Rudi Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 Diesel for the car here is now about £1.12 a litre and electricity is due to go up 30% It's £1.32 a litre here! Someone told me that the price hikes are just a means of permanently inflating prices - that 'they' hike them up high, then drop them off a bit so we all think we're lucky that they've gone back down a little, but they've still been substantially increased. If that makes sense... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 We had solar water heating panels on our house back in the 1980s, even then they really did work quite well and in the summer we had more free hot water than we ever used: even in the winter the solar brought the water temp up to vaguely warm a lot of the time so the boiler had much less work to do. My family no longer own that house, but the panels are still there and working! I keep pondering getting some here, I bet they are more efficient now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudi Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 We had solar water heating panels on our house back in the 1980s, even then they really did work quite well and in the summer we had more free hot water than we ever used: even in the winter the solar brought the water temp up to vaguely warm a lot of the time so the boiler had much less work to do. My family no longer own that house, but the panels are still there and working! I keep pondering getting some here, I bet they are more efficient now. I looked into it, but they were really expensive. It would have taken something close to 10 years to get the money back. I guess if they were somehow linked into heating the house as well as providing water, you'd be on a winner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cycas Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 we are on Calor, so the savings would be more for us. Though not having mains gas means we are used to paying through the nose for fuel! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DanishPastry Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 Since moving here (Martin late january, myself early march) we have already been saving as much as we can. We don't have a car (yet), so no fuel cost ...but quite a few replaced inner-tubes though! We shop in ASDA and buy their own brands and go for the offers as well. We turn all switches off at the wall, not only on buttons, so no tv, pc or kitchen appliances on standby. We collect the water from our showers and use it for flushing the toilet. We have the water heater on for only as long as needed to heat water for showers/dishes. We obviously never have the heating on now, but when it was colder, we would put it on for half an hour or so in the morning to get the day started, but then not for the rest of the day. Not sure how we will cope next winter if we have a car, and prices are going up even more. Time will tell. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zico's mum Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 I would love a wood burner but don't have a chimney,have trees in front of my house on open space and a park half a minute away with lots of wood lying on the ground,often comes up on Freecycle here too when people have had trees trimmed or felled.I always have a pashmina on the back of my sofa and thow that round my shoulders if cold,no heating in bedroom or bathroom - hate it in the bedroom anyway and if it's very cold I put a halogen heater on in the doorway of the bathroom to heat it up before a bath,they are very effective.I find most public places - and majority of homes I've visited - here in UK grossly overheated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobs mum Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 Does anyone know anything about the new car tax that may be coming in next April affecting all cars older than 2001? Have just picked up a conversation on the radio that increases could by as much as up to £450 a year. Of course, this also means the bottom is dropping out of the 2nd hand car market. if you look on www.parker.co.uk it tells you how much tax each different band is (they are going off the emmisions on cars the higher the emmisions the higher the tax) but ts only on cars registered after i think its the 1st april 2001, and you can also use the dropdowns to check make and model to find out how much tax will be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rudi Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 Re heating your house - I heard about something where a pipe is drilled down into the earth, not sure how far, but because the further down you go, the warmer it gets, you can vent the warmth back up to heat a house. I don't think the pipe had to go down that far. Sounds interesting, no idea who does it or how much it costs to install - but it would presumably give free heating... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happylittlegreensquirrel Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 Re heating your house - I heard about something where a pipe is drilled down into the earth, not sure how far, but because the further down you go, the warmer it gets, you can vent the warmth back up to heat a house. I don't think the pipe had to go down that far. Sounds interesting, no idea who does it or how much it costs to install - but it would presumably give free heating... Sounds like Jules Verne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nouggatti Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 Re heating your house - I heard about something where a pipe is drilled down into the earth, not sure how far, but because the further down you go, the warmer it gets, you can vent the warmth back up to heat a house. I don't think the pipe had to go down that far. Sounds interesting, no idea who does it or how much it costs to install - but it would presumably give free heating... Aha, something I know a small amount about. My SIL (who owns a monstrous 5,000 sq feet house) added an extension of half that size to it about 18 months ago. Our govt put a grant scheme in place for energy efficient means of heating so I told them about that and they did some research. It's called geothermal heating, and they installed it. It costs the same as installing a normal central heating system, but it regulates the temperature constantly and keeps it consistent all the time. Geotherm uses about 10% of the normal amount of energy to generate heat/water. They were previously on oil, and say that in the 18 months geotherm has already paid for half of the cost of the installation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClazUK Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 Re heating your house - I heard about something where a pipe is drilled down into the earth, not sure how far, but because the further down you go, the warmer it gets, you can vent the warmth back up to heat a house. I don't think the pipe had to go down that far. Sounds interesting, no idea who does it or how much it costs to install - but it would presumably give free heating... The mad house we stayed in in Suffolk had this. Matt was trying to explain it to me, but it went a bit over my head. Perhaps I should get it installed before the new garden goes in? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happylittlegreensquirrel Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 geothermal heating sounds really interesting it annoys me is there are so many eco friendly options for fuel but they are not accessible to most people I think every new building in the UK should be built with solar panels installed and more wind turbines should be installed where its possible , just think if every building did have solar panels how much fossil fuel that would save a year Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happylittlegreensquirrel Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 does any one know if there are any grants or government assisted schemes in the UK for fitting solar panels Grandma Squirrel thought there used to be but neither of us can find any thing now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nouggatti Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 I've a fair bit of info on geothermal heating if anyone wants it? A lot of it is on an irish forum that you don't need to join to read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ClazUK Posted June 19, 2008 Report Share Posted June 19, 2008 I've a fair bit of info on geothermal heating if anyone wants it? Just tell me if I can afford it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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