I appreciate that it is just a matter of personal opinion, but from where I am standing it looks like Insulate Britain is at most an irritant, likely to make some folk dig their heels in and dismiss the need for change. But there are a couple of real levers for positive change. One is the ever increasing presence of Climate Change in mainstream news. The other is the certainty that methane burning is going to get dearer and dearer. I think those two, together, will produce a move towards a greener future. The only questions are how long it will take, and how much it will cost.slowster wrote: ↑25 Oct 2021, 2:40pmI think the issue that Insulate Britain is protesting about is relevant to every one of us.
Firstly, because it doesn't matter what we each do if UK housing overall continues to require excessively large and wasteful amounts of energy to heat it. That unnecessary and avoidable higher demand results in higher prices for all, and for many of the most vulnerable it will result in (increasing) fuel poverty. That will result in a return to the bad old days of more elderly people having to choose between heating or eating, and regular reports of deaths each winter/cold snap because they could not afford to heat their homes properly.
Secondly, the scope for people to improve the insulation and air tightness of their homes to the degree that is probably essential in the medium to longer term*, is greatly limited by the nature of our existing housing stock. Much of our housing is of poor quality construction, but more crucially the designs are very difficult/impossible to upgrade to the sort of super energy efficient housing that is likely to be needed, i.e. based on currently available and commercially viable technology. Adding more loft insulation, fitting new/better double glazing etc. is not going to be anywhere near sufficient. Heat is lost from homes like water from a bucket with holes, and to make the performance improvement required every one of those holes has to be identified and effectively sealed. The commercial sector currently cannot deliver that: it does not have suitable technological solutions to offer which can be delivered at scale, installed relatively quickly, and at an acceptable price. Only Government is in a position to make a difference to this, e.g. by funding research and development work by academics and the Building Research Establihment etc. For the last 10 to 20 years Governments have simply not been doing that (certainly not to the extent needed). Hence it is probably in all our interests that Insulate Britain succeeds in persuading the current Government to direct far more resources and effort into the field.
* Essential not just to meet carbon reduction targets, but also to ensure that the UK is much less vulnerable to large increases in the cost of energy and/or reductions in the supply of energy. For example, the UK only gets 5% of its gas from Russia, but much of the rest of Europe depends heavily on Russian gas, and if the price is increased then that would result in the price of other forms of energy increasing across Europe, including the UK.
I appreciate mjr's assurances about noise from AS heat pumps, and I too wish the makers could get their act together and make them nicer to look at.