installing a decent 4kw solar panel system on my roof with battery storage.
This could enable me to heat individual rooms with oil filled electric radiators.
Also replace electric shower with mixer shower.
Also charge electric car on the drive when I eventually get one.
Am I missing something ?
 
Borothruandthru said:
I am looking at the possibility of installing a decent 4kw solar panel system on my roof with battery storage.
This could enable me to heat individual rooms with oil filled electric radiators.
Also replace electric shower with mixer shower.
Also charge electric car on the drive when I eventually get one.
Am I missing something ?
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You can also sell electricity back to the grid
 
When this ramps up prices are likly to drop for the pump, compressor and fan etc. However the largest cost is the use of the drilling rigs liners and labour for drilling the geo thermal boreholes to begin with. So costs may drop a grand or so over time but even with a 5k per property subsidy its still going to leave another 5-12k to pay per property. I cant see it taking off anytime soon when everyones budgets are being hammered by rising costs elsewhere on pretty much everything. Landlords certainly wont be rushing out to pay for them.
 
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