Briefing 47, The Global Warming Policy Foundation. The Brink of Darkness: Britain’s fragile power grid by John Constable.
I was prompted to reread the above yesterday by two things, one the receipt of a combined gas and electricity bill, the second by obtaining an EPC certificate, a legal necessity now to place a house on the market.
80% of the gas/electricity bill was made up of standing charges, all to pay for the eco madness farce govts are pursuing – all of course at our expense.
For many years my view has been that our money, and it is our money, should be invested in the expansion of nuclear powered energy, this should have been under way many years ago but as usual no govts have pursued this path preferring the sticking plaster approach.
First my view on the EPC, these are the words of the EPC assessor, “it’s a make work set up, useless, just another scheme to tick boxes. Introduced by Labour the actual parameters of the measurements have been altered and altered so the framework I have to use is totally different to that when this started, they have continuously interfered, altered to make things fit with their latest schemes.” Just another example of govt/EU/Climate bozos interfering in the life of others.
The recommendations and advice he is forced to put on are not realistic, to me at least. I’ve taken these figures from the EPC he was doing at the time.
An example from said EPC of the recommendations he was obliged to put on it.
Step 3: Solar water heating
| Typical installation cost | £4,000 – £6,000 |
| Typical yearly saving | £29 |
| Potential rating after completing steps 1 to 3 | 74 C |
Step 4: Solar photovoltaic panels, 2.5 kWp
| Typical installation cost | £3,500 – £5,500 |
| Typical yearly saving | £357 |
| Potential rating after completing steps 1 to 4 |
Really?
I haven’t heard anyone so far say I like the house but first I need to see the EPC. However the present regime who are pursuing the crazy Zero policy are now legislating that property in the Private Rented Sector must have a rating of C or above (2024/5). strangely, funnily even, this will not apply to Social Housing.
It is impossible to bring many older, Victorian, properties up to C even within the current EPC parameters not to mention the thousands of pounds spent for no better rating. Talk about joined up thinking, there isn’t any – ever. Landlords in the PRS will be forced by law to spend a minimum of £10,000 per property regardless of any beneficial outcome.
A side comment, I posted yesterday regarding the quietly legislated into law new building regulations……….if you are thinking of building, alterations, read them and weep.
I see a leading house builder building houses near me which consist of light wooden skeletons infilled with foam blocks which then have a very light membrane wrapped around the outside followed by a single layer of brick. Internally they are composed of aluminium stud work and plasterboard and hermetically sealed with double glazed units, a roof premade off site consisting of gang nailed trusses, the wood used the flimsiest only just meeting minimum spec, is then craned on. The roof voids of such houses do not have the ventilation traditionally built houses have no matter how the regs are worded with phrases such as permanent flow etc. consequently there is moisture build up, rotting ensues. Talking off the record to a site agents he said if they last fifty years that’s all they aim for.
This is the link to the latest building regs,
One of the newly minted strictures in the above regards mandatory EV charging points.
Newly constructed residential and non-residential structures undergoing significant renovations, and newly constructed or substantially renovated mixed-use structures.
Buildings undertaking these renovations will, at the very least, require the installation of a 7kW untethered E.V. charger or supply cable routes. A 7kW charger will provide around 30 miles of range per hour.
I fail to see advancement of mankind when a vehicle has to be left unused overnight to allow it to charge sufficiently to get to the coalface the next day to work and pay yet more taxes instead of calling in the filling station for five minutes, never mind the question of where and how these mandatory charging points are going to be placed.
For new housing developments that gained planning permission under the old regulations, work must have been started on a unit by 15 June 2023 or the new regulations will apply. For works that fall under these new regulations, but are not subject to notices or applications, there are no transitional arrangements.
Even more changes will be coming in 2025 to make buildings more energy efficient but these measures are a stop-gap until then. How much worse can they make it – don’t answer that, it will be worse not better.
All this to force the population to use renewable energy, vastly expensive and which is very problematic to manage as set out in “The Brink of Darkness -Britain’s fragile power grid” which is worth reading IMO as it explains the idiocy of forcing us to rely on wind and solar power, neither of which are controllable, wind and sun do not blow or shine to order.
The most sun is usually in Summer when demand is lower, wind blowing too strongly means the turbines have to be switched off. Solar and Wind do not produce power to order therefore they don’t match demand. What follows is that millions are spent paying for them to be switched off if too much sun, too much wind for current demand. Neither Solar or Wind power have versatility unlike the old power stations which consequently are through necessity kept on standby. A further difficulty is trying to transmit the power around the country to where it’s needed, yet another world of pain.
IMO the whole Go Green Net Zero Farce should be reined in. Yes Solar and Wind power can have a place but not at all in the way that it is being forced on us at present.
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