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Post by Tim on Sept 5, 2019 8:12:49 GMT
There was an interesting bit in one of the car mags that said an electric Golf needs to travel 77k miles to make up for its front-loaded emissions cost (i.e. including production) compared with a normal diesel Golf.
I suspect that most of these electric cars are taken on 3 year, 10k miles p.a. types of deal and the eco warriors that take them are smug in the delusion that they're saving the planet whereas that would only be the case if they actually kept the car, complete with its original batteries, for a much longer time and greater mileage.
It's not likely to be well publicised though, is it.
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Post by johnc on Sept 5, 2019 9:18:10 GMT
Even in the dead of winter I can't wear more than a shirt to my Mother in Law's. It is so warm it makes me feel ill after a few hours.
I'd love nothing more than to be able to get a ground source heat pump and solar panels to give me free energy (albeit at a considerable upfront cost)
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Post by PG on Sept 5, 2019 10:17:47 GMT
......... Population expansion is indeed the biggest single issue. That was clear on the "war against plastic" program where despite ever increasing recycling levels production of plastic is set to go through the roof. Also for me the wide disparity between different countries responses is not acceptable. It was clear in Canada a couple of weeks ago that they don't give half a toss there about CO2 compared to Europe. Industrial practices in much of the third world are horrifically damaging to the environment, and it's not good enough to say "the West did it 100 years ago" because the issue was not known then. Focusing on the car alone is just narrow minded folly by people with chips on their shoulder about other things. Ah, population expansion, The elephant in the room that is constantly growing, but that we are not allowed to talk about. People cause pollution. It does not cause itself.
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Post by johnc on Sept 5, 2019 11:20:38 GMT
Maybe China was well ahead of the rest of the world with its one child policy. I know someone of a certain religion who has 8 children and if they all turn out like the parents god help us. Time for some action that would really help the world instead of the petty changes Politicians want in the UK which will have zero impact in the whole world position but will significantly reduce our competitiveness and increase our costs.
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Post by Tim on Sept 5, 2019 12:27:44 GMT
I'd love nothing more than to be able to get a ground source heat pump and solar panels to give me free energy (albeit at a considerable upfront cost) We looked at a house earlier in the year that had a ground source heat pump, solar panels, a wind turbine and a heat exchanger (that sits in the attic, draws in fresh air and then blows it out through vents in the roof into the rooms having warmed it). It also had a multi-fuel fire in the living room and the GSHP was linked to under floor heating. It was also fully insulated. According to the home report all of this failed to lead to free energy with an annual expected power cost of around £2,500! This would apparently fall to £1,800 a year with some floor insulation (meaning ripping up the carpets, etc throughout the house), solar water heating and zone control for the heating. Total cost of improvements another £13k. The ground source heat pump and turbine need annual maintenance.
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Post by johnc on Sept 5, 2019 12:39:59 GMT
I'd love nothing more than to be able to get a ground source heat pump and solar panels to give me free energy (albeit at a considerable upfront cost) We looked at a house earlier in the year that had a ground source heat pump, solar panels, a wind turbine and a heat exchanger (that sits in the attic, draws in fresh air and then blows it out through vents in the roof into the rooms having warmed it). It also had a multi-fuel fire in the living room and the GSHP was linked to under floor heating. It was also fully insulated. According to the home report all of this failed to lead to free energy with an annual expected power cost of around £2,500! This would apparently fall to £1,800 a year with some floor insulation (meaning ripping up the carpets, etc throughout the house), solar water heating and zone control for the heating. Total cost of improvements another £13k. The ground source heat pump and turbine need annual maintenance. Typical surveyors covering their backs. All our heat and light costs less than £2,500 a year and I have no solar or other eco solution. I also need to get the boiler serviced each year but I can't see a GSHP costing massively more for a once a year quick look over. Was it a castle you were looking at?
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Post by Tim on Sept 5, 2019 12:42:47 GMT
Nearly!
It was a 4 bed cottage halfway up a hill a couple of miles West of Cupar. It may be that the owner's Toyota Auris Hybrid was a plug-in version thus accounting for the energy costs.
I've got a copy of the home report if it's of any interest?
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Post by PG on Sept 5, 2019 12:50:35 GMT
The only people we know with a ground source heat pump system plus solar panels - in a 4 bedroom house plus a granny annex - have tiny electricity bills compared to ours. So I think your surveyor must be wide of the mark.
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Post by johnc on Sept 5, 2019 12:53:30 GMT
Nearly! It was a 4 bed cottage halfway up a hill a couple of miles West of Cupar. It may be that the owner's Toyota Auris Hybrid was a plug-in version thus accounting for the energy costs. I've got a copy of the home report if it's of any interest? Just shows the costs of an electric car are higher than advertised! No need for the home report - my wife would just get excited if she saw it!
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Post by Tim on Sept 5, 2019 13:06:12 GMT
The only people we know with a ground source heat pump system plus solar panels - in a 4 bedroom house plus a granny annex - have tiny electricity bills compared to ours. So I think your surveyor must be wide of the mark. One of my mates moved to a new build outside Aberdeen and he's been paying a fortune due to some issue with his ground source heat pump. John, the house was on the market in March so your wallet would be safe enough, however I've always found that once you start looking at houses you're inevitably going to be moving!
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Post by LandieMark on Sept 5, 2019 13:21:03 GMT
Coincidentally, I'm in the middle of replacing our ancient multifuel stove with a 30KW boiler stove. The old one had a homemade boiler that gave us hot, but brown hot water. This failed over the summer (thankfully only a small drip) so needed replacing.
The tank has been replaced by a thermal store which is also going to heat the radiators over the winter. I'm hoping it will cut down massively on oil consumption as the old stove didn't do the heating and we have the stove going pretty much 24/7 over the winter in any case.
I don't bother having my oil boiler serviced. It's fairly ancient and has nothing on it to service other than cleaning the combustion chamber out and hammering the baffles back into shape which I do myself.
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