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

We all are. But that's a whole other subject.

 

The cuts in the 70s were industrial disputes, and I do remember being told I was wasting my time and money learning to drive in the early 70s as oil had now run out.

It just shows we are fed mostly manure from male bovines and have been for years.

I'm in favour of renewables but if it means we dont have enough, even with gas being used by most people, I think the time line for closing down fossil fuels it totally ridiculous and needs to be treated as such.
But then we have governments that only have to worry about 5 yrs at the most, which is why we get nowhere, one government starts something and the next cancels it. Its a never ending process.
The bunch we have in charge now have had 12 yrs and achieved nothing much really, but then the other lot are totally inept as well.

 

I remember them saying, "it will be a pound a gallon by Christmas".
I dont know what year that was but it was a long time ago.

 

I am bewildered at how the Electricity Board and the Government are giving us credits,..its confusing,..however its comforting.

We get our Electricity Bill every 60 days,..in my case i get 20euro credit off for every 30 days.

Then we got 200 euro credit off Electricity starting in May,..meaning i had no Electricity bill to pay for June and July ,..plus the balance to pay me was as below,..fantastic.




Its got that i fail to remember just when i owed money,..then we got the notification below,..holy cow,..it will be ages before i have to pay an electricity bill.



Adding to all this credit they gave us an extra 300 euro to meet the cost of living,..another 400 euro to help with heating,..its hard to keep count,..not complaining though

 

Is this for everyone Philip or just retired folk? Ours was weird. We pay DD each month then do catch up end of year. It was 76 Euros per month. The last statement was last month and and we owed 350 Euros for the year so they deducted it and said we now only owe 31 Euros a month and that was what was taken out this month.

 

Exactly the same principle and physics as the old two-bar electric fire we had when I was a lad.

 

Yes and no.

Yes because they both use electricity to make infrared which is basically warmth.

No because the two bar electric heater doesn't operate at a very narrow band. The 2 bar electric heater will generate electromagnetic radiation across a wide spectrum, from 50hz radio, which will pass straight through walls and anything else unimpeded, all the way up to visible light. So huge losses overall. The two bar electric heater also has a larger thermal mass, so will transfer a lot of it's heat to the air, so it will heat you partly through the radiation, but mostly through convection, except that warm air tends to find a way out.

The far IR panel operates at a much narrower band, so almost all of the electricity it uses is turned into infrared light at just the right bandwidth to pass through air largely unimpeded, but warm solid objects.

Science aside, I know that if I had a two bar electric heater in our living room, running at a maximum of 850 watts, I wouldn't have a lovely warm living room.

 

I always thought coal fires gave off damp heat, a bit like you get from bottle gas heaters.
Trouble with radiated heat is that unless you are in direct line of it, you don't feel it.
If it doesn't heat the air is there really any point of insulation.

 

You do need line of sight, so no good hiding them behind the sofa like many people do with conventional radiators. But that's really not a problem when you're wall mounted heater is a nice picture.

Insulation is still very relevant. Heat is transferred by three mechanisms. Radiation, convection and conduction. Conduction is the key one in this context. Insulation blocks conduction. If it's warm inside and cold outside, any warmth on the inside walls or ceiling will try to conduct to the colder side. Nothing to do with air, which is about convection.

 

Radiation only passes the heat on once it strikes an object. Your furniture, walls, floor, ceiling and your own body. When the heat radiation strikes the walls the last thing you need is it conducting straight through and out, hence insulation.

 

@Victoria ,..weird is right Vicky but i hope only owing 31 Euros a month will stay that way .

The 200 Euro credit in May towards Electricity was for everyone.
The 300 Euro in credit in October was for Pensioners,..unemployed got a double week.
The 400 Euro in November was for everyone living alone.
The 600 Euro is for all households.

We always got a bonus of a weeks pension or same for unemployed before Christmas,..all of the above credit might mean they skip that this year