Here is what we covered at this meeting:
We looked at the offer and claim from two examples Community based or commercial. Both examples use EPC data to recommend changes to a property including having a HP installed. Both allow you to correct the EPC findings. What is interesting is the claimed HP saving in terms of money and ghg emissions. Even installers like HeatGeek, who were recently featured in the national press, appear to oversell their products. Claiming a guaranteed ‘efficiency’ of 380% and zero operational ghg emissions is disappointing, despite the small print clarifications. Why not try the two approaches for your property and compare the advice. Energy Saving Devon is the source ACT recommends for information on all aspects of building retrofit, links to finding installers are also covered.
We looked at the article in the latest CAT newsletter, see “What’s Holding Back HPs?”. In essence it shows the discrepancy between claimed efficiency as specified by installers using government methodology and measure real-world performance of 435 ASHP in 2022 and 1.431 ASHP installed in the previous 5 years. I gave other references to similar UK and European data at our meeting in July when we discussed the dangerous ‘fabric fifth’ messaging being promoted by some.
Note for example the CAT articles reference to average ASHP efficiency quoted is 360% compared to the average measured efficiency of 270% for those systems.
With so much misinformation and mis selling it’s useful to be better informed. Please refer to our recently updated guide on HPs, it’s aimed at anyone with little or plenty of heating system experience.
ACT’s representation at the local plan examination on Climate Change policies.
ACT will be attending the examination of the section on Climate Change on the 25th September. We have a team of 3 preparing for this with a focus on the submitted representation. Let me know if you would like to comment or find out more. It includes information on what existing plumbing is suitable for conversion to HPs, a question from one of the members attending.
Transport, what are our options to minimise ghg emissions?
Not having discussed transport for a while, this was a thought-provoking question on where people would look if they asked the question “what can I do to reduce my greenhouse gas emissions from transport?”.
One obvious choice is the internet. Googling it gives a reasonable quick list of 8 actions, surprisingly from a US national park authority. Using AI (Chat GPT) is less reasonable, not the best priorities/advice (e.g. hybrids). ACT has made a list of actions available via the CFT, the thinking behind this is to encourage people to consider their circumstances first (i.e. footprint and target reductions) before deciding on the most appropriate/effective action. Arguably a bit more difficult to find, users can still access the same list of actions direct from our Resources menu on the ACT Homepage “Carbon Cutting Action Lookup”.
Why not try these out and compare, all comments on how to improve our approach is welcome.
Does every little help?
In case you’ve missed this, you can still read it here.
Written by Fuad
Energy group coordinator