SteamyTea

"Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."

I suspect that is the real problem (in many different areas). We do have the government tools to do it, we reduced VAT during the financial crisis, gave people payments 2/3 years ago. Everything is there, just needs changing, a gradual increase in FF levies of 1% a year for the next 20 years and things will change very quickly. Everyone will know what is happening and it will not cause a market shock. An initial 1% on the levy is not the same as 1% on the wholesale price. Yes, they were shockingly bad. I don't have a clue how the normal voter can change things as we don't have any real choice. I do think that if an MP defects to a different party, that should cause a by-election. I suspect that most people vote along party lines and not for an individual. It is a bit like me buying from a Ford Dealer a new Focus, and before delivery, they change to a Citroen dealership and change all the wiring to whatever the French call wiring (câblage, or cabbage).

Yes. Been steaming large posters off walks all morning and my fingers are still strange feeling. 125 lt is only a ten minute shower for many people.

About what I use, but then I am self indulgent and have a bath every day. Have I mentioned that the water and waste down here is the most expensive in the UK. 3 years ago, the water cost more than the heating if it, and if I had a heat pump, or a gas/diesel boiler, rather than E7, then it would still be more expensive.

My Father worked for Royal Dutch/Shell, he knew about it in the 1950s. The science is so well understood that only the uneducated can argue against it (not the same as arguing the local effects i.e. daily weather). Attributing who are the big polluters is not hard, and if we try and make them pay, nothing else will happen for over a decade as the court cases will drag on. So much better to use the tax system to change behaviour. It is fast and effective. Heard Ed Sillybum on the radio yesterday, talking about (in part) not charging VAT on energy. For domestic users it is 5%. There is more variation between tariffs. We just need to change the wholesale markets mechanism, what worked well to attract investment over the last 2 decades is now outdated. So rather that talk about net zero, just tax, at a rate to discourage investment, combustion technologies. And stop grants for domestic installations. They have skewed the market so badly that they are hammering uptake. Happened in the PV market, we still have people on here that won't fit PV because the export payments are now tenth of what they were. I still buy a Macdonald's single cheese burger, even though in the last 2 years the price has gone up 50%. It fills me up quickly (well 2 do) when I am in a long car journey, and cheaper than a coffee at Costa.

Using 125lt of 40°C DHW, for 10 people, that is 45 kWh.day-1. If the HP can deliver at a reliable 6 kW for most of the year, then it will be just heating water for 7.5 hours each day. That, because of the relatively small size of the cylinder, will need to be recharged a few times each day, so very little chance of using a time of use electricity tariff. 165 m2 is not a large house, and with 10 sweaty bodies in it, not much space heating will be needed. If you are not too worried about looks and a slight bit of internal noise, then consider A2AHPs, they are the cheapest to fit, run, and give a fast response, and cooling if needed. Then get a separate heat pump and more cylinders for DHW needed. Make sure your incoming supply can run multiple heat pumps, and consider a bit of PV if suitable.

This 'it is just like a normal flu outbreak' Influenza is a huge killer. But what is the purpose of comparing one infection with another, they all need to be treated. Fungal infections kill millions of people, but I have never heard a conspiracy about it, probably because the dickhead have not learnt of them, it is not as if they sit down every Thursday and read New Scientist. Fortean Times maybe.

Prof. Brian Cox did the same calculation, but got a different result. At today's global energy usage, all the biomass on the planet would last 400 days. Plants will convert about 0.25% of solar energy to biomass, PV will easily convert 10%.

Well worth a listen to. To use biomass for in and out UK flights would take 68% of farmland (I think is what they said). https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m002j755

Can I comment again now?

TL;DR We looked at phantom power draw a while back with regard to crankcase heaters, has this been ruled out?

Polyurethane foams will break down quite quickly when exposed to moisture, UV and thermal cycling (why they are not used in small aircraft manufacture anymore). Cut out what you can, refill with a suitable foam, then as soon as you can, cover the gap with a combination of silicone and trim.

Not a very large window though.

Yes, I think my search picked up the value for basalt wool insulation ((expletive deleted)ing AI results). Is glass wool emulsion bound like chopped strand mat (eglass) is. If so, that would account for the itching. Powder bound CSM is not so itchy.

"Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it" Jonathan Swift 1710

The press tends to print stories that are rare, not common. Why we read about EV fires, but not ICE ones. Nor only has child mortality dropped, so has birthrate in most countries.

You can go and see all the best data there currently is here: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/electricity-mix-uk?tab=chart&country=~GBR But a quick précis below. You can discus population growth, but it is not the problem, bad management and denial of technology to others is where blame lies.

Rain is warmer today than yesterday.

I just had a look that the thermal properties of glass and basalt. Glass has a conductivity between 0.9 and 1.2 W.m-1.K-1. Basalt 0.03 and 0.04 W.m-1.K-1. But that is only part of the story. Density, and therefore the ratio between fibres and air (which does the real work), water absorbing, combustion temperature and flame spread, insitu slumping and cost are important. They will both make you itch.

I got paid quite well. I was approached about using some of my storm footage a few months back, no pay, told them to not bother. They seem to think that giving an 'amateur' just a credit is enough. We should really point out that we have minimum wage in the UK (why I dislike voluntary work). Though we do all contribute days and weeks of hours on here, for (expletive deleted) all, except the occasional abuse. But I pay for entertainment.

The TV work I have done is not far off that. 2 people, the camera operators, who also did the lighting (Best Boy) and the director, who also did the sound ((expletive deleted)ing helicopters taking off from Culdrose). Was all very easy and relaxed on site. The studio side was a different thing all together. About 20 people, tonnes of gear and wires everywhere. The director/producer was a tyrant, the Best Boys had to sort all the mess out. Was good fun, especially the time I had to find, control and be filmed with some rare breed farm animals for a medieval film (that got canned).

Perspex is a trade name (like Fibreglass and Hoover), but if it is a proper acrylic it should not yellow (acrylic is the only true optically clear plastic). You can get acrylics that have rubber nanoparticles (smaller diameter than visible light wavelength) in them, this improves toughness, these can discolour over time. The reason for picking cast over extruded is to do with the way that the polymers are aligned during manufacturing and processing. Cast has the polymer chains randomly 'scattered' during curing, this makes for a homogeneous mix (thermal and optical properties the same in all directions). Extruded, on the other hand, has the chains aligned in one direction (as it is a hot process that rearranges the already cured polymer). This means that there is a difference between directions, especially with thermal expansion, this can cause the sheet to ripple more in one plane than the other. Cast usually costs more than extruded, but is easier to cut. If hot processing acrylics i.e. vacuum forming, the sheets have to be baked in a drying oven for many hours to expel moisture. Polycarbonates, while immensely strong, do weaken with age as they are susceptible to chemical attack (mainly petrochemicals) and ultraviolet light degradation. Another alternative that is extremely cheap is polystyrene, I have made my secondary glazing from it. 2 years on and it is fine. There are UV stabilised mixes for outside usage but I did not bother as it was an experiment (and one that paid for itself in 2 years). (Even after 25 years out of the plastics/polymer industry, I still miss it in some ways)

Ask for cast, rather than extruded, acrylic. 5mm is really quite thick and will be plenty strong enough, you could probably use 3mm. https://plasticonline.co.uk/clear-cast-acrylic-sheet.html

So peer review evidence is one viewpoint, the other is opinion. How about backing up the opinion with peer reviewed evidence. That will level the playing field surely.

Are you for real? But to answer it, energy, from what ever source, has/is contributing to higher global standards of living. We also produce more, with less energy, but as we have, apart from the bottom billion people, managed to secure our food, shelter, healthcare and educational needs, we have all got better off, we are demanding more non essential goods i.e. cars, consumer goods, international recreation travel, second homes etc. But I know deep down you want to blame it on other countries having too many people, and all the problems are really to do with overpopulation. The Club of Rome's Limits to Growth, still lingers in the British thinking as if it was a religion, even though it was debunked as soon as it came out. If it was true, a gallon if gasoline would cost 50 quid and a potato would be a tenner.