Climate Calendar February

What can you do at home? Part 1: Home Heating

We are seeing the first few shoots popping out of the ground, offering a hopeful nod to spring being on its way, and many of us might be thinking about the dark winter days as long past.

However, mornings are still a bit frosty, and it is still a bit chilly. We have a way to go before t-shirts and shorts. Thinking about how we heat our homes is a good way to consider practical steps we can all take at home to help reduce our energy demands. There is a full range of interventions we can try, and we’ve put a few ideas below. Please do share your tips and tricks as well.

Jumpers, cardigans, scarves, and blankets are all your friends. As you can see from the image, I’m a big scarf lady, probably one too many if I’m honest, but popping a scarf or cardi on makes a huge difference to my body temp and is far better at heating me than the whole room!

Raising your internal body temperature – maybe you can do some jumping jacks, some armchair exercises, or a quick stroll around the block – raising your internal temperature will help you not need to flick that thermostat anymore.

Close doors and windows – this one may seem silly, but it’s amazing the impact that closing a door can have to help keep the heat within a room.

Heat sources

Jane Forshaw, one of our climate experts, acquired a 1700s Welsh long house at a stage where they could design and integrate renewable energy solutions, they capitalised on the renewable heat incentive and installed a biomass boiler.

The expenditure, totalling £17k for the boiler and two hot water systems, encompassed design, commissioning, and product supply. Despite the initial investment, Jane anticipates recovering £14k from the Domestic Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI) within seven years, deeming the expense worthwhile in the long run.

In terms of biomass costs, Jane currently finds it more economical than oil, the only other viable fuel option given their location off the gas grid. Disruptions caused by the Ukraine war affected Jane’s sustainable pellet supply from Eastern Europe. The pellets now need to meet specific RHI standards.

Although the RHI program has finished, Jane would like to highlight the replacement funding available under the clean heat grant and considering an air source heat pump as an alternative to oil.

Passivhaus

Another of our climate experts, Jo Wall, lives in a Passivhaus (passive house) which has extensive insulation, including underfloor insulation, an airtight membrane (which could be a challenging to retrofit) and a ‘mechanical ventilation and heat recovery system’ (MVHR) that circulates pre-warmed fresh air. Additionally, Jo has solar PV, a 13.5kW domestic battery utilized for storing surplus solar energy, and solar thermal. While the economics of solar thermal and the battery are not as favourable as PV, both have a return on investment within a decade.

Jo’s annual fuel bills amount to approximately £1,200, covering all electricity costs. This includes background heating in the winter, household electrics (including the MVHR), and charging the car, constituting around 40% of the total usage. To put it in perspective, the car battery is 70kWh, roughly five times the size of the domestic battery.

ECO schemes

There are a number of government-backed schemes that can help you make upgrades to your home. Energy Company Obligation (ECO) – Local Authorities | Ofgem

While we do try to make changes to our home heating and try new behaviors, we also want to remind you to be comfortable and safe in your home. I know from experience that when it’s freezing cold in the shed, I cannot think straight. So, while I might want to try and reduce my energy demands, I also need to live safely and well in my home.

Remember, it’s the small changes that we can stick to which will help us all pull in the right direction.

How You Can Get Involved

In the coming months we’ll be covering many more topics in our Climate calendar such as: Energy Efficiency, Passivhaus Building, travel and many more ideas.

Stay tuned and sign up to our newsletter too to make sure you don’t miss out.

These are some of our favourite things. What are yours? We’d love to hear!  Reach out to us on social media or please write us a comment using the form on this page.