'Power' is Knowledge

[Outtasight]

I think that abandoning MCS and FITS should be considered... [cut]

1. Encourage planners, builders etc to progress towards passivhaus standards as a minimum standard, as current UK building standards are worse now than they were in Germany 40 years ago.( Based on my observations of housing construction in Germany during my youth).

2. Penalise those who waste energy in their homes. Having access to heat and light is a privilege not a right, so should be paid for, and waste penalised. I would reverse tariff structures whereby the 1st tranche is cheap, then each tranche becomes more expensive, penalising profligacy, especially those who can now afford to waste it.

I'd go with most of that...

Perhaps, while we're waiting for the MCS/FIT system to change (read: inevitably be scrapped due to its unaffordability to those not benefiting from it), we should donate our FIT payments to the NEA, a charity dedicated to educating people on how to lift themselves out of energy poverty through energy efficiency (especially taking up free insulation) and campaigning for social tariffs and so on.  http://www.nea.org.uk/  They have a campaign where well-off pensioners can donate their unwanted Winter Fuel Payments. 

If you need the FIT payments to pay for the cost of the installed kit, maybe you could keep the generating credits but donate the export credits (the profit element)?  But, seeing as most of us paid for this "investment" with spare cash laying about in some mattress, do we need to recover that money?

[stuartiannaylor]

Philip R, what you just said at least has an obvious clarity. Energy prices hikes are already being hiked by those "Snakeskin-oiled salesmen" such as centrica.

It was predicted that the price rise for 2020 would be between 10-20%, considering we have just heard price hikes of 7% by companies posting huge profits, at time of year that is an absolute must for the majority to heat there homes.

Its looking like the 2020 prediction could be woefully low. If we increase VAT on fuel by 10% and give concessions to those only in absolute need. At least we are gaining revenue when we have the choice to give concessions. When we get to 2020 for many it will be just a case of wrap up and put up and maybe even die if you read the prediction for increases in winter deaths.

Then you can balance the tax gains by giving building (refurbs & new) and renewables tax breaks. It would be the only way to get this country onto a roadmap of the expansion in these area's that are essential.

The lobbyist's will never allow this and there are reasons to grid tied technologies and the main word is "TIED".
Macro CHP in small scale community implementations is very efficient as the heat has a small distance to travel, at a minimum it can cover peak costs. Also it gives independence from the corporate energy vultures who now have a monopoly and the power to change government direction.
The accreditation schemes and approved equipment lists are an absolute travesty, halt innovation and apparently the government is looking to hand out contracts only to the main 6 suppliers.
Schemes that prove they provide increases in energy savings should be able to gain access to retrospective grants. Who cares what list it is on if it works then it should be rewarded. This is opposed to the current method of approved systems and installers who gain grants and don't give a s*** as the money is already in their back pockets.

[Eleanor]

Tell me about it, I am blue in the face trying to get my parents in law to have more insulation in their loft. They have a bungalow, the loft is like a football pitch!
Barely 1/3 is boarded and there is some 'stuff' up there but not much. There is about 4" of ragged 'scratchy' up there, being in their 80's they could get subsidised (or free if they were below 4") but all they see is hassle of moving stuff.

Best option I can see is to slip something in their horlicks and do the job while they are sleeping!!

MarkTime

Marktime, are your parents in law quite small  I think anyone below 4" or even 6" should definitely get their insulation for free but only if they live in appropriately sized houses 

[biff]

 
      like the wee folk,,,,,,,,,,,,

[wookey]

The DECC report Ted links to does show that rates of insulating are quite high. In the last 3 years 1.8 million (10% of all cavity wall) houses had cavity wall insulation done and 2.85 million (12% of all lofts) had their loft insulation upgraded past 125mm (presumably to 270 in general). That's ~3% (600,000) and ~4% (950,000) per year. It'll take another 14 years to do all the walls and 11 years to do all the lofts at that rate, which is in the right ballpark for 'on target'. Could do a better, but certainly not a disaster. Of course the work won't go on linearly, and indeed declined significantly between the last two reporting periods in the report. Is that recession, or have we done all the people who could be arsed?

Interestingly 32% of the loft insulation has been DIY _and_ funded by CERT. So the govt can allow funding of DIY work when it chooses to; in this case by subsidising the materials. A bit (lot) more of that would be a good thing.

[billt]

The penultimate reporting period was winter and there were a lot of very cheap deals on loft insulation at the time. The last period was spring, people lose interest in insulation when the weather's warming up, and they'd probably done it in the winter anyway. As the number of projects increases the installation rate will fall naturally.

That DECC report looks as if it's based largely on guesswork, and is very pessimistic. The propaganda for insulation, particularly loft insulation, has been going for over 40 years. There may well be some people who have ignored it, for any number of reasons, but I would think that the number is small and they aren't that likely to change now.

[marktime]

Doh. it made perfect sense to me when I wrote it!

MT

[KenB]

Helps the drug squad spot the ones with the cannabis farms in the loft, without the expense of the police helicopter!

[marktime]

I've seen some new builds near me that are shedding snow very fast, it may be the south facing grey slate that is  warming in the sun, I need to have a peek at the north facing side.

MT