[Sticky] Renewables & Heat Pumps in the News

Mars · 2022-04-28T14:13:36Z

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JamesPa

(@jamespa)

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Joined: 3 years ago

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14/11/2025 11:31 am

Just a couple more thoughts to throw into the mix.

(i) For me at least, decarbonisation has be something of a revelation. In reality I bought both my heat pump and my electric car largely for 'green' reasons. However having got them my electric car is far superior to any fossil car I have ever had, and my heat pump system is far superior to any boiler system I have ever had. I would now require a significant subsidy to 'go back'. Please hold this thought!

Currently the prevailing public narrative about heat pumps goes something like "they are green and expensive to install, you wont save anything on running costs and you will likely encounter some hassle" Thas not a great incentive for many whatever the capital grant situation is.

However the middle class in particular will pay large amounts of money to have something which either has kudos or gives comfort/convenience. Is there a future in which people upgrade their heating (and in the process get a heat pump) not grudgingly or because they want to support the green agenda, but because they can boast about it/show it off to the neighbours and/or they recognise it will deliver better performance? I would say that there should be such a future, and perhaps could be. At present however it seems a long way off. What needs to change and how can that change occur?

(ii) without a doubt the best time to do an upgrade to your heating system is either (a) when you are refurbishing anyway or (b) when your boiler has broken. Yet the timescale for getting a satisfactory heat pump quote simply isnt easily compatible, certainly with (b) and in some cases with (a). How can we change this?

(iii) When grants eventually disappear entirely (which they obviously will) and given the change to PD rules that was made in May, there would no longer be a requirement for MCS certification. Does that offer any opportunities?

None of these comments is intended to weaken the arguments made against reducing grants, just exploring what a grant free landscape might look like.

This post was modified 1 hour ago 4 times by JamesPa

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.

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JamesPa

(@jamespa)

Illustrious Member Moderator

Joined: 3 years ago

Posts: 3387

14/11/2025 12:39 pm

Posted by: @editor

↑

This is very loosely connected, but today’s Public Accounts Committee hearing on ECO4 was brutal: 22,000 to 23,000 external wall insulation jobs are defective. 98% of installations under ECO4 failed.

It’s a trade epidemic out there!

Now its been exposed the owners of the companies concerned are presumably busy paying themselves 'special dividends' and deferring paying tax, so that they can conveniently go bust and thus any liability for shoddy workmanship, which inevitably will end up falling onto us as taxpayers. Much like (allegedly) PPE Medpro (the company linked to Baroness Mone) which, aside from delivering useless PPE and owing us £122M in damages, also owes us £39M in tax and, guess what, its in administration so we wont get it.

Aren't the people who do such things sh1t?

This post was modified 15 minutes ago by JamesPa

This post was modified 14 minutes ago by JamesPa

4kW peak of solar PV since 2011; EV and a 1930s house which has been partially renovated to improve its efficiency. 7kW Vaillant heat pump.

ReplyQuote