I won’t take part in another consultation again. I did the MCS monopoly one last year and spent around 45 minutes completing it, putting a lot of thought and opinion into my responses. The outcome? The government completely ignored the views of respondents and didn’t meaningfully factor them into the final decision, which I think is frankly ridiculous.

Most respondents to that consultation (in their report) were not in favour of MCS’s monopoly.

So what’s the point of running a public consultation if the responses are simply disregarded? I won’t be wasting my time again. So I don’t think you’re being cynical at all. 

That said, thanks for sharing this.

@rusty 

I had a look, got tired after 11 of the 38 or so questions. 

To be honest, most questions seem sensible. They do not seem to pay much attention to fossil fuel lobbying. Some of the questions seem to try to solve problems that I do not see or maybe they do not even exist! 

I am not sure how well this could work, but I am sharing my current answers for anyone to copy without shame (if you believe in it enough to submit) and hopefully also benefit from comments here... 

At the moment, I see it as a personal submission. I would update the preamble in case this changes with any climate group inputs..

There's more to gain by submitting a personal response.
It's extremely rare for individuals to respond to Government consultations.

It looks like this consultation has arisen out of lobbying from the commercial alternative heating technologies companies.

They seem to have overlooked the provision I've made for a Tokamak Fusion Reactor in the paddock behind the orchard.

Q.26 asks for "views on the cost at which renewable liquid heating fuels – produced from sustainable feedstocks - could be made available to consumers".

Should I point out that the UK still imports 55% of vegetables, which isn't helped by Government support for locating massive solar farms on flat agricultural land in Lincolnshire?

@editor I’ve a strange feeling of Déjà vu, like I’ve been around this loop before.

After trying to get any sense out of BDUK/DSIT regarding Gigabit fibre policy, I can understand your position. Though, if the public don’t respond, then it perhaps becomes a cosy discussion between industry and government, but then that may be the underlying aim, who knows. “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes” (I had to look that up, no Latin at my Comp).

@batpred Indeed, some of the questions seem directed at unlikely solutions, but thanks for the effort. The consultation appears to address about 1% of the UK greenhouse gas emissions and ignores the problem of gas boilers. Just wondering if it was a Trojan horse aimed at the dirty oil users, although it states that they have no intention of mandating a solution on homeowners (hmmmmm). It is probably aimed at the >1M homes that are particularly difficult to adapt. I’m slowly working through modifications to improve the house fabric heat loss with the intention of considering an ASHP/solar/batteries. Cost appears to be another big issue, along with high electricity costs in the UK. In the past, I looked into alternatives like biomass boilers, but discounted them on practicality/cost/size/reliability. I was interested in a GSHP, but that’s out of the question on cost. I’ve just looked at a report on SPF for heat pumps, which has probably already been discussed to death on this forum, which indicates that HTHPs don’t perform much worse than LTHPs, but then I don’t see the need for a HTHP if the fabric has been improved to a minimum standard. I believe that the conclusion was that HTHPs don’t actually spend much time at HT due to WC, etc.

@transparent Perhaps public responses are rare because individuals probably have to be motivated to find these things out in the first case and reply.

I’m in an AONB, permitted development rights for Fusion Reactors are withdrawn without planning (as is ground mount solar PV as I recently found out), better not mention the fusion cannon in the shed.

Posted by: @rusty

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@transparent Perhaps public responses are rare because individuals probably have to be motivated to find these things out in the first case and reply.

Yes, I agree that the dearth of public knowledge of energy issues is a major reason why there is so little engagement with future energy strategy...
... and it's also the major reason why so many installations of domestic energy appliances is poor.

Few members of the public know enough about energy technology to know when a designer/installer is getting it wrong.

But the number of responses to official public consultations is very low anyway.

I've been involved with the last three consultations from DESNZ about a Smart and Secure Electricity System (SSES).
These started in 2022, and the last question set was on Governance – the regulations to be put in place which will allow 3rd parties to remotely control household appliances.

There were only 31 respondents across the whole of Britain.

The response level was so low that I can detect when DESNZ staff are referring to my submission in their Report.

Frankly I'd be able to get more useful feedback to the proposals by setting up a gazebo in a market town/city like Salisbury or Evesham and talk directly to passers-by!

Posted by: @batpred

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Most questions seem sensible. They do not seem to pay much attention to fossil fuel lobbying. Some of the questions seem to try to solve problems that I do not see or maybe they do not even exist! 

I am not sure how well this could work, but I am sharing my current answers for anyone to copy without shame (if you believe in it enough to submit) and hopefully also benefit from comments here... 

So I completed this, but have not yet submitted. Will go with the higher value of being an individual contribution..

Just reproducing one of the questions I struggled to understand but had a go at an anwer!

Has anyone ever seen any such hybrid heat pumps that apparently burning cooking oil, are they as common as fridges running on fossil fuel gas? 🤣 

30. Do you have any evidence or views on the role that hybrid heat pumps, comprising of a heat pump and an appliance using 100% renewable liquid fuels, could play in decarbonising heat? 

We would particularly welcome any evidence or views which takes into account:

• Installation and running costs
• In-situ performance
• Impact on the electricity grid
• User experience
• Potential to be used with controls that can maintain up-to-date fuel pricing and cost-optimise the system (including how best they can update price data for fuels that are bought in bulk)
• Potential to be used in certain housing types where other low carbon solutions may not be feasible or would be less cost effective and 
• Any other factors you consider may be relevant

Please enter your response below 

No, I have no supporting evidence. I never heard about this. 

My views: I cannot see how any taxpayer money should go into it. Why would we have found such a unique solution when no-one else is pursuing it? Who would service this, as clearly it would be two technologies…

If there are grid constraints that impact some consumers moving out of burning fossil fuel for heating, I would prefer tax money to be put to integrate them with the electrical grid. And after that, increase tax on fossil fuel heating oil to align to net0 goals.  

I am wondering if these hybrid heat pumps could be just something like what was discussed not long ago, installing an oil boiler after a heat pump?

I went through this consultation and answered where I had a relevant input. But mostly my reaction was”what on earth for?” They seems to be scratching around for hard figures for bio-diesel etc

Sometimes I commented on a foolish question.

Yes, it could be biodiesel, but some of it makes me question the boundaries of what may be considered reasonable objections from people that just need to move on from fossil fuels. 

I tried my best to stay within the bounds of polite incredulity. It would be nice if civil servants could more easily state the obvious and stick to the priorities, keeping taxpayer money away from these odd ideas. It smells of a lack of access from folks with science backgrounds to roles in civil service and politician. 

Posted by: @judith

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They seems to be scratching around for hard figures for bio-diesel etc

Bio-diesel / HVO is used extensively in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset
It's bought by rural properties who use oil boilers for central heating.

Instead of using a public consultation exercise, HMG could learn all they want by reading the stories online.

Posted by: @transparent

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Posted by: @judith

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They seems to be scratching around for hard figures for bio-diesel etc

Bio-diesel / HVO is used extensively in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset
It's bought by rural properties who use oil boilers for central heating.

Instead of using a public consultation exercise, HMG could learn all they want by reading the stories online.

The consultation is looking specifically at how to expand the use of renewable oils, alluding to properties not suitable for heatpumps, etc. I have no idea why they would not. 

The ones you mention are using bio diesel are presumably already where HMG expects them to be for net0.