I feel that with a choice between Climate Chaos and Shifting one’s Posterior as options, though costly, I go for the latter. Even without the Global Warming threat hanging over us all, it just makes sense not to pollute the world with dirty fossil fuels when we have the technology to make ourselves clean and comfortable in less harmful, more intelligent ways. Fossil fuels served us well for many years and the industrial revolution might not have been the same without us abusing our planet in this way. We are much wiser now and have the means to make amends; time is not on our side so action by individuals can only be a positive move.

The fact that this new technology not only stops us increasing the climate issues as quickly as we have been but also provides answers to greater comfort, less expense to wash, heat and feed ourselves is a very large bonus. Spin-offs such as employment and encouragement to carry out more research to further our endeavours is a great bonus. Think of the things attributed to The Space Programme! Regards, Toodles. 

I went with ASHP because A/ we had no central heating of any sort when moving to this rural house. B/ no gas supply here. C/ alternative was oil which, as a new install would have been a very similar price to ASHP but with no grant. D/ RHI will cover 50% of ASHP cost over 7 years so a no brainer. E/ about to install solar panels and battery to help with the extortionate cost of electricity.

if that helps save the planet then okay but it wasn’t my first concern if I’m honest.

I am determined to do this, firstly as my combi is 10 years old and is becoming expensive. A less noble reason is my daughter got an ASHP last year and told me I couldn't afford it so I want to prove her wrong. 🤣 🤣  These kids think they are so damn clever ! Also I like technology and my ancient yacht is off grid with wind and solar though I can't ditch the auxiliary diesel engine. 

Our motivation was purely driven by a desire to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we could. Heat pump and solar PV were the biggest changes we could make.

Good question.  I was moved by the obvious need to just stop burning stuff and polluting as much as we were. For many years I have run several air quality sensors as part of the Luftdaten citizen science project and to see the impact of fossil fuel burning in real time around you is an eyeopener. The other reason was to free myself from the tyranny of log splitting!  Every year saw several tons of hard wood felled, cut, split, stacked and dried and all by hand and all that before you can warm your toes at the stove. ASHP was a no brainer!

Posted by: @abernyte

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The other reason was to free myself from the tyranny of log splitting!

😆

Actually I enjoy a bit of log splitting but I can understand why having to do it differs from wanting to do it.

My Chopper1 maul has been officially retired!  It is an exceptional splitting maul for rounds. Don't see them much but it served me well for 30 years.

My primary motivation is to reduce our households carbon footprint by using an ASHP to heat the house as much as possible (bivalent system currently) while balancing running costs with oil boiler and persuading my Wife to adopt an all electric car for her daily work commute (community Nurse) and all our local travelling. This means the house now runs approx 95% on electric. How clean that electric is is another topic and beyond my control but I feel I have endeavoured to do what is within my control to make my contribution. The main reasons being:

1. David Attenborough's plea "For those in a position to make a difference then please make it happen and make a difference"

2. Over 30 years of mountain climbing and seeing with my own eyes the shear destruction of the environment, most noticeably the almost extinction of glaciers in the Alps. These are essential for fresh water supplies in Europe and without them Europe could become a desert.

3. The realisation that my generation maybe the last Grandparents, my Son and Daughter will be lucky to see old age and my Grand Daughter may not even live to see her 35th Birthday.

I was already fairly interested in low-carbon impact alternatives, and has just moved into a house with an ancient LPG boiler. The existing LPG tanks were as old as the hills, and couldn't be replaced to satisfy latest requirements, so bottles or oil the only options, and I was happy with neither (having large volumes of highly flammable materials sited so close to your house seems less than ideal to me). The technology seemed sound with HPs(!) and I was seeing issues in other options (e.g. pellet stove) so when the salesman came knocking, I bit.  

Posted by: @editor

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Our motivation was purely driven by a desire to reduce our carbon footprint as much as we could. Heat pump and solar PV were the biggest changes we could make.

Exactly as per @editor Mars.

The smelly old oil boiler in our off-grid house was getting near life expired, although it cost us almost nothing to maintain and was bomb proof. Having spent most of my professional career in the upstream oil and gas energy industry, I wanted to do my bit personally to be part of the change.

3.6kW solar PV +13kW BESS and a 10kW ASHP has been our investment at home. It has reduced our home CO2 footprint by 75%, and completely transformed the home comfort level. Also, it has slashed our energy bill from £2,200 per year to £800 a year. It cost about £23K with the £5K BUS grant deducted, but is without doubt money well spent.

Having a daughter at the more mature age of 48 shifted my opinion somewhat. Man-made climate change is a problem which her generation will find much more troubling, challenging and costly than mine. One day she will ask me what our generation did to try and mitigate the effects of climate change. The truthful answer will be 'we did very little', but I don't want to look her in the eye in 10 or 20 years time and say 'I did nothing'.

We've not yet changed either car from IC to EV, but that will come in time. We run the cars we buy into the ground, but as my wife and I both mostly work from home now, the CO2 impact of the cars we own is much less than it was when I in particular was clocking up high mileage working away regularly.

I still work in oil and gas, but also in industrial renewable energy projects now as well. 

@allyfish Poacher turned Game Keeper? 😉 (Sorry!) Toodles.