Glad to see some of the heating guys are spilling the beans on this racket.
Our country has the largest boiler market in the world; couple that with our excessive energy costs (compared to the rest of Europe) and that makes us a target for all those companies pushing so called green and environmentally friendly technology.
They are prepared to make misleading and wild claims on their efficiencies, reliability etc.
Do not be fooled.
For instance, every brochure I have read on heat pumps fails to mention the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels to generate the electricity they run on. Some less biased publications suggest you buy your electricity from "green" sources (at a higher price). None of these brochures give a realistic annual average efficiency. They always give a best case scenario.
Another example, condensing boiler manufacturers routinely print efficiencies of well over 100% in an effort to try and convince the public how they will save a fortune on their gas bills. The government (in a moment of unusual intelligence) decided to try and devise a model of typical usage. Sedbuk as its known, although not perfect and having several misgivings, does enable you to compare different makes/models. Typical savings are likely to be 10-15% with the latest boilers (assuming the rest of the heating system is up to spec). Had this Sedbuk rating not been devised we would have seen manufacturers claiming savings of perhaps 30% or more.
This process of seasonal efficiencies modeling must to be applied to all technologies, until this occurs wildly exaggerated claims will continue to be made. Furthermore there is very little data available for the true life cycle cost/environmental impact of a particular technology. Anyone care to offer any figures for the energy expended manufacturing solar panels? How about the maintenance cost - ie pumps, control board, antifreeze, tubes. I don't see manufacturers publishing this information in their sales literature.
Do your research thoroughly before being hoodwinked into this nonsense. With my day to day dealings with the public I would expect most to be able to save 30% on their energy bills by prudent and sensible living without suffering any particular hardship.
Personnally I don't see any problem with our current energy prices, I've always thought we have been paying way too little for such a finite resource. I bet most households still pay far more for their phone bills, sky package etc.
Believe me I'm not against energy saving products - its just that we are going about it the wrong way. How about running new housing estates off a central combined heat and power plant. This is routine in other countries. Get maximum energy from the gas. What sense is there in equiping each property with their own boiler (often poorly installed and then unlikely to be maintained).
As for no hope Cameron his windmill will be lucky to offset the energy used in the construction of his house extension.
Our country has the largest boiler market in the world; couple that with our excessive energy costs (compared to the rest of Europe) and that makes us a target for all those companies pushing so called green and environmentally friendly technology.
They are prepared to make misleading and wild claims on their efficiencies, reliability etc.
Do not be fooled.
For instance, every brochure I have read on heat pumps fails to mention the environmental impact of burning fossil fuels to generate the electricity they run on. Some less biased publications suggest you buy your electricity from "green" sources (at a higher price). None of these brochures give a realistic annual average efficiency. They always give a best case scenario.
Another example, condensing boiler manufacturers routinely print efficiencies of well over 100% in an effort to try and convince the public how they will save a fortune on their gas bills. The government (in a moment of unusual intelligence) decided to try and devise a model of typical usage. Sedbuk as its known, although not perfect and having several misgivings, does enable you to compare different makes/models. Typical savings are likely to be 10-15% with the latest boilers (assuming the rest of the heating system is up to spec). Had this Sedbuk rating not been devised we would have seen manufacturers claiming savings of perhaps 30% or more.
This process of seasonal efficiencies modeling must to be applied to all technologies, until this occurs wildly exaggerated claims will continue to be made. Furthermore there is very little data available for the true life cycle cost/environmental impact of a particular technology. Anyone care to offer any figures for the energy expended manufacturing solar panels? How about the maintenance cost - ie pumps, control board, antifreeze, tubes. I don't see manufacturers publishing this information in their sales literature.
Do your research thoroughly before being hoodwinked into this nonsense. With my day to day dealings with the public I would expect most to be able to save 30% on their energy bills by prudent and sensible living without suffering any particular hardship.
Personnally I don't see any problem with our current energy prices, I've always thought we have been paying way too little for such a finite resource. I bet most households still pay far more for their phone bills, sky package etc.
Believe me I'm not against energy saving products - its just that we are going about it the wrong way. How about running new housing estates off a central combined heat and power plant. This is routine in other countries. Get maximum energy from the gas. What sense is there in equiping each property with their own boiler (often poorly installed and then unlikely to be maintained).
As for no hope Cameron his windmill will be lucky to offset the energy used in the construction of his house extension.