Whilst I take their point that each of the multiple quotes sourced had a plausible alternate explanation, (although you then have to consider the probability of all those alternates being true), the article also insisting on Popperian falsifiability is unreasonable. Lacking an alternate Earth, you have to investigate the one you have.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
A reasonably simple intro here. I hadn't realised how much of the garden might have to be dug up.
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
It doesn't have to be exceptionally hot and dry for arson. Sure it helps, but it isn't necessary. It can simply be hot and dry.
I suspect arsonism is pretty much a constant - if you think it's a good idea you probably always think it's a good idea, it doesn't occur to you out of the blue or because it's trending on twitter hushmamouf X, so its relative effectiveness varies directly with hotness and dryness. Results as spectacular as Rhodes require exceptional conditions.
And there's another oddity, the claim that the people on Rhodes were represented as refugees when in fact they were holidaymakers. They looked to me like both. I suspect they were getting a fair bit of typically British hate for being either 1. the sort of ghastly poor people who go on 5 star holidays to greece or 2. the sort of rich tory bastards who go on 5 star holidays to greece.
The Rhodes Must Fall movement has finally hit its target.
I'm clearly not woke enough as I thought that was an odd slogan for a campaign to raise money to help fire-stricken Rhodes
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
A reasonably simple intro here. I hadn't realised how much of the garden might have to be dug up.
I suspect it's more like solar panels - save a lot of energy most of the time, but still need some input from conventional means.
Isn't that for ground source rather than air source though?
I fail to see how they would get enough heat out of air or ground to work decently in Scotland. Do any other northern countries use them.
I'm no expert (far from it in fact) but the key is the temperature differential I believe. I believe heat pumps work well in cold places.
Seems to be the case.
I guess the key is that they do have quite well insulated houses because not doing so would be pretty insane in winter. Plus, perhaps, decent subsidies on the tech?
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
Ground source less affected by season, but not really a retrofit option unless you hate your garden!
There's a house in Scotland we've been to in all seasons with a ground source heat pump and it's cosy (and the shower etc hot) at all times of year. In new build they make a lot of sense, but not for retrofit, generally.
Trouble is that most of our housing stock is ancient.
They won't take off until (a) they cost the same as or cheaper than gas boilers and (b) there's a "boost" option for when you need it, which could be an electric one to be fair.
The growing trend towards owning nothing and renting everything is worrying. I now "rent" Microsoft office by the month at a far higher cost than I used to pay for a one off license. (I gave up on Adobe and use freeware alternatives now).
I noticed Spotify upping the price of their subscription last month, I've been paying them a tenner or whatever it is since the year dot, which must add up to about £1800-ish of payments, yet if I cancel, I own nothing. Not a single single, let alone an album.
While this has been the case for software as a service for donkey's years and is less than idea, it's even more worrying to see it creep into areas it has no right being in. Like heated seats on your car.
TaaS/MaaS, Transportation/Mobility as a Service. Yes the people who make cars want to deliver this because they think they will make a lot more money, primarily because it ought to be a better utilisation of a fleet of vehicles that currently spend 95% of their time parked.
If the assets are used 100% of the time they will wear out a lot faster and when they break they will discomfit a lot more people. Why don't we just tell people to subscribe to one big fluorescent ball in the centre of each village, instead of 100 light bulbs, one for each room.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
A reasonably simple intro here. I hadn't realised how much of the garden might have to be dug up.
I think the point is that all the calculations underpinning heat pumps work on absolute temperatures (so Kelvin) rather then the Celsius scale. Compared with -273 C, even Scotland is meaningfully warm.
The killer for Britain is that, because it's mostly not too hot and not too cold and rather damp, our insulation of buildings is rubbish.
Cars eventually became much cheaper than running horses and a carriage.
Compared to the price of running a car in the 1970s, cars today are ridiculously cheap.
When we are all running electric cars on overnight surplus energy and there's much less to maintain than on a ICE car, why won't they continue to get cheaper? Electric cars aren't cheaper now, but in 20 years?
If we aren't living in extreme poverty, people will want their own transport. Taxis are inconvenient and rubbish now - why does having an AI driver instead of a meat based one make any difference?
That's quite easy to answer. I don't know the numbers but I'd guess that taxis are about 5% of cars on the road. Now imagine a world where taxis are 95% of the cars on the road. The convenience factor would be far better. When essentially every vehicle is self-driving, electric, and immediately summonable the whole argument about the benefits of owning and driving a car will look utterly different.
"Immediately summonable"? To where?
Will it carry a bicycle? Camping gear? Will I get fined if I stink it out with fish and chips?
Will the AI driver be able to get out and open the gates on a private off-road track?
Those are the 5% cases. The rest of us will be watching Netflix in our robo-taxis.
There are specific times when our current use of cars becomes a problem [putting aside pollution as eventually solveable].
Perhaps we just need to solve school transport and "the commute" rather than reinventing personal transport for all?
Or just leave people alone?
Unlike some I don't see car ownership as a problem that needs to be solved.
What I see is that there are a lot of places - Edinburgh is a good example - where everyone would find it easier to move around the city if you could persuade a proportion of car users to use the bus service instead.
You can talk about this in a positive way, as an opportunity for better public transport to enhance the lives of city dwellers, or in a negative way, in terms of cars being driven in cities as a problem that requires a coercive solution. Ultimately though it comes to the same thing - cities are better with fewer cars - but of course, not everywhere is a city.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
A reasonably simple intro here. I hadn't realised how much of the garden might have to be dug up.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
For our French barn we’re getting air to water. Should he enough for most winters, and way cheaper to run than gas or oil. It’s reversible so we’ll have a cool floor in summer, but I don’t think heat pumps are effective enough to replace a/c.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
Ground source less affected by season, but not really a retrofit option unless you hate your garden!
There's a house in Scotland we've been to in all seasons with a ground source heat pump and it's cosy (and the shower etc hot) at all times of year. In new build they make a lot of sense, but not for retrofit, generally.
Trouble is that most of our housing stock is ancient.
They won't take off until (a) they cost the same as or cheaper than gas boilers and (b) there's a "boost" option for when you need it, which could be an electric one to be fair.
I'm not really sure what you mean by a boost option, we've never needed one.
ASHPs work but they work best at water temperatures (e.g. <40°C) that don't suit conventional radiators. Thus underfloor heating and good insulation levels are required (to keep the house a constant temperature).
Regarding cost, it's got to be a whole life calculation, cost of boiler installation / lifespan + running costs + fuel.
One point is that ASHPs don't really need an annual service (we have never bothered with one) whereas gas boilers do of course.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
A reasonably simple intro here. I hadn't realised how much of the garden might have to be dug up.
I suspect it's more like solar panels - save a lot of energy most of the time, but still need some input from conventional means.
Isn't that for ground source rather than air source though?
Indeed, though in my defence I did say 'might'!
Well, as we've seen - if your house is old and poorly insulated, the heat pumps will fail to keep you warm and you'll have to go and regularly turn over the veggie plot by hand to stave off hypothermia!
FPT - I see @Leon once again totally fails to comprehend anyone who lives outside London by predicting no-one will have cars by 2050.
People will always have cars.
I believe @leon was predicting self driving electric vehicles that you summon when you need one (I could have just made that all up). That isn't London centric prediction but applies everywhere. It seems a reasonable prediction for the future and a comparison with the end of the use of the horse seems apt. Doesn't mean it will happen, but reasonable.
It doesn't. In London, you only very occasionally need a car - i.e. where you travel somewhere out of town on a trip at the weekend, or need to carry heavy luggage and ferry friends - whereas everywhere else you use a car several times every day: to drop off the kids, drive to work, go shopping, pick up the kids, and then to head out to the gym later. Maybe drop stuff at the tip too.
You thus want one on the drive all the time with all your stuff in it, and the kids car seats, ready to use at any time - so you get your own.
It may be on a PCP or hire-purchase, rather than owned outright, but it's definitely "your" car and that's the model 90%+ of the country uses and will continue to use.
It's quite possibly a prescription for the future in large cities, which house a significant and growing proportion of the world's population. Even in suburbanised Britain London is about 15% of the population - add similarly built up zones of the other major cities plus well serviced towns like Oxford and Cambridge, Brighton, Bath etc and it's a decent number of people who could be living like that. Then consider somewhere like Japan where almost everyone lives in a city and people rarely go on long drives, and it makes some sense.
For the miniscule minority who live in cities, maybe.
Most Britons live in towns, not cities though.
Are you quite sure that only a "miniscule minority" live in cities? Have you got the figures? Doesn't match what I can find.
Source: ONS England and Wales figures.
9.0 million live in London. 8.0 million live in any other city combined other than London.
English people overwhelming live in towns, not that you'd know it from how some on this website think and act.
So you accept that you're wrong. 17 million isn't a miniscule minority by any reasonable definition of 'miniscule'.
No but 2/3 of the English and Welsh population live in towns and villages not cities so Bart does have a point there
However anything including a village or a rural area can support alternatives eg a car club, or a stop on a bus route. Never mind the many villages with railway stations.
Choice needs to be husbanded and made convenient. If done correctly, the 13 mile Llandudno -> Bets-y-Coed cycle route should be about an hour each way, depending on traffic, and far less time to the villages en route.
Post Beeching probably less than 10% of villages have railway stations, buses are often every hour at best in rural areas
it depends on the area. there are a lot of places where there's no bus services at all. for where there is a bus service you may find 2 hourly not uncommon. but that's mostly during the day, if you're trying to go anywhere for the evening or on a sunday there's no bus services at all. There's also no desire in both local and national government to spend the money to ensure that these places have a decent bus service because it doesn't win enough votes.
Which both emphasise my point.
I make it 2500 railway stations plus heritage lines plus systems such as metro or light rail. I have a light rail station just under 2 miles away which is 12-14 minutes on a bicycle, where previously I had no station for 30 years until the 1990s. I can either take the hack-bike and park it at the station, or (if and when I get one) take a Brompton and take it with me, or take the car.
I'd agree that approx 10% of villages have stations.
And proper funding of Local Authorities is a huge issue to be addressed - they have been salami sliced by about 1/3 to 1/2 across the country since 2010. These are decisions we need to make.
There's quite a few towns (25 according to wikipedia) with a population of over 20000 which don't have a railway station. these could be better served (although some in Norfolk may be a challenge). but there are also places like Newcastle-under-lyme which could/should be served despite having a population of over 75000
Absolutely - Mansfield near me had that for decades for around 60-70k people. To the extent that the station 6 miles away in the next-town-but-one received the name "Alfreton and Mansfield Parkway" partly as a PR-sop.
Since 1995 it has had a light rail station on the Robin Hood line that was running at 400k passengers per annum pre-Covid. 22/23 numbers not yet available. 21/22 was 250k.
Anyhoo - things to do. Have a good day, all.
It is great to see the expansion of these systems. The Robin Hood line is a great idea and is serving as the foundation for a whole host of extensions to other poorly served communities using other old routes. And of course linking directly into the tram system at Bulwell is a rare example of common sense in transport planning.
It's the route Lee Anderson takes to London and back, without any car stage at all. One of the people who would me most expected - from caricatures - to drive.
But I'd better not mention it, as there may be a Just Stop Oil intervention !
Cars eventually became much cheaper than running horses and a carriage.
Compared to the price of running a car in the 1970s, cars today are ridiculously cheap.
When we are all running electric cars on overnight surplus energy and there's much less to maintain than on a ICE car, why won't they continue to get cheaper? Electric cars aren't cheaper now, but in 20 years?
If we aren't living in extreme poverty, people will want their own transport. Taxis are inconvenient and rubbish now - why does having an AI driver instead of a meat based one make any difference?
That's quite easy to answer. I don't know the numbers but I'd guess that taxis are about 5% of cars on the road. Now imagine a world where taxis are 95% of the cars on the road. The convenience factor would be far better. When essentially every vehicle is self-driving, electric, and immediately summonable the whole argument about the benefits of owning and driving a car will look utterly different.
"Immediately summonable"? To where?
Will it carry a bicycle? Camping gear? Will I get fined if I stink it out with fish and chips?
Will the AI driver be able to get out and open the gates on a private off-road track?
Those are the 5% cases. The rest of us will be watching Netflix in our robo-taxis.
There are specific times when our current use of cars becomes a problem [putting aside pollution as eventually solveable].
Perhaps we just need to solve school transport and "the commute" rather than reinventing personal transport for all?
Or just leave people alone?
Unlike some I don't see car ownership as a problem that needs to be solved.
As @Taz once said, God protect us from those who want to protect us from ourselves... ☹️
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
Ground source less affected by season, but not really a retrofit option unless you hate your garden!
There's a house in Scotland we've been to in all seasons with a ground source heat pump and it's cosy (and the shower etc hot) at all times of year. In new build they make a lot of sense, but not for retrofit, generally.
Heat pumps are a no-brainer for a new build. I still see lots of new houses round here with oil-fired central heating which is such a missed opportunity.
The growing trend towards owning nothing and renting everything is worrying. I now "rent" Microsoft office by the month at a far higher cost than I used to pay for a one off license. (I gave up on Adobe and use freeware alternatives now).
I noticed Spotify upping the price of their subscription last month, I've been paying them a tenner or whatever it is since the year dot, which must add up to about £1800-ish of payments, yet if I cancel, I own nothing. Not a single single, let alone an album.
While this has been the case for software as a service for donkey's years and is less than idea, it's even more worrying to see it creep into areas it has no right being in. Like heated seats on your car.
TaaS/MaaS, Transportation/Mobility as a Service. Yes the people who make cars want to deliver this because they think they will make a lot more money, primarily because it ought to be a better utilisation of a fleet of vehicles that currently spend 95% of their time parked.
If the assets are used 100% of the time they will wear out a lot faster and when they break they will discomfit a lot more people. Why don't we just tell people to subscribe to one big fluorescent ball in the centre of each village, instead of 100 light bulbs, one for each room.
Of course. It's not a simple calculation. But the people who believe in this sort of future are confident that they can create a service that will displace the private ownership of cars. They are betting a huge amount of money on it working.
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
My daughter and her family decided to book a late all inclusive holiday in August and told the travel agents they would go anywhere but fire affected areas
It seems she has found an excellent holiday in Morocco but this was through an independent travel agent as TUI, JET2, and the like were almost aggressively trying to send them to Southern Europe no doubt as they have huge investments in these areas
It will be interesting how holidaymakers react to visiting these areas in the future in peak season
Weirdly, the only sort of place you know you are safe from forest fires, is the sort of place which has just been ravaged by huge forest fires.
Fuertaventura. No trees. They were all chopped down to build ships many years ago.
Western Isles. Few trees and the weather is less favourable for wildfires
Not a done deal if the peat dries out (this was Lewis).
OT. I see Trump is calling for an end to military aid for Ukraine. The man will be a bloody disaster if he gets anywhere near the Whitehouse again.
This just increases the chance that other European countries will get directly involved. Arguably they/we should be already.
Realpolitik will prevail, as it always does. All that will actually change is the language used.
Under Trump, there will be announcements of the acceleration of loads of new military systems for the wonderful brave men and women who serve, and creating or protecting tens of thousands of jobs in the MIC who fund the Republican Party. There might be a footnote somewhere about the systems they replace being sold to the UK (or other NATO allies) for $1.
My criticism of Biden through this conflict, has been his constant championing of large dollar numbers on all the military aid packages to Ukraine. Which allows his political opponents to say that the money is better spent elsewhere, forgetting that the money was actually spent decades ago. No other country does this.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
Ground source less affected by season, but not really a retrofit option unless you hate your garden!
There's a house in Scotland we've been to in all seasons with a ground source heat pump and it's cosy (and the shower etc hot) at all times of year. In new build they make a lot of sense, but not for retrofit, generally.
Trouble is that most of our housing stock is ancient.
They won't take off until (a) they cost the same as or cheaper than gas boilers and (b) there's a "boost" option for when you need it, which could be an electric one to be fair.
I'm not really sure what you mean by a boost option, we've never needed one.
ASHPs work but they work best at water temperatures (e.g. <40°C) </i> that don't suit conventional radiators. Thus underfloor heating and good insulation levels (to keep the house a constant temperature.
Regarding cost, it's got to be a whole life calculation, cost of boiler installation / lifespan + running costs + fuel.
One point is that ASHPs don't really need an annual service (we have never bothered with one) whereas gas boilers do of course.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
A reasonably simple intro here. I hadn't realised how much of the garden might have to be dug up.
I suspect it's more like solar panels - save a lot of energy most of the time, but still need some input from conventional means.
Isn't that for ground source rather than air source though?
Indeed, though in my defence I did say 'might'!
Well, as we've seen - if your house is old and poorly insulated, the heat pumps will fail to keep you warm and you'll have to go and regularly turn over the veggie plot by hand to stave off hypothermia!
I suppose one would be thinking in terms of giving the garden a makeover anyway if one is moving house and installing a heat pump. Interesting and potentially useful discussion, anyway, which is generating less heat than light so far, ironically enough.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
The problem is your final paragraph, which will be difficult and expensive with older properties, and what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below.
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
My daughter and her family decided to book a late all inclusive holiday in August and told the travel agents they would go anywhere but fire affected areas
It seems she has found an excellent holiday in Morocco but this was through an independent travel agent as TUI, JET2, and the like were almost aggressively trying to send them to Southern Europe no doubt as they have huge investments in these areas
It will be interesting how holidaymakers react to visiting these areas in the future in peak season
Weirdly, the only sort of place you know you are safe from forest fires, is the sort of place which has just been ravaged by huge forest fires.
Fuertaventura. No trees. They were all chopped down to build ships many years ago.
Western Isles. Few trees and the weather is less favourable for wildfires
Not a done deal if the peat dries out (this was Lewis).
I recognise that place.
Seriously, where was that on Lewis? I don't recall reading about it.
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
My daughter and her family decided to book a late all inclusive holiday in August and told the travel agents they would go anywhere but fire affected areas
It seems she has found an excellent holiday in Morocco but this was through an independent travel agent as TUI, JET2, and the like were almost aggressively trying to send them to Southern Europe no doubt as they have huge investments in these areas
It will be interesting how holidaymakers react to visiting these areas in the future in peak season
Weirdly, the only sort of place you know you are safe from forest fires, is the sort of place which has just been ravaged by huge forest fires.
Fuertaventura. No trees. They were all chopped down to build ships many years ago.
One bit of reporting that irked me, was fires on the Spanish island of La Palma. It's kind of relevant in this context hat it's part of Africa, not one of the balearics.
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
My daughter and her family decided to book a late all inclusive holiday in August and told the travel agents they would go anywhere but fire affected areas
It seems she has found an excellent holiday in Morocco but this was through an independent travel agent as TUI, JET2, and the like were almost aggressively trying to send them to Southern Europe no doubt as they have huge investments in these areas
It will be interesting how holidaymakers react to visiting these areas in the future in peak season
Weirdly, the only sort of place you know you are safe from forest fires, is the sort of place which has just been ravaged by huge forest fires.
Fuertaventura. No trees. They were all chopped down to build ships many years ago.
Western Isles. Few trees and the weather is less favourable for wildfires
Not a done deal if the peat dries out (this was Lewis).
I recognise that place.
Seriously, where was that on Lewis? I don't recall reading about it.
OT. I see Trump is calling for an end to military aid for Ukraine. The man will be a bloody disaster if he gets anywhere near the Whitehouse again.
This just increases the chance that other European countries will get directly involved. Arguably they/we should be already.
Yes, that's why he's saying that. Definitely. However I do not have access to a Vulcan mindmeld and so must interpret his speech, not by telepathy, but by what he's said and done in the past. Which lends a different interpretation.
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
My daughter and her family decided to book a late all inclusive holiday in August and told the travel agents they would go anywhere but fire affected areas
It seems she has found an excellent holiday in Morocco but this was through an independent travel agent as TUI, JET2, and the like were almost aggressively trying to send them to Southern Europe no doubt as they have huge investments in these areas
It will be interesting how holidaymakers react to visiting these areas in the future in peak season
Weirdly, the only sort of place you know you are safe from forest fires, is the sort of place which has just been ravaged by huge forest fires.
Fuertaventura. No trees. They were all chopped down to build ships many years ago.
Western Isles. Few trees and the weather is less favourable for wildfires
Not a done deal if the peat dries out (this was Lewis).
I recognise that place.
Seriously, where was that on Lewis? I don't recall reading about it.
It was Galloway, in fact.
Sorry for confusion - was talking about the peat fire not the Wicker Man location. My fault.
The growing trend towards owning nothing and renting everything is worrying. I now "rent" Microsoft office by the month at a far higher cost than I used to pay for a one off license. (I gave up on Adobe and use freeware alternatives now).
I noticed Spotify upping the price of their subscription last month, I've been paying them a tenner or whatever it is since the year dot, which must add up to about £1800-ish of payments, yet if I cancel, I own nothing. Not a single single, let alone an album.
While this has been the case for software as a service for donkey's years and is less than idea, it's even more worrying to see it creep into areas it has no right being in. Like heated seats on your car.
TaaS/MaaS, Transportation/Mobility as a Service. Yes the people who make cars want to deliver this because they think they will make a lot more money, primarily because it ought to be a better utilisation of a fleet of vehicles that currently spend 95% of their time parked.
If the assets are used 100% of the time they will wear out a lot faster and when they break they will discomfit a lot more people. Why don't we just tell people to subscribe to one big fluorescent ball in the centre of each village, instead of 100 light bulbs, one for each room.
Of course. It's not a simple calculation. But the people who believe in this sort of future are confident that they can create a service that will displace the private ownership of cars. They are betting a huge amount of money on it working.
Well they have tried that over the last few years with PCP financing and that looks like turing into the next PPI scandal.
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
My daughter and her family decided to book a late all inclusive holiday in August and told the travel agents they would go anywhere but fire affected areas
It seems she has found an excellent holiday in Morocco but this was through an independent travel agent as TUI, JET2, and the like were almost aggressively trying to send them to Southern Europe no doubt as they have huge investments in these areas
It will be interesting how holidaymakers react to visiting these areas in the future in peak season
Weirdly, the only sort of place you know you are safe from forest fires, is the sort of place which has just been ravaged by huge forest fires.
Fuertaventura. No trees. They were all chopped down to build ships many years ago.
Western Isles. Few trees and the weather is less favourable for wildfires
Not a done deal if the peat dries out (this was Lewis).
I recognise that place.
Seriously, where was that on Lewis? I don't recall reading about it.
It was Galloway, in fact.
Sorry for confusion - was talking about the peat fire not the Wicker Man location. My fault.
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
My daughter and her family decided to book a late all inclusive holiday in August and told the travel agents they would go anywhere but fire affected areas
It seems she has found an excellent holiday in Morocco but this was through an independent travel agent as TUI, JET2, and the like were almost aggressively trying to send them to Southern Europe no doubt as they have huge investments in these areas
It will be interesting how holidaymakers react to visiting these areas in the future in peak season
Weirdly, the only sort of place you know you are safe from forest fires, is the sort of place which has just been ravaged by huge forest fires.
Fuertaventura. No trees. They were all chopped down to build ships many years ago.
Western Isles. Few trees and the weather is less favourable for wildfires
Not a done deal if the peat dries out (this was Lewis).
I recognise that place.
Seriously, where was that on Lewis? I don't recall reading about it.
I think it was on Summerisle. There was a thing on the telly
The media reporting of this "heatwave" was just bizarre. The idea that 35 degrees in Alicante is unusual in July is just plan silly. It was the same with the temperatures in Greece. In july and August it is always very hot there.
But we can quantify "very hot," can we not? There's very hot, and there's the record for Sardinia of 47.3 set two weeks ago. Very very very very hot, if you prefer it put like that. A record.
What is exceptionally pathetic is the "the fires weren't caused by climate change, they were caused by arson" claim. Arson works if and only if conditions are exceptionally hot and dry. The argument is like saying "People claim smart motorways are unusually dangerous, but if you examine the actual accidents on them, it always turns out they are caused by cars and lorries, not the actual motorway."
My daughter and her family decided to book a late all inclusive holiday in August and told the travel agents they would go anywhere but fire affected areas
It seems she has found an excellent holiday in Morocco but this was through an independent travel agent as TUI, JET2, and the like were almost aggressively trying to send them to Southern Europe no doubt as they have huge investments in these areas
It will be interesting how holidaymakers react to visiting these areas in the future in peak season
Weirdly, the only sort of place you know you are safe from forest fires, is the sort of place which has just been ravaged by huge forest fires.
Fuertaventura. No trees. They were all chopped down to build ships many years ago.
Western Isles. Few trees and the weather is less favourable for wildfires
Not a done deal if the peat dries out (this was Lewis).
I recognise that place.
Seriously, where was that on Lewis? I don't recall reading about it.
It was Galloway, in fact.
Sorry for confusion - was talking about the peat fire not the Wicker Man location. My fault.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
The problem is your final paragraph, which will be difficult and expensive with older properties, and what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below.
You're right on your first point but it can be done. We renovated a 1960 bungalow. We filled the cavity, put 100mm of insulation on the outside of the walls and rendered over, put in an insulated floor with underfloor heating, installed triple glazed windows and a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system (so no drafts).
It was of course a major undertaking (although we did live in the house throughout). It has easily paid for itself in terms of house value although we did buy the house at auction as a 'needs total renovation' job.
Regarding the " what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below" question - we have never had a problem, it just works.
Quite the stat from Dominic Lawson in the Sunday Times:
More than 5,500 customers have had their bank accounts closed by @NatWestGroup. None was able to talk to anyone at the bank about why it had happened. Some were told to "use a food bank"."
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
A reasonably simple intro here. I hadn't realised how much of the garden might have to be dug up.
I suspect it's more like solar panels - save a lot of energy most of the time, but still need some input from conventional means.
Isn't that for ground source rather than air source though?
I fail to see how they would get enough heat out of air or ground to work decently in Scotland. Do any other northern countries use them.
Yes. Air-source heat pumps work fine down to -7°C air temperature, when they become less efficient (but then you just heat using the electricity with no gain. I suspect the ground in Scotland is always above freezing once you are down a metre, so ground-source heat pumps would have no problem.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
The problem is your final paragraph, which will be difficult and expensive with older properties, and what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below.
You're right on your first point but it can be done. We renovated a 1960 bungalow. We filled the cavity, put 100mm of insulation on the outside of the walls and rendered over, put in an insulated floor with underfloor heating, installed triple glazed windows and a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system (so no drafts).
It was of course a major undertaking (although we did live in the house throughout). It has easily paid for itself in terms of house value although we did buy the house at auction as a 'needs total renovation' job.
Regarding the " what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below" question - we have never had a problem, it just works.
I sort of understand mostd of that, but how does the heated floor work, without the whole hypocaust and slave in loincloth business?
The growing trend towards owning nothing and renting everything is worrying. I now "rent" Microsoft office by the month at a far higher cost than I used to pay for a one off license. (I gave up on Adobe and use freeware alternatives now).
I noticed Spotify upping the price of their subscription last month, I've been paying them a tenner or whatever it is since the year dot, which must add up to about £1800-ish of payments, yet if I cancel, I own nothing. Not a single single, let alone an album.
While this has been the case for software as a service for donkey's years and is less than idea, it's even more worrying to see it creep into areas it has no right being in. Like heated seats on your car.
TaaS/MaaS, Transportation/Mobility as a Service. Yes the people who make cars want to deliver this because they think they will make a lot more money, primarily because it ought to be a better utilisation of a fleet of vehicles that currently spend 95% of their time parked.
If the assets are used 100% of the time they will wear out a lot faster and when they break they will discomfit a lot more people. Why don't we just tell people to subscribe to one big fluorescent ball in the centre of each village, instead of 100 light bulbs, one for each room.
Of course. It's not a simple calculation. But the people who believe in this sort of future are confident that they can create a service that will displace the private ownership of cars. They are betting a huge amount of money on it working.
Well they have tried that over the last few years with PCP financing and that looks like turing into the next PPI scandal.
There’s loads of funny anecdotes in motoring forums about PCP renewals and interest rates. People who have had a new Mercedes E63 AMG every three years since 2008, now being told that the same repayment gets them into an E220d, and if they want the AMG it’s a grand a month extra!
Add to the push for electric cars, and the bottom is going to fall out of the market. That guy with the three-year-old E63 is most likely going to refinance to keep it, not buy a new car at all.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Until just now we've had a landline phone network that works even if there's a power cut. In the future it won't work if there's one. Same sort of thing.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Until just now we've had a landline phone network that works even if there's a power cut. In the future it won't work if there's one. Same sort of thing.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
My next door neighbour has one.
Ive yet to hear him say anything good about it.
On the other hand he really likes his solar panels.
They're the norm in rural France and seem to work fine (not just in modern houses), yet every time I hear about them in the UK they don't seem up to the job, so there must be something in the way we're rolling them out here that's going awry. I'm renovating a barn there currently and there was no question the heating would be air source heat pump, our neighbours all have it too. Perhaps because they are topping up with wood burners, or perhaps the houses are just less draughty and better insulated.
I really don't know much about them other than the bits I read on here and eslsewhere but working better in France may be due to warmer climate. All the sources seem to indicate that air source heat pumps work better when it is warmer/hotter outside. Certainly the only person I know who has had one fitted said it was great in the summer but really bad in the winter.
Ground source less affected by season, but not really a retrofit option unless you hate your garden!
There's a house in Scotland we've been to in all seasons with a ground source heat pump and it's cosy (and the shower etc hot) at all times of year. In new build they make a lot of sense, but not for retrofit, generally.
Trouble is that most of our housing stock is ancient.
They won't take off until (a) they cost the same as or cheaper than gas boilers and (b) there's a "boost" option for when you need it, which could be an electric one to be fair.
I'm not really sure what you mean by a boost option, we've never needed one.
ASHPs work but they work best at water temperatures (e.g. <40°C) </i> that don't suit conventional radiators. Thus underfloor heating and good insulation levels (to keep the house a constant temperature.
Regarding cost, it's got to be a whole life calculation, cost of boiler installation / lifespan + running costs + fuel.
One point is that ASHPs don't really need an annual service (we have never bothered with one) whereas gas boilers do of course.
How are you meant to have a decent bath ?!
The ASHP will produce water at >60°C but it's just not going to deliver the 3-4 times efficiency you get when heating to say 38° for underfloor heating. So it heats the hot water tank fine when it needs to.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
If you have a large enough south facing roof, it’s perfectly possible to be completely independent of the grid for power these days, including charging an electric vehicle, for three seasons out of four. You’ll still need the grid in winter though.
Not cheap: Markus Brownlee’s system (YT personality & tech reviewer) cost him ~$100k for a roof that can deliver 30kW & 40kWh of battery capacity. The payback time on that is only about 10 years at current electricity prices apparently - he must drive a lot.
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
The growing trend towards owning nothing and renting everything is worrying. I now "rent" Microsoft office by the month at a far higher cost than I used to pay for a one off license. (I gave up on Adobe and use freeware alternatives now).
I noticed Spotify upping the price of their subscription last month, I've been paying them a tenner or whatever it is since the year dot, which must add up to about £1800-ish of payments, yet if I cancel, I own nothing. Not a single single, let alone an album.
While this has been the case for software as a service for donkey's years and is less than idea, it's even more worrying to see it creep into areas it has no right being in. Like heated seats on your car.
TaaS/MaaS, Transportation/Mobility as a Service. Yes the people who make cars want to deliver this because they think they will make a lot more money, primarily because it ought to be a better utilisation of a fleet of vehicles that currently spend 95% of their time parked.
If the assets are used 100% of the time they will wear out a lot faster and when they break they will discomfit a lot more people. Why don't we just tell people to subscribe to one big fluorescent ball in the centre of each village, instead of 100 light bulbs, one for each room.
Of course. It's not a simple calculation. But the people who believe in this sort of future are confident that they can create a service that will displace the private ownership of cars. They are betting a huge amount of money on it working.
Well they have tried that over the last few years with PCP financing and that looks like turing into the next PPI scandal.
There’s loads of funny anecdotes in motoring forums about PCP renewals and interest rates. People who have had a new Mercedes E63 AMG every three years since 2008, now being told that the same repayment gets them into an E220d, and if they want the AMG it’s a grand a month extra!
Add to the push for electric cars, and the bottom is going to fall out of the market. That guy with the three-year-old E63 is most likely going to refinance to keep it, not buy a new car at all.
Was always my concern (for the masses, because that's just me).
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Until just now we've had a landline phone network that works even if there's a power cut. In the future it won't work if there's one. Same sort of thing.
Time to get a mobile phone, perhaps?
Which needs to be charged ... seriously, many people feel much happier with both systems esp if they are elderly or have elderly relatives. You may not think so, but it is a thing.
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
A heat pump works on the same principle as your fridge, making use of the ideal gas law to do the seemingly impossible - move heat from a colder place to a warmer place - and thereby defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Essentially this makes them technological magic, and so it's understandable that some people will be wary, despite the fundamental technology being more than a century old now, because burning fuel to create heat with a fire is a lot more obviously a reliable way to go about things.
Fridges, of course, tend to be quite well insulated.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
The problem is your final paragraph, which will be difficult and expensive with older properties, and what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below.
You're right on your first point but it can be done. We renovated a 1960 bungalow. We filled the cavity, put 100mm of insulation on the outside of the walls and rendered over, put in an insulated floor with underfloor heating, installed triple glazed windows and a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system (so no drafts).
It was of course a major undertaking (although we did live in the house throughout). It has easily paid for itself in terms of house value although we did buy the house at auction as a 'needs total renovation' job.
Regarding the " what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below" question - we have never had a problem, it just works.
I sort of understand mostd of that, but how does the heated floor work, without the whole hypocaust and slave in loincloth business?
Plastic water pipes buried in the screed. Hot water pumped through by the central heating system. Room thermostats control which UFH circuits are getting the hot water.
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
I love the idea of going to a friend or neighbour's house to have a hot bath. Never done that. Must try it.
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
A heat pump works on the same principle as your fridge, making use of the ideal gas law to do the seemingly impossible - move heat from a colder place to a warmer place - and thereby defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Essentially this makes them technological magic, and so it's understandable that some people will be wary, despite the fundamental technology being more than a century old now, because burning fuel to create heat with a fire is a lot more obviously a reliable way to go about things.
Fridges, of course, tend to be quite well insulated.
Second Law doesn't apply, strictly, in case anyone is worried, as fridges and houses aren't closed systems. Basically we are spending a little energy to move a larger amount of heat energy rather than generate it - messing around with the entropy rather than the heat element of the equation, I suppose.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
Note that our government will apparently not give you a grant if you buy a heat pump that will also act as a cooling air conditioner.
I presume that running an air<->water heat pump for cooling doesn’t work all that well with standard rads - the risk of getting condensation on the rads seems quite high if you run them cool enough to be effective? But I can see underfloor cooling being a thing.
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
Why stop there? Thinking of a new recipe for Chicken Tikka Masala? DO NOT BE SATISFIED until you have been to a trusted friend, they have cooked it, and you are completely happy with it.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
The problem is your final paragraph, which will be difficult and expensive with older properties, and what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below.
You're right on your first point but it can be done. We renovated a 1960 bungalow. We filled the cavity, put 100mm of insulation on the outside of the walls and rendered over, put in an insulated floor with underfloor heating, installed triple glazed windows and a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system (so no drafts).
It was of course a major undertaking (although we did live in the house throughout). It has easily paid for itself in terms of house value although we did buy the house at auction as a 'needs total renovation' job.
Regarding the " what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below" question - we have never had a problem, it just works.
I sort of understand mostd of that, but how does the heated floor work, without the whole hypocaust and slave in loincloth business?
Plastic water pipes buried in the screed. Hot water pumped through by the central heating system. Room thermostats control which UFH circuits are getting the hot water.
Ah, thanks. What about timber floors (upper storey rooms, and in older houses' ground floors)? Just getting some sense of what one needs to consider when lookign for a new house (am at that age).
The growing trend towards owning nothing and renting everything is worrying. I now "rent" Microsoft office by the month at a far higher cost than I used to pay for a one off license. (I gave up on Adobe and use freeware alternatives now).
I noticed Spotify upping the price of their subscription last month, I've been paying them a tenner or whatever it is since the year dot, which must add up to about £1800-ish of payments, yet if I cancel, I own nothing. Not a single single, let alone an album.
While this has been the case for software as a service for donkey's years and is less than idea, it's even more worrying to see it creep into areas it has no right being in. Like heated seats on your car.
TaaS/MaaS, Transportation/Mobility as a Service. Yes the people who make cars want to deliver this because they think they will make a lot more money, primarily because it ought to be a better utilisation of a fleet of vehicles that currently spend 95% of their time parked.
If the assets are used 100% of the time they will wear out a lot faster and when they break they will discomfit a lot more people. Why don't we just tell people to subscribe to one big fluorescent ball in the centre of each village, instead of 100 light bulbs, one for each room.
Of course. It's not a simple calculation. But the people who believe in this sort of future are confident that they can create a service that will displace the private ownership of cars. They are betting a huge amount of money on it working.
Well they have tried that over the last few years with PCP financing and that looks like turing into the next PPI scandal.
There’s loads of funny anecdotes in motoring forums about PCP renewals and interest rates. People who have had a new Mercedes E63 AMG every three years since 2008, now being told that the same repayment gets them into an E220d, and if they want the AMG it’s a grand a month extra!
Add to the push for electric cars, and the bottom is going to fall out of the market. That guy with the three-year-old E63 is most likely going to refinance to keep it, not buy a new car at all.
Was always my concern (for the masses, because that's just me).
Yes, interest rates being zero for a decade and a half has all sorts of funny effects on the economy.
There’s actually been quite serious price inflation of new cars, but it’s gone un-noticed because no-one writes a check for the list price, but is interested only in the monthly repayment.
Meanwhile, classic car values have gone the way of property and art, with silly prices now being paid for even some modern but rare cars.
As we all move to EV appliances, petrol heads are going to be looking at what they want to buy and keep as the weekend toys. Anything remotely interesting is about to start heading up in value.
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
A heat pump works on the same principle as your fridge, making use of the ideal gas law to do the seemingly impossible - move heat from a colder place to a warmer place - and thereby defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Essentially this makes them technological magic, and so it's understandable that some people will be wary, despite the fundamental technology being more than a century old now, because burning fuel to create heat with a fire is a lot more obviously a reliable way to go about things.
Fridges, of course, tend to be quite well insulated.
No Laws of Thermodynamics are defied in any way, of course.
Of all the physical laws these are the least likely to be overturned.
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
[edit] but I am sure some expert on PB will advise.
So a heat pump is an inside-out fridge that runs on electricity and is the size of an old sideboard and a bit bigger than a Wheely bin. For it to work you must be able to run a pipe from inside your house to outside.
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Until just now we've had a landline phone network that works even if there's a power cut. In the future it won't work if there's one. Same sort of thing.
Time to get a mobile phone, perhaps?
Which needs to be charged ... seriously, many people feel much happier with both systems esp if they are elderly or have elderly relatives. You may not think so, but it is a thing.
If you live remotely and are worried about this sort of thing there are ways to mitigate that risk. For example, keeping one always charged, using a solar charger, or even a small generator. Better to be pro-active about it rather than just complain about the fact PSTN will be turned off in a few years.
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
[edit] but I am sure some expert on PB will advise.
So a heat pump is an inside-out fridge that runs on electricity and is the size of an old sideboard and a bit bigger than a Wheely bin. For it to work you must be able to run a pipe from inside your house to outside.
People in flats won't be able to have one.
Air to ground, no, but what about air to air pump surely?
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
The problem is your final paragraph, which will be difficult and expensive with older properties, and what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below.
You're right on your first point but it can be done. We renovated a 1960 bungalow. We filled the cavity, put 100mm of insulation on the outside of the walls and rendered over, put in an insulated floor with underfloor heating, installed triple glazed windows and a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system (so no drafts).
It was of course a major undertaking (although we did live in the house throughout). It has easily paid for itself in terms of house value although we did buy the house at auction as a 'needs total renovation' job.
Regarding the " what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below" question - we have never had a problem, it just works.
The internet (for what it is worth) says air pumps work at various minimum temperatures ranging from (in the most pessimistic case) -10 C to -25 C
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
There are some shockingly bad installers out there.
Just randomly searching just now I found someone who’s installers had told them they didn’t need to change the rads & if their house wasn’t warm enough they should just run the heating water at 55°C.
Heat pumps get more efficient the lower the output temp is & if you run them hot then you’re missing the point. This is why they work best with underfloor heating - your whole floor is the radiator so you can have a nice cool output temp & still heat the house to a comfy temperature.
Lots of houses UK houses already have rads that are big enough compared to the heat loss rate through the walls, but if that’s not the case the system just isn’t going to work efficiently.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Until just now we've had a landline phone network that works even if there's a power cut. In the future it won't work if there's one. Same sort of thing.
Time to get a mobile phone, perhaps?
Which needs to be charged ... seriously, many people feel much happier with both systems esp if they are elderly or have elderly relatives. You may not think so, but it is a thing.
If you live remotely and are worried about this sort of thing there are ways to mitigate that risk. For example, keeping one always charged, using a solar charger, or even a small generator. Better to be pro-active about it rather than just complain about the fact PSTN will be turned off in a few years.
If one lives remotely one would already be taking those precautions, anyway.
On the wider issue - it's a small but significant deterioration for many who can't easily cope with mobiles.
Have you never seen the sort of landline phone that people with poor sight, for instance, need to use?
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
[edit] but I am sure some expert on PB will advise.
So a heat pump is an inside-out fridge that runs on electricity and is the size of an old sideboard and a bit bigger than a Wheely bin. For it to work you must be able to run a pipe from inside your house to outside.
People in flats won't be able to have one.
Yes they will, you just bolt the heat exchanger to the outside of the wall: A heat pump is just an air conditioner running in reverse. If you can fit air<->air aircon then you can fit aircon that works as a heater too.
I've been trying to avoid the miscellaneous upcoming stupid future shit (piped hydrogen, online safety bill, something to do with boilers, all cars must be electric and somebody else's, all roads must be closed, more stupid MP shit that only works if you are rich), but I must confess to ignorance about heat pumps. Can some kind person explain to me what they involve and what degree of compulsion they entail? If I'm going to go full Meldrew it helps to be informed with facts.
[edit] but I am sure some expert on PB will advise.
So a heat pump is an inside-out fridge that runs on electricity and is the size of an old sideboard and a bit bigger than a Wheely bin. For it to work you must be able to run a pipe from inside your house to outside.
People in flats won't be able to have one.
People in flats have air conditioners. They will be able to have heat pumps.
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
The problem is your final paragraph, which will be difficult and expensive with older properties, and what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below.
You're right on your first point but it can be done. We renovated a 1960 bungalow. We filled the cavity, put 100mm of insulation on the outside of the walls and rendered over, put in an insulated floor with underfloor heating, installed triple glazed windows and a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system (so no drafts).
It was of course a major undertaking (although we did live in the house throughout). It has easily paid for itself in terms of house value although we did buy the house at auction as a 'needs total renovation' job.
Regarding the " what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below" question - we have never had a problem, it just works.
I sort of understand mostd of that, but how does the heated floor work, without the whole hypocaust and slave in loincloth business?
Plastic water pipes buried in the screed. Hot water pumped through by the central heating system. Room thermostats control which UFH circuits are getting the hot water.
Ah, thanks. What about timber floors (upper storey rooms, and in older houses' ground floors)? Just getting some sense of what one needs to consider when lookign for a new house (am at that age).
Quite complicated to answer fully but:
- Upstairs you can heating pipes between the joists under the floor. We don't bother because the house is so well insulated the upstairs guest rooms borrow heat from downstairs and are never cold. - Wooden floors are not a problem but there's a bit of calculation to be done regarding the relative heat transmission across the insulation below the UFH and the floor above - a solid wood floor may not be as efficient as stone/tiled floors (which is what we have throughout downstairs). Engineered wooden floors tend to be better for UFH.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Until just now we've had a landline phone network that works even if there's a power cut. In the future it won't work if there's one. Same sort of thing.
Time to get a mobile phone, perhaps?
Same problem. You can't charge it if there's a power cut.
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
There are some shockingly bad installers out there.
Just randomly searching just now I found someone who’s installers had told them they didn’t need to change the rads & if their house wasn’t warm enough they should just run the heating water at 55°C.
Heat pumps get more efficient the lower the output temp is & if you run them hot then you’re missing the point. This is why they work best with underfloor heating - your whole floor is the radiator so you can have a nice cool output temp & still heat the house to a comfy temperature.
Lots of houses UK houses already have rads that are big enough compared to the heat loss rate through the walls, but if that’s not the case the system just isn’t going to work efficiently.
Also, more efficient energy-wise doesn't mean cheaper to run because gas still costs significantly less.
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
That won't be at all weird.
I find PBers increasingly weird. Like @JosiasJessop running his sweaty marathon right into the local pride March and then deciding to talk to all the gays in Nottingham. Awks
I begin to wonder if I am the only sane PBer left. And I am a crazy alcoholic
Slightly tongue in cheek, but the strongest correlating indicator of Conservative voting that I have ever found in 20 years of canvassing is car related.
- Those washing their car in their driveway on a Saturday morning.
Slightly disconcertingly for the blue meanies, apart from my Dad, I don't know anyone who does this now. Why bother when its a tenner at the local hand car wash?
The gangs of trafficked Kurdish vagabonds don't even use the 'Two Bucket' system which is the absolute minimum for not fucking your clear coat. One session at one of these refugee camps and it's done for.
Correcting a fucked clear coat, if it's not too far gone, is a lot of work and you're knocking a couple of grand off the value at least. Unless you can offload it onto to some mug who can't judge the fuckedness state of clear coats.
I wonder what a clear coat is. I mostly just rely on rain to wash off my 2015 Fiesta. I never give my car a thought except when I'm actually in it or the MoT demand comes round.
PB is a useful reminder that there are a multitude of different ways to live...
For me, a car is simply a tool that allows me to do what I need/want to do. If I could do the things I wanted to do without a car, I'd not have one. I find no great joy in driving; the joy can come from what I do at the destination.
I also don't see my car as an extension of my psyche, or a reflection of who I am. It's a car.
And that is, I think, the heart of the matter. Once a car is a means to an end, then it's possible that there are other ways of achieving the same ends better. In fact, it's possible that car use gets in the way of achieving those ends.
The car is an interesting machine. It promises individual freedom, but relies on infrastructure that is provided collectively. It provides convenience for its owner but inconveniences others. It allows us to be ourselves but cuts us off from other people. It lets us do more but makes us less active. It opens up choices for some and restricts choices for others. Politically it's interesting because of all the things we do on a day to day basis it probably imposes more negative externalities, global and local, than anything else. Increasingly I think the political left-right divide comes down to whether you take the idea of these externalities seriously or not. The right can get a lot of mileage out of telling their voters that they can do what they want and any negative effects on other people are unimportant. The danger for the left is that they overestimate the extent to which people are willing, or feel able to afford, to care.
I think the Cons are absolutely right to pick a fight over car ownership because most of us have one and many of us realise the impracticalities of acting too quickly to dispossess us of them, or penalising ownership which the ULEZ has shown so clearly.
It is the one area (and I can't for the life of me think of any other) where actually the Cons might be able to claw some votes back and it seems that Lab are handing these to them on a plate.
Heat Punps
Disaster waiting to happen.
They sound bloody awful.
Good ideas in a well insulated or well restored house.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
The problem is your final paragraph, which will be difficult and expensive with older properties, and what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below.
You're right on your first point but it can be done. We renovated a 1960 bungalow. We filled the cavity, put 100mm of insulation on the outside of the walls and rendered over, put in an insulated floor with underfloor heating, installed triple glazed windows and a mechanical heat recovery ventilation system (so no drafts).
It was of course a major undertaking (although we did live in the house throughout). It has easily paid for itself in terms of house value although we did buy the house at auction as a 'needs total renovation' job.
Regarding the " what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below" question - we have never had a problem, it just works.
I sort of understand mostd of that, but how does the heated floor work, without the whole hypocaust and slave in loincloth business?
Plastic water pipes buried in the screed. Hot water pumped through by the central heating system. Room thermostats control which UFH circuits are getting the hot water.
Ah, thanks. What about timber floors (upper storey rooms, and in older houses' ground floors)? Just getting some sense of what one needs to consider when lookign for a new house (am at that age).
Quite complicated to answer fully but:
- Upstairs you can heating pipes between the joists under the floor. We don't bother because the house is so well insulated the upstairs guest rooms borrow heat from downstairs and are never cold. - Wooden floors are not a problem but there's a bit of calculation to be done regarding the relative heat transmission across the insulation below the UFH and the floor above - a solid wood floor may not be as efficient as stone/tiled floors (which is what we have throughout downstairs). Engineered wooden floors tend to be better for UFH.
Thanks. Of course; wood is an insulator, and you don't insulate radiators ...
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
I now have an image in my head of a bloke of a certain age turning up on doorsteps in a frayed shorty terrycloth bathrobe and a towel over his arm, angrily demanding a bath. Not good.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Until just now we've had a landline phone network that works even if there's a power cut. In the future it won't work if there's one. Same sort of thing.
Time to get a mobile phone, perhaps?
Same problem. You can't charge it if there's a power cut.
We just keep a decent sized battery pack charged in a drawer, just in case.
Your problem in a more widespread power cut is that the radio masts will lose power once their batteries run down. But that’s true of the phone exchange too.
The growing trend towards owning nothing and renting everything is worrying. I now "rent" Microsoft office by the month at a far higher cost than I used to pay for a one off license. (I gave up on Adobe and use freeware alternatives now).
I noticed Spotify upping the price of their subscription last month, I've been paying them a tenner or whatever it is since the year dot, which must add up to about £1800-ish of payments, yet if I cancel, I own nothing. Not a single single, let alone an album.
While this has been the case for software as a service for donkey's years and is less than idea, it's even more worrying to see it creep into areas it has no right being in. Like heated seats on your car.
TaaS/MaaS, Transportation/Mobility as a Service. Yes the people who make cars want to deliver this because they think they will make a lot more money, primarily because it ought to be a better utilisation of a fleet of vehicles that currently spend 95% of their time parked.
If the assets are used 100% of the time they will wear out a lot faster and when they break they will discomfit a lot more people. Why don't we just tell people to subscribe to one big fluorescent ball in the centre of each village, instead of 100 light bulbs, one for each room.
Of course. It's not a simple calculation. But the people who believe in this sort of future are confident that they can create a service that will displace the private ownership of cars. They are betting a huge amount of money on it working.
Well they have tried that over the last few years with PCP financing and that looks like turing into the next PPI scandal.
There’s loads of funny anecdotes in motoring forums about PCP renewals and interest rates. People who have had a new Mercedes E63 AMG every three years since 2008, now being told that the same repayment gets them into an E220d, and if they want the AMG it’s a grand a month extra!
Add to the push for electric cars, and the bottom is going to fall out of the market. That guy with the three-year-old E63 is most likely going to refinance to keep it, not buy a new car at all.
Was always my concern (for the masses, because that's just me).
Yes, interest rates being zero for a decade and a half has all sorts of funny effects on the economy.
There’s actually been quite serious price inflation of new cars, but it’s gone un-noticed because no-one writes a check for the list price, but is interested only in the monthly repayment.
Meanwhile, classic car values have gone the way of property and art, with silly prices now being paid for even some modern but rare cars.
As we all move to EV appliances, petrol heads are going to be looking at what they want to buy and keep as the weekend toys. Anything remotely interesting is about to start heading up in value.
At some point we'll reach a tipping point. As demand for petrol falls, petrol stations will start to become nonviable and begin to close down, which will, in turn, make petrol vehicles less desirable, thus leading to more closures - a classic positive feedback effect. At this point, the prices of most petrol vehicles will collapse since they are no longer a practicable means of transport. Though as you point out, there will, of course be exceptions.
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
That won't be at all weird.
I find PBers increasingly weird. Like @JosiasJessop running his sweaty marathon right into the local pride March and then deciding to talk to all the gays in Nottingham. Awks
I begin to wonder if I am the only sane PBer left. And I am a crazy alcoholic
You’re posting to PB after all. I’m not sure anyone on here could be described as “normal”.
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
That won't be at all weird.
I find PBers increasingly weird. Like @JosiasJessop running his sweaty marathon right into the local pride March and then deciding to talk to all the gays in Nottingham. Awks
I begin to wonder if I am the only sane PBer left. And I am a crazy alcoholic
It's not weird to travel to the safest part of a country at war, spend all your time whilst there posting on here, and then throw a paddy when no-one gives you attention for taking your takeaway spritzer into the Anderson shelter whilst virtually nothing happens overhead?
Put simply: I don't trust those who are pushing air-source heat pumps; they all have an agenda.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
There are some shockingly bad installers out there.
Just randomly searching just now I found someone who’s installers had told them they didn’t need to change the rads & if their house wasn’t warm enough they should just run the heating water at 55°C.
Heat pumps get more efficient the lower the output temp is & if you run them hot then you’re missing the point. This is why they work best with underfloor heating - your whole floor is the radiator so you can have a nice cool output temp & still heat the house to a comfy temperature.
Lots of houses UK houses already have rads that are big enough compared to the heat loss rate through the walls, but if that’s not the case the system just isn’t going to work efficiently.
Also, more efficient energy-wise doesn't mean cheaper to run because gas still costs significantly less.
Indeed. The property in question had previously been on an oil-fired system, so a heat pump setup ought to have worked out cheaper for them, but the installer was clearly a cowboy who just wanted to whack in the HP, get paid, pocket the government grant and move onto the next job without bothering with any of that complicated plumbing business.
Those who go all-electric in their homes as they park their electric vehicles on their driveways are so touchingly trusting in the continued supply of mains electricity. Nothing like Venezuela (or what seems about to happen in Argentina) could possibly happen in Blighty. No bank problems, wars, culls, upheavals. Just a furry slipper stroking a human face - forever.
Until just now we've had a landline phone network that works even if there's a power cut. In the future it won't work if there's one. Same sort of thing.
Time to get a mobile phone, perhaps?
Same problem. You can't charge it if there's a power cut.
Keep a spare battery, or some alternative means of charging it?
Comments
They won't take off until (a) they cost the same as or cheaper than gas boilers and (b) there's a "boost" option for when you need it, which could be an electric one to be fair.
https://www.irishtimes.com/sponsored/mitsubishi-electric/heat-pump-technology-is-used-in-scandinavia-so-we-knew-it-must-be-good-1.4725686
I think the point is that all the calculations underpinning heat pumps work on absolute temperatures (so Kelvin) rather then the Celsius scale. Compared with -273 C, even Scotland is meaningfully warm.
The killer for Britain is that, because it's mostly not too hot and not too cold and rather damp, our insulation of buildings is rubbish.
You can talk about this in a positive way, as an opportunity for better public transport to enhance the lives of city dwellers, or in a negative way, in terms of cars being driven in cities as a problem that requires a coercive solution. Ultimately though it comes to the same thing - cities are better with fewer cars - but of course, not everywhere is a city.
Get a correct type, and you can run it backwards in summer off your solar to cool the house.
Air to air heatpumps are well-spoken of as a simple solution amongst those I know, and don't necessarily need much central control.
Personally, I am probably going for an air-to-water heatpump when the current boiler dies, since my radiators etc are designed for it and need no swaps.
Modern heat pumps seem to be OK to a few degrees above freezing, but it is probably important to have cut your peak heat demand by about 50-70% first by a good fabric upgrade.
ASHPs work but they work best at water temperatures (e.g. <40°C) that don't suit conventional radiators. Thus underfloor heating and good insulation levels are required (to keep the house a constant temperature).
Regarding cost, it's got to be a whole life calculation, cost of boiler installation / lifespan + running costs + fuel.
One point is that ASHPs don't really need an annual service (we have never bothered with one) whereas gas boilers do of course.
But I'd better not mention it, as there may be a Just Stop Oil intervention !
In today’s bleak early autumn weather the gaps in our own house’s draught proofing are palpable (and audible).
Under Trump, there will be announcements of the acceleration of loads of new military systems for the wonderful brave men and women who serve, and creating or protecting tens of thousands of jobs in the MIC who fund the Republican Party. There might be a footnote somewhere about the systems they replace being sold to the UK (or other NATO allies) for $1.
My criticism of Biden through this conflict, has been his constant championing of large dollar numbers on all the military aid packages to Ukraine. Which allows his political opponents to say that the money is better spent elsewhere, forgetting that the money was actually spent decades ago. No other country does this.
https://www.which.co.uk/reviews/ground-and-air-source-heat-pumps/article/guides
Re legal stuff, I believe that option A gas boilers are to be phased out so heat pumps are obviously one option B.
https://www.britishgas.co.uk/the-source/greener-living/gas-boilers-ban-2025.html
[edit also] https://heatable.co.uk/boiler-advice/are-gas-boilers-being-phased-out
[edit] but I am sure some expert on PB will advise.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-66356350
Here's just a few:
http://www.hebrides-news.com/western-isles-moorland-ablaze-11221.html
Simple.
It was of course a major undertaking (although we did live in the house throughout). It has easily paid for itself in terms of house value although we did buy the house at auction as a 'needs total renovation' job.
Regarding the " what you do to heat the house when the air temperature outside plummets to -5C or below" question - we have never had a problem, it just works.
@GoodwinMJ
Quite the stat from Dominic Lawson in the Sunday Times:
More than 5,500 customers have had their bank accounts closed by @NatWestGroup. None was able to talk to anyone at the bank about why it had happened. Some were told to "use a food bank"."
https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1685739900396609536
Add to the push for electric cars, and the bottom is going to fall out of the market. That guy with the three-year-old E63 is most likely going to refinance to keep it, not buy a new car at all.
Not cheap: Markus Brownlee’s system (YT personality & tech reviewer) cost him ~$100k for a roof that can deliver 30kW & 40kWh of battery capacity. The payback time on that is only about 10 years at current electricity prices apparently - he must drive a lot.
I'm not risking the comfort and wellbeing of my family and a warm home until I go round to a trusted friend or neighbours house (on a cold and dark night) and feel it for myself, including having a hot bath.
eg https://vf.politicalbetting.com/discussion/comment/1500750#Comment_1500750
Essentially this makes them technological magic, and so it's understandable that some people will be wary, despite the fundamental technology being more than a century old now, because burning fuel to create heat with a fire is a lot more obviously a reliable way to go about things.
Fridges, of course, tend to be quite well insulated.
I presume that running an air<->water heat pump for cooling doesn’t work all that well with standard rads - the risk of getting condensation on the rads seems quite high if you run them cool enough to be effective? But I can see underfloor cooling being a thing.
There’s actually been quite serious price inflation of new cars, but it’s gone un-noticed because no-one writes a check for the list price, but is interested only in the monthly repayment.
Meanwhile, classic car values have gone the way of property and art, with silly prices now being paid for even some modern but rare cars.
As we all move to EV appliances, petrol heads are going to be looking at what they want to buy and keep as the weekend toys. Anything remotely interesting is about to start heading up in value.
Of all the physical laws these are the least likely to be overturned.
People in flats won't be able to have one.
Just randomly searching just now I found someone who’s installers had told them they didn’t need to change the rads & if their house wasn’t warm enough they should just run the heating water at 55°C.
Heat pumps get more efficient the lower the output temp is & if you run them hot then you’re missing the point. This is why they work best with underfloor heating - your whole floor is the radiator so you can have a nice cool output temp & still heat the house to a comfy temperature.
Lots of houses UK houses already have rads that are big enough compared to the heat loss rate through the walls, but if that’s not the case the system just isn’t going to work efficiently.
On the wider issue - it's a small but significant deterioration for many who can't easily cope with mobiles.
Have you never seen the sort of landline phone that people with poor sight, for instance, need to use?
- Upstairs you can heating pipes between the joists under the floor. We don't bother because the house is so well insulated the upstairs guest rooms borrow heat from downstairs and are never cold.
- Wooden floors are not a problem but there's a bit of calculation to be done regarding the relative heat transmission across the insulation below the UFH and the floor above - a solid wood floor may not be as efficient as stone/tiled floors (which is what we have throughout downstairs). Engineered wooden floors tend to be better for UFH.
I begin to wonder if I am the only sane PBer left. And I am a crazy alcoholic
Spoil away.
Your problem in a more widespread power cut is that the radio masts will lose power once their batteries run down. But that’s true of the phone exchange too.
Bit weird.