BritDownUnder wrote: ↑28 Sep 2021, 12:33
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I like the fact that there are Insulation protesters now blocking the road. That is one roadblock I can agree with. However it seems there is great difficulty in insulating houses and flats in the UK. I have no idea why, whether there are economic or practical reasons maybe. ...........
The block to insulating homes in the UK is mainly economic and partly esthetic. Because harm to the environment isn't taken into account in an economic appraisal the £30k to £40k that it would cost to insulate a house in the UK, on a medium sized contract basis, is seen to be too high. Also the relatively short term of the occupation of the houses means that it is not "economically viable" to spend that sort of money. While most people will spend extra on a house with an expensive, fancy kitchen and bathroom they won't spend extra on a house that has been so well insulated that their heating bills will be 80% lower than any other house and few lenders will lend a little extra on that basis either. It has been said that under the old Green Deal, where a covenant was put on houses which had benefited from the scheme to insulate the house, lenders were reluctant to lend. That reluctance must be stamped upon by the government.
The next stage in insulating most houses and the one which will save the most energy is to insulate the walls on the outside. Many people are reluctant to do this as they like their brick houses rather than what is seen to be a cheap, rendered finish. A government funded scheme could pay for a rendered finish with the option of the house owner paying extra for a brick slip finish, basically a brick sized, textured and coloured tile fixed over the insulation with a mortar bed between slips.
This is all paid for by a surcharge on the electricity bill which would be less than any savings made on fuel purchases so the house owner won't notice any extra costs. On the contrary they should still see a saving. This payment would be covenanted on the deeds for a specific length of time, say 50 or 60 years. As the government will have raised the money to pay for this loan through the same Ways and Means method used to print the money to pay for the covid crisis, as long as the money returned is written off and not used to fund any current account spending, the money raised will not be inflationary.
The economic brake could be freed by such a government scheme similar to the old Green Deal but with an interest free loan and an "ultimate" insulation level: a level at which the returns cease to pay for the energy savings and that coincides with the thickness of the insulation for a given energy saving becoming unmanageable. That coincides with a U-value of about 0.08 W/m deg K for roofs at 450mm fibre, 0.1 for walls, about 300mm of fibre, about 0.1 for floors, about 200 for PIR foam and triple gazing to openings. The air tighness level should also be improved to below 0.6 air changes per hour. this installation should include the installation of Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery and the replacement of the fossil fuel boiler with a heat pump.
It seems to me that if there is no will to recycle waste then it is probably better burnt rather than landfilled, and if it is burnt then it is best to extract all the possible energy from it, even the low grade heat.
The problem comes where people don't see waste as a problem but rather an opportunity to make warmth and so don't reduce their waste. And something like the clause penalising local authorities for not supplying enough waste will emphasise this. Such clauses should be made illegal with very heavy fines. While they are making a law it should include a fine on any UK company which takes a nation to court for bringing in a law which reduces their fossil energy production and/or consumption and consequently the profits or turnover of that company. The fine should be double any award from the tribunal.
