The cost of living... what can we do?

With respect though, I don't think you're comparing like for like.

Your grandmother's will have come from a much tougher generation of people compared to today. Even as relatively recently as the 1980s when I was a kid, houses were freezing in winter, and even those 'rich' enough to have central heating installed in their freezing little terraced ice boxes typically ran it on a timer for only a couple or so hours per day. Nowadays it seems if we can't maintain tropical temperature 247 throughout the whole house, we consider ourselves hard done by.

 

The quicker governments push decarbonising targets, the more likely we will see blackouts. We are not ready yet, the infrastructure is strained enough as it is. I actually believe these so called blackouts are to encourage us to change our habits on energy consumption.

Climate change: Welsh green energy hindered by 'strained' grid capacity - BBC News

Norway Proves Our Electrification Strategy Is Doomed To Disaster | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT (wordpress.com)

 

You might be right. But, if the government doesn't push for decarbonisation (I don't believe they really are but that's a different topic), then it will never happen.

We've known about climate change for decades, and done nothing. Everyone talks the talk but very few walk the walk.

As much as I have zero respect for the current government, I do believe that it's a bit much to expect them to have a detailed plan. There are plenty of companies with the resources and expertise to make things happen. Sometimes I think it's right for the leaders to effectively say, just get it done, and let other more expert people figure out how.

 

pm.

I'm running one radiator during the day, and that gets turned off if the sun comes out, I do put more heating on in the early morning and in the evenings.
But the whole lot goes off at 9pm

 

Personally I dont understand what they are trying to achieve.
On the one hand they want us to go all electric, cars, heat pumps etc.
On the other hand they are telling us to cutback on energy use or get cut off.

I think they are painting themselves into a corner and with any luck disappear up their own arseholes.

 

The benefit of electric is electricity CAN be produced cleanly. Hydro, wind, solar and tidal (I cannot get my head around nuclear being considered clean). Gas or solid fuel can never be clean, not with current technologies.

 

I see the need for clean energy but if you cant produce enough you have to wait until you can, not rush headlong into some massive energy crisis that will take us back years.

We are being robbed, with high prices, all in the name of being green, something no other generation has been faced with.
They are trying to alter generations of dirty energy in 25 yrs or so, it cant be done.

 

That depends on the source. Wind power gives carbon footprint of between 11-14 grams c02/kWh second only to Nuclear that is supposed to be 9-12grams c02/kWh.

 

With a ban on gas boilers in new builds looming, then heat is going to be at the forefront in the future, but I do agree about insulation. We hardly ever hear of insulate Britain anymore, yet compared to Scandinavian countries our older poor insulated houses lose heat at a faster rate.

My bungalow was self build and this December will be 26 years since I started living in the dwelling. I used to have carpets all through, with the exception of the loo, bathroom and utility room. All carpets came out 6 years ago for laminated flooring and I don't think I have noticed much difference in gas units used for heating.
As I had a garage built, which I never used to park the car, I decided to make it more of a room for storage 3 years ago. I raised the floor with 2" by 2" timber packed with 2" insulation board, I also lined the walls with insulated plaster board. With doing this, it has made the living room now far more cosy than it ever has been even with the radiators being turned down.

 

I hate Insulate Britain. Sounds like an odd thing to say considering I'm very much an advocate for energy efficiency, including insulation. I hate them for the effect they've had on public opinion regarding insulation. Everybody hates them for the disruption and damage they caused, and I suspect as a consequence, lots of people (not everyone) will now associate the push for insulation with that obnoxious group of idiots. And let's say, hypothetically, the government was to announce some fund to boost insulation for all properties, there'd be factions that think the government had caved into to the demands of idiots, so politically it's difficult now. Then other groups might see that and conclude that causing mass disruption and damage achieves a positive result, again making it politically difficult to do certain positive things.

 

How about changing it to Isolate Britain That seems to be working well There's only so much you can do with an existing/older property, but the push should be for all new builds to be as energy efficient as possible. That means the developers sacrificing some profit and the energy companies too. Can't see it happening.....