Mattg4321

No problem at all. It’s never been against the regulations and is found in almost every property.

Surely you want a VCL directly behind the plasterboard?

You were extremely lucky.

As above, there’s a good chance there’s no earth continuity to the socket. A cheap plug in tester may or may not flag this up, as they are not really 100% reliable. You may need to get an electrician to check this.

If the work isn’t up to scratch, stuff paying them the full amount.

Diykitchens. Good quality too

You might be onto something there, but nobody in any position of authority is advocating keeping cars for longer than the current average. I suspect they’d rather we kept changing every 3 or 4 years. There’s also the issue of battery longevity, which has yet to really come to the fore. We’ll see how that plays out over the next few years.

I’m not advocating doing nothing, but expect global emissions to carry on rising for a good while yet. Believing we can somehow influence that from our small island is borderline narcissistic. That’s not to say it’s not a laudable thing to try and do. It seems to make a lot of people feel better about themselves if they buy an EV or fit some PV panels, but these things will make no difference imo. Keeping an old diesel car running a while longer probably results in less carbon emissions than a new EV every 3 or 4 years, which some seem to regard as going green!!

What makes you think they’ll take any notice? https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/china-climate-envoy-says-phasing-out-fossil-fuels-unrealistic-2023-09-22/ Adapting to possible future climate change is what we should be doing alongside efforts to reduce carbon emissions. It’s clear there’s no joined up thinking going on and even in the best case scenario carbon emissions on a global level will be well above net zero for many decades yet. It’s fantasy to think otherwise.

French power grid currently over 95% nuclear, meaning we are well over 20%. Either way it doesn’t get away from the fact that renewables are not viable alone currently, and probably not for a period measured in decades.

https://grid.iamkate.com Looks like over 20% nuclear currently, when you take into account France supplying a good chunk of our power requirements. Around a third is fossil fuel and around a third is renewables. We can certainly manage without nuclear, but only if we keep using fossil fuels. At least for a few decades.

If that’s a 400mm wide 600mm deep cupboard that would be a no from me. Poor access to work on it. 500-600mm wide, 300mm deep wall cabinet and I’d probably be ok with it, if fitted to the wall, not the cabinet, and at the bottom of the wall cabinet so access is better. Also not right in the corner of a room so you need to get on top of the work surface to get at it. As above though, it makes sense to relocate it somewhere more sensible at this stage.

Renewables are no good by themselves as often in the winter it can be cold, cloudy, dark and still for weeks on end. So it’s gas, coal or nuclear. Batteries is pie in the sky for decades yet. Hydro doesn’t seem to be viable on a large scale, I’ll admit I’m not sure why. You just posted a map showing France as an outlier in Western Europe with lower carbon emissions, almost certainly down to the amount of nuclear power they have.

It will make no difference whether we lead or not if it doesn’t make economic sense to go green. We really don’t have that much, if any, influence over China, India and the US. We should be doing everything we can that makes sense and passes a cost benefit analysis. A lot of which we are not currently doing, instead virtue signalling or making policy that is profitable for big business. We need to go big on nuclear and renewables so we can shut down fossil fuels without causing the less well off to freeze to death. Along with insulating older buildings and drastically improving standards of new builds.

Depopulation is a problem though as China will shortly find out (although I’m sure they already know what’s coming). It’s probably why we in the west have been ramping up the amount of immigrants coming in. In any case even if it weren’t a problem, what do you do about it, without resorting to authoritarianism - which most people will likely reject. The reality is we can only do our best, and what we in the U.K. do will have no bearing on what the likes of China, India and the US do. If nothing changes there, we’re wasting our time anyway. We should start looking at ways to live with the climate change that might be coming, as well as reducing our carbon output/waste/pollution imo.

Too many people or not enough houses is what it boils down to.

How long would that take to ‘pay back’ in carbon emissions terms though? Huge amounts of carbon are released when manufacturing materials and constructing a new build.

You could fit CCT led strip so you have the option to change it. Costs a bit more though.

The problem is the astronomical cost of net zero. It might be possible by 2050 if we heavily commit to nuclear (along with renewables) now, but that’s never going to happen, so imo net zero is pie in the sky for the next 50 years at least. Some way needs to be found to get hold of the money/assets stockpiled by big business and the super rich. That seems unlikely though all the time they control the agenda. All the main parties in the developed world at least are in thrall to them. One thing that cretin Russell Brand had mostly right anyway. At the risk of going off topic it does make you wonder why this is the moment his questionable past is dredged up.

There’s plenty of rentals around where double glazing is not allowed due to being in a conservation area etc

The same China that has approved more than 50GW of coal power in 2023 alone. They have over 1100GW of capacity in total. Much of it used to manufacture our EV’s and solar panels etc. The U.K. has less than 2.5GW of coal powered capacity.

You’d like to think it goes without saying that anyone messing around with electrics will make sure it’s off first. Although I guess it could be a form of Darwinism in action. I’ve removed loads of these in seconds with pliers, but might try a potato next time - if I’ve got one in the van! Should it be a baby new potato, or perhaps a Maris piper?? I wonder what the difference in conductivity is between them! On second thoughts, perhaps not, as at least my pliers are 1000v insulated 😉😆

Yeah the glass has fallen off or been smashed off. Just needs a new bulb and possibly a pair of pliers to remove the old one.

Why would you only connect the swa at one end if exporting TN earth? Both ends is a better job imo and keeps your Zs down.

Loads of that still in service in good condition! It’s rubber insulated cable you want to be careful of, especially if it’s the lead sheathed stuff! Only ever seen that still in service once in my 20+ years.