Can We Insulate To Zero Carbon, Or Even Affordable Heating ?

[Chekhov]

The idea, from "Insulate Britain" and others, that insulating people's houses will mean they can sufficiently lower their power usage to counter balance the costs of expensive green power sounds like  a win win for everyone.

Well can that be true ? 

We live in a three bedroom house, i.e. about the average size, though it is a detached so slightly less energy efficient than a semi but, it has :

Full double glazing.

Draught proofed.

Cavity wall insulation.

Loads of loft insulation.

Thermostatic radiator valves.

CH only on for about hours a day.

House thermostat set to only 20 degrees.

Lastly, we have a 3kW solar system which is in perfect alignment with the sun. 

Yet, even with all of the above, our gas and elec bills together are about £1400 a year, and that's at the 2020 prices because our tariff is still fixed.

So insulating our way out of this is, well, cobblers.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Chekhov

[Dromedary]

2 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

So insulating our way out of this is, well, cobblers.

I would have thought that will the many free and cheap subsidised insulation initiatives over the past decade that there would be very few home than would benefit from any extra. A few weeks ago I had a call from an insulation company that stated my loft had the wrong type of insulation. When I asked how they knew they replied that it was on a government database. The person hung up when I said it was re insulated a few years ago so the database was wrong. It looks as though there have been scams going on with all this insulation business. 

[Jack Grey]

27 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

The idea, from "Insulate Britain" and others, that insulating people's houses will mean they can sufficiently lower their power usage to counter balance the costs of expensive green power sounds like  a win win for everyone.

Well can that be true ? 

We live in a three bedroom house, i.e. about the average size, though it is a detached so slightly less energy efficient than a semi but, it has :

Full double glazing.

Draught proofed.

Cavity wall insulation.

Loads of loft insulation.

Thermostatic radiator valves.

CH only on for about hours a day.

House thermostat set to only 20 degrees.

Lastly, we have a 3kW solar system which is in perfect alignment with the sun. 

Yet, even with all of the above, our gas and elec bills together are about £1400 a year, and that's at the 2020 prices because our tariff is still fixed.

So insulating our way out of this is, well, cobblers.

Id love to know how many insulation companies have donated to 'Insulate Britain' 🤔

 

Insulating every home in the UK would be a very lucrative contract 

[El Cid]

52 minutes ago, Chekhov said:

The idea, from "Insulate Britain" and others, that insulating people's houses will mean they can sufficiently lower their power usage to counter balance the costs of expensive green power sounds like  a win win for everyone.

Well can that be true ?   So insulating our way out of this is, well, cobblers.

Founded with the aim of demanding insulation across the United Kingdom, the group laid out two specific demands for its September 2021 protests. The first is that the British government fund insulation of all social housing by 2025, and the second is that, by the end of 2021, the government must create a plan to fund retrofitting of insulation of all homes in Britain by 2030.

 

Better standards for homes will help. They should bring back the requirement for net zero homes, for new build houses, which was scapped in 2015.

 

New homes and buildings in England will have to produce significantly less CO2 under new rules announced by the government today to help the country move towards net zero.

Under the new regulations, CO2 emissions from new build homes must be around 30% lower than current standards and emissions from other new buildings, including offices and shops, must be reduced by 27%.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-homes-to-produce-nearly-a-third-less-carbon

[Chekhov]

53 minutes ago, Dromedary said:

I would have thought that will the many free and cheap subsidised insulation initiatives over the past decade that there would be very few home than would benefit from any extra. A few weeks ago I had a call from an insulation company that stated my loft had the wrong type of insulation. When I asked how they knew they replied that it was on a government database. The person hung up when I said it was re insulated a few years ago so the database was wrong. It looks as though there have been scams going on with all this insulation business. 

I agree, and I also doubt there are that many houses without double glazing.

 

4 minutes ago, El Cid said:

Founded with the aim of demanding insulation across the United Kingdom, the group laid out two specific demands for its September 2021 protests. The first is that the British government fund insulation of all social housing by 2025, and the second is that, by the end of 2021, the government must create a plan to fund retrofitting of insulation of all homes in Britain by 2030.

 

Better standards for homes will help. They should bring back the requirement for net zero homes, for new build houses, which was scapped in 2015.

 

New homes and buildings in England will have to produce significantly less CO2 under new rules announced by the government today to help the country move towards net zero.

Under the new regulations, CO2 emissions from new build homes must be around 30% lower than current standards and emissions from other new buildings, including offices and shops, must be reduced by 27%.

 

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-homes-to-produce-nearly-a-third-less-carbon

That's all very well, but the experience of our house is that it will make a relatively small difference, and, if it's done by yet more regulations and mandates it'll be inefficient and yet more modern PITA ballcox making everyone's life even more complicated.

 

As for nett zero houses, do they achieve that by having small windows (less natural light, worse views), not being constructed of bricks and mortar (so they won't last as long) and being terraced (so noisy neighbours can make your life hell) ?

If so I'll give that a pass thanks.....

Edited March 1, 2022 by Chekhov

[butlers]

Building Research Establishment Trust says we have the worst insulated housing stock in northern europe

[Dromedary]

18 minutes ago, butlers said:

Building Research Establishment Trust says we have the worst insulated housing stock in northern europe

Saying that is easy, proving it however seems to be hard as I can't find any data so far to back that up. It seems obvious that the further you go north the colder it is and the more insulation you will need to effectively insulate to the same standards. Colder climates may need more but that does not equate to being better just that its better for them.