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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-47320673
If you were thinking of getting Gas Safe registered, I shouldn’t bother. 😉
K.
well i would not like to live in an all electric house as priced in KwH gas is a fifth of the price. think it would be cheaper to power a generator with gas then buy it off the grid these days
Dave
Well… that’s a bit more complex than one might think.
BG, the old gas council and so forth will did and have instiled that in people’s heads but ask yourself, is that true?
Per KwH cost yes it is.
But how efficient is gas -v- electricity? Generally speaking, for most things, electricity is way, way more efficient (less loss overall) so it often works out cheaper and more “green” given it’s more efficient.
It is, however, hard to explain this to many people as it’s not as obvious as a straight KwH to KwH comparison.
K.
Yes can see that but at a 4 to 1 ratio I can’t see gas being that inefficient. If I turn on a gas fire I can’t see 80{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} losses also some fires do not require flues which mean no loss. I can see the use of heat pumps which give a 3 to 1 advantage but I can’t see how they can work at freezing and below without ice build up. Have they overcome this problem ?
Dave
Yeah Dave, they work down to silly temps. We used to use them in the old building and they were really good and ludicrously cheap to run.
K.
I suspect energy efficiency of a gas hob is poor, as a lot of heat escapes around the sides of the pan. So banning gas hobs may be a sensible option. Living flame gas fires are also wasteful, often only 20-30{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} efficient, so banning them would make sense too. Old fashioned gas fires were actually not bad, 60-70{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} in some cases.
Central heating boilers have always been highly efficient, 70-80 {e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} at least. Current condensing boilers must achieve 90{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} at least. To ban these would be mad while electricity is still generated by gas, as gas fired power stations achieve a maximum of 60{e5d1b7155a01ef1f3b9c9968eaba33524ee81600d00d4be2b4d93ac2e58cec2d} efficiency, often a lot less. This is before you take account of significant power losses over the grid. No wonder hearing your home with gas is so much cheaper than with electricity, unless you can afford to invest in solar or heat pump technology.
It looks to me that the push is for induction hobs which are getting cheaper all the time and heat pump home heating which isnt ,yet. New builds will go down this route fairly quickly but older properties pose more of a challenge. I suppose it will all be down to cost. The other question is do the energy companies want it? Just think on a good day with solar panels on the roof powering a heat pump compressor you could get a tank of hot water for …well nothing!
wilf
wilf wrote: Just think on a good day with solar panels on the roof powering a heat pump compressor you could get a tank of hot water for …well nothing!
wilf
and washing machines fill with cold water that they have to heat. Friend of mine has this problem free hot water from solar panels and his washing machine cant use it
Dave
You know, there are many, many areas of the UK as well as lots of other countries that have managed just fine for a century or more without using gas fired stuff… I think the work will survive its demise. 😉
K.
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