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

This morning I was up early and there was nothing much running in the house. My Smart Meter told me my Electricity was costing £0.02/minute. I boiled about a third of a kettle of water for our tea and it went up to £0.84/min for the two minutes it took to boil the water. I am going to give up drinking tea and drink beer instead. Purely for the cost-saving, I might add.

 

Maybe it's just me but I find I can dry most of my washing, in the winter, by putting it close to a radiator that i will be running any way.
I don't really need a dehumidifier.

I know for some people that can cause condensation, but my house has never had those kinds of problems since being double glazed, and the walls never seem to be damp either.
Something to be said for reinforced concrete.

 

Do you live in a bunker?

 

We have turned the thermostat down on the immersion tank from 50c to 45c. It's hot enough...50c was scalding and wasteful.
Jenny namaste

 

It is recommended that at least once a week you heat it to 60 or above, to kill off any bacteria that might be colonising the water in the tank. But apart from that, nice move. 5 degrees doesn't sound like much difference but should save a lot of energy.

 

Not a piece of coal in sight.

Built in 1947 presumably using the technology that was employed during WW2.

 

Sorry folks but I've just put my heating on for the first time since Spring.
I don't have a lot of fat on me so I do feel the cold

 

Got our July water bill today ... 20.01 Euros of which 11 something was water, 6 something was rubbish collection (which is daily up the lane, nothing kept at our house) and tax. We water a lot in July and August.

 

My missus has committed to not putting our heating on til at least next month. Suits me. I've been acclimatising myself for winter by going for all my walks dressed for summer.. wife on the other hand has been seen a few times in her big coat already.

 

Our heating is on all year round. If the temperature drops low enough it comes on. Pointless saying if the room temperature drops to 18c in winter you need the heating but if it drops to 18c in the summer, you don't.

 

I have no idea how biomass can be classed as renewables, however, biomass is classed as renewables in our energy mix. I for one can't see how the processing and transportation for wood pellets can even be carbon neutral, let alone negative. I also say exactly the same about coir, processing, water and transportation.

But what about the disposal of the blades, landfill? The blades can be recycled, however this is expensive and energy hungry, through pyrolysis processing, doubt many have actually been recycled.

Agree, both have been subsidised, hence why I said "why not"

It is politicians, environmentalist's and ecologist's that push, green and organic will be cheaper. It was David Cameroon who said in 2012, that "green energy, cheap within years". Then in 2013 the carbon tax was introduced and has increased since. Reading between the lines, green energy is not going to be cheap, we are just going to make it look like that through taxation on fossil fuels.

Coal consumption to produce energy soon declined when the carbon tax was introduced, easier to make the fossil fuels uncompetitive so you can push the, green cheaper energy agenda.

 

I did read your whole reply but just wanted to pick up on this point.

I agree with you. But this is where those that oppose the green agenda (and I explicitly acknowledge that's definitely not you) use this as ammo.

The truth is that today, nothing is truly carbon neutral (in the context of energy production) and nothing is on the horizon, as far as I'm aware, that fixes that. But the way I see it, a slap on the cheek is better than a kick in the teeth. It takes energy to manufacture, install, and ultimate dispose of a wind turbine. But it also takes energy to pump oil and gas or to ship coal. But in the case of the wind turbine, once it's up and running, it is generating energy without burning anything.

Early wind turbines were a bit rubbish. Huge amounts of energy to make them, low efficiency while running, and a disposal nightmare. But they keep getting better on all counts. And the more investment that goes into them, and the more research and development, they'll just keep getting better. We can't say the same for fossil fuels. In fact it will only get worse. The early oil wells involved little more than digging a hole and catching the oil as it blasted out under its own pressure. Now it's more the case that lengthy surveys and exploratory drilling has to take place, and fancy super complex drilling operations to get to the last really hard to reach reserves. Gas production is moving towards fracking, which has had terrible consequences in parts of the USA, and conveniently ignored warning signs when tried in the UK. Coal has just always been horrific, but until fairly recently was the only practical fuel for both industry and domestic uses.

So in going 'green', I don't think anyone is saying it's faultless, but it has to be better than the alternative of just continuing to do what we've always done. And continued investment in research, development, implementation and scale up will improve things over time.