SteamyTea

Just noticed that @Gus Potter has awarded me the equivalent of a gold star that McDonald's employees get. Gus, tell us a bit more about secondary reinforcing, reinforced concrete. My interest in concrete is just a hobby for me to help improve my chemistry, not my mechanical engineering skills (very long time ago I studied it).

Not read the above as had a hard day at work. But as a general rule, for every double of thickness, you halve the power losses (note power, not energy). A window works the same as any other thermal barrier, except it allows some wavelengths of light though it (light has difference energy levels depending on the wave length, note energy here). It also has internal convection currents that are temperature dependant, so not linear. But for any given static temperature difference, you can use first order physical properties to get a good estimation of the losses.

Welcome. I don't know too much about roofs, but I think some modern membranes care meant to be taught, while older types are saggy, by design. Do you know what make the membrane is? Others will be along who know a lot more than me. @joe90

Not read the article (yet), but in the composite plastics world, fibres (usually glass, but can be organic or metallic) are added to reduce cracking. These fibres can be of varying length but generally no more than 12mm, but they are very thin, around 10 micron (10, 1 thousands of a millimetre, or 100thmm), but are generally bundle into 200 fibre 'lots'. This a more to do with the manufacturing of the fibres than any mechanical calculations. These are the same fibres that are used in CSM (chopped strand mat) but shorter, and usually without the chemical binder to hold them together. There has been attempts to injection mould polymers with these fibres in, but because of the flow characteristics, it has never been totally successful, so tends to be used in DMC (dough moulding compounds) and hand layup. They work by spreading out on the mould surface (or on the gelcoat) and fill small gaps and can allow for a 'resin rich' mixture which also helps fill voids. Once curing has taken place, they are locked in place, but because of the random positioning, they act as a good bridge between the exposed surface and the main reinforcement (usually CSM, weave or a core material). The same fibres are often used in concrete mixes to reduce micro cracking, but not excessive cracking caused by shrinkage (usually an incorrect concrete mix). I have never checked, but I suspect they work in the same mechanical manner i.e. helping to fill voids and micro-reinforcement. Short fibres/filaments/wires/rods are not there to make a non structural material a structural material, if the was the case, ropes and multi-strand cables would be made from very short lengths. If you look at an old suspension bridge, or boat's mast stay, you may notice that some of the wires in the bundle have come loose, but the bridge, or mast, is still in place. This is because there is a bit of a safety factor built in on the overall CSA (cross sectional area) tensile strength, but mainly because the side of the strands are adjacent to other strands, this causes resistance to movement (friction) which adds to the overall strength (and changes the failure characteristics). It is why they are twisted together. Because engineers (not the type of engineer that fixes your washing machine) are clever people, very small fibres can be made into sealed tubes, filled with a polymer. If there is enough movement, the fibre tube brakes, releasing the polymer, with then leaks out and fills the micro-crack, then the polymer hardens, restoring the mechanical properties of the material. (expletive deleted)ing clever that is.

Mine is a very cheap Russell Hobbs, and is excellent. Not my experience at all, and I use gas at work, and a variety of different pans.

Bloody autocorrect allowing me to make a boob.

Too many people get over excited about the latest developments in PV, they have stayed the same for decades. There is not much room for efficiency gains from silicone, though other chemistries are available.

Quite a lot down here, including abandonment. https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/south-west-regional-flood-and-coastal-committee#map

Nothing new here, it was predicted two decades ago. The rain, down here, I am used to, could do with a few more hot days. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c147v82gxp2o UK getting more hot and more wet days – Met Office IMAGE SOURCE,EPA Justin Rowlatt BBC climate editor @BBCJustinR Published 5 hours ago Climate change is dramatically increasing the frequency of extreme high temperatures in the UK, new Met Office analysis has confirmed. Its annual State of the Climate report says data from 2023 shows the country is experiencing significantly more really hot days. Its observations suggest there has been an increase in the number of really wet days too, such as the prolonged and heavy rain Storm Babet brought to wide areas of the country in October last year. The report finds the UK is also seeing a 40% increase in the number of what the Met Office describes as “pleasant” days - those with temperatures of 20C or more – and has become 9% sunnier over the last few decades. Those changes may sound positive, but the UK’s shifting climate represents a dangerous upheaval for our ecosystems as well as our infrastructure. For example, between 1961 and 1990 only London and Hampshire recorded six or more days a year with temperatures over 28C – which the Met Office defines as “hot days”. By the latest decade (2014-2023) virtually everywhere in England and Wales was seeing this many hot days, while the South East now gets over 12 in a year. The increase in the number of “very hot days” of 30C or more has been even more dramatic, trebling over the last few decades. Rainfall patterns vary much more than temperature, but the Met Office says it is still possible to identify an increase in the frequency of the wettest days. It looked at the top 5% of wettest days in the period 1961 to 1990 and found extremely wet days like these were occurring 20% more frequently in the most recent decade. "Some of the statistics in this report really do speak for themselves," said lead author and Met Office climate scientist, Mike Kendon. "The climate is not just going to change in the future, it is already changing." The new report confirms 2023 was the second warmest year on record for the UK, had the hottest June ever recorded and the joint warmest September. Separate studies by Met Office scientists found all these events were made much more likely to happen because of human-induced climate change. February, May, June and September 2023 were all ranked in the top-ten warmest on record in the UK for the same months in a series dating back 140 years. The Met Office says there has been a rapid increase in the frequency of record-breaking warm temperatures in recent years, while there have been virtually no new records for cool weather. For the UK overall the warmest months on record have been May 2024, June 2023, December 2015 and April 2011. The last record cold month was December 2010. IMAGE SOURCE,AFP Image caption, People play football on dry grass pitches at Hackney Marshes, in northeast London, during a late summer heatwave in September 2023 April The State of the Climate report finds 2023 was the seventh wettest year on records going back to 1836. March, July, October and December were all amongst the top-ten wettest for the same month in the series. It is these weather extremes - of heat or rainfall - that have the biggest impact on people, says Prof Liz Bentley, the Chief Executive of the Royal Meteorology Society. “These changes are leading to more heatwaves and flooding, which profoundly impact communities by straining healthcare systems, damaging infrastructure, and disrupting daily life”, says Prof Bentley. Other significant weather events include seven consecutive days with temperatures above 30C in September – a UK first. Unusually the hottest day of the year was also recorded in September (33.5C on 10 September). Scotland had its wettest two days on record on 6 and 7 October in a daily series dating back to 1891, with 6.5cm of rain – almost 40% of the average you would expect for October. IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, A car near Dundee was left stranded on a collapsed bridge following torrential rain and heavy flooding from Storm Babet in October 2023 Storm Babet was the single weather event with the most impact during the year. It hit the country between 16 and 21 October, bringing widespread prolonged and heavy rainfall. And the country had a very dramatic near miss too. Storm Ciaran had the potential to be as severe as the “Great Storm” of 16 October 1987, says the Met Office. Winds of up to 100 mph (160 km/h) killed 21 people across Europe when it struck in early November 2023, but the UK was lucky, the strongest winds bypassed the country to the south. The report came as the record for the world's hottest day tumbled twice in one week, according to the European climate change service. On Monday the global average surface air temperature reached 17.15C, breaking the record of 17.09C set on Sunday. It beats the record set in July 2023, and it could break again. Climate change has already made extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, heavy rainfall, storms and droughts, more frequent and stronger in many parts of the world. Scientists say they these events will become more intense and happen more often unless the world can make dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Storm Ciaran swept across the southwest and south of England in November 2023

The Laws of Thermodynamics makes it is technically easy to build a low energy usage house, they will just not look very nice i.e. square floor plan, small windows, thick walls, and loads of MVHR pipework in the loft. The CO2e part is really out of peoples control, that is down to the nation's generation mix, which makes the statement about designing a house that used x amount less a bit of a nonsense. OK you can stick as fair amount of PV on a roof, and you should, but that only lowers the local CO2e volumes produced, does not make much difference to the globe.

Probably not if there is enough of a moisture break between inner and out leaves. As @saveasteading says, probably not an issue if you keep it all warm enough and look after it. If you can see St. Agnes Head, it is about to rain, if you can't see it, it is raining. So any shallow GSHP tends to work down here, because, as you say, they are really ASHPs with solar heated water being an intermediate energy transfer medium. I very much suspect that the OP knows the geology down here better than most. Heating peak loads are generally lower in Cornwall, even if the yearly energy usage is high in older houses.

Yes, but it is a lot more complicated than that (to quote Ben Goldacre). While a homogeneous stone may have a greater thermal conductivity than a non homogeneous wall buildup i.e. OSB, insulation, air barrier, plasterboard etc, a 'stone walled building' generally has a complicated (messy) wall. They were often have stone face, then lots of rubble, which traps air (and moisture), then a breathable (crumbling lime plaster) coating, then an inappropriate decorative coating (1970s wallpaper and vinyl paints). Then a hole or two knocked through them for ventilation. As thermal energy moves from hotter to colder inside the wall, all those elements increase (and depending where you measure, decrease) in temperature. This causes the moisture to partially evaporate and physically move, often condensing somewhere else. This is often seen as a simple 'cold spot' problem, but is often a bigger overall problem. While excess internal heating may seem to reduce the symptoms, the problem is still there, just waiting to rear its ugly head (and often throw some fungal spores around for a laugh). There is not really a technical solution to old, non homogeneous, wall buildups that allows the thermal conductivity to be reduced, even building an insulated timber frame structure inside, only masks the problem, you just end up with cold, damp outer walls. So old buildings really need to be knocked down and rebuilt, no reason they cannot look similar (except modern building codes specify how high some windows can be).

Or a CRT screen and get some heat.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cjm9yrgjd3po First fine issued for illegal use of log burners IMAGE SOURCE,GETTY Image caption, Wakefield Council investigated 216 complaints related to domestic chimneys between 2019 and 2022 Tony Gardner Local Democracy Reporting Service Published 22 July 2024 A council in West Yorkshire has started imposing fines in a bid to clamp down on the illegal use of domestic log burners. Wakefield Council brought in new measures in December to allow environmental health officers to issue fixed penalty notices to stop “excessive smoke emissions”. It came after a rise in complaints about chimney smoke from solid fuel appliances. Jack Hemingway, cabinet member for the environment and climate change, confirmed the first penalty issued under the new powers saw a stove owner fined £175. 'Blight on communities' Mr Hemingway said: “Ultimately the powers will only be utilised following a verbal discussion and written warning. “There is also a full appeals process, but it is necessary to have stronger powers for repeat offenders blighting our communities. “The new notices will help to end this nuisance behaviour which emits harmful particles and will improve air quality and public health in the district.” A report by Mr Hemingway will be discussed at a full council meeting on Wednesday, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Figures show the council investigated 216 complaints related to domestic chimneys between 2019 and 2022. Under the new powers, part of the Environment Act 2021, fines start at £175, rising to £300. Continued offending can lead to prosecution. The measures are also designed to make it easier to prosecute sellers of prohibited solid fuels and providers of appliances that are not approved by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs. The report said: “Whilst the adverse health impacts of smoke emissions are generally accepted, wood burners are perceived to be an environmentally friendly method of heating. “Many people don’t realise that using a log burner can triple the level of harmful pollution inside the home and an open fire can produce 10 times as much pollution. “Awareness of the exposure that takes place in the home is currently very low.”

Get @Onoff's lad to print one up. You can cast with a silicone rubber, even a tube of the stuff works.