r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	cubemackie
Comment	[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAKMAcmJFg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAKMAcmJFg) Interesting perspective on heat pumps. Many media sources are saying that with this newly announced subsidy in England for heat pumps, the cost of a gas boiler installation and a pump will now be comparable. And before someone complains about how this is England only and doesn't apply here then I'm sure our own government, who take every opportunity to express how righteously in favour they are in combatting the 'climate emergency', will probably roll out similar schemes here in future. The price comparison, however, isn't really accurate since it doesn't take into consideration other disruptive work required to install. Also imagine a bank of heat pumps running on the side of a tenement, it would be noisy. Also our air is much colder during the winter than even England. Not to mention most of our buildings aren't designed to be insulated to modern standards without creating new problems like damp. A heat pump is only efficient in a well insulated building, preferably with underfloor heating. These pumps also require separate electricity from the grid to 'top up' the heat generated by the pump, which means having a hot water cylinder inside your flat, and unless you want your shower running out of hot water after 10 minutes that means it has to be fairly large. Solar panels might help with this but that's another expense. The reality is we are absolutely kidding ourselves if we think we can shut down the use of fossil fuels in the space of a couple of decades. People really seem to underestimate how much we still depend on oil & gas, and also don't appreciate why we use oil & gas instead of other fuels. They are simply superior in so many ways, except of course that they create carbon. Unless we build another 10 nuclear power plants in the next decade (in the UK) we are living in a fantasy if we think renewables can pick up the slack. Governments seem to think they can just force change by cranking up the price of fossil fuels, however they don't seem to be envisioning any kind of secondary side effects to this, like, for example, people getting really fucked off.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/qbabqr/electric_cars_and_heat_pumps/hh87v3m/
Created	Tue 19th Oct 2021 2:03pm
Status	normal ()

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAKMAcmJFg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhAKMAcmJFg)

Interesting perspective on heat pumps. Many media sources are saying that with this newly announced subsidy in England for heat pumps, the cost of a gas boiler installation and a pump will now be comparable. And before someone complains about how this is England only and doesn't apply here then I'm sure our own government, who take every opportunity to express how righteously in favour they are in combatting the 'climate emergency', will probably roll out similar schemes here in future. The price comparison, however, isn't really accurate since it doesn't take into consideration other disruptive work required to install.

Also imagine a bank of heat pumps running on the side of a tenement, it would be noisy. Also our air is much colder during the winter than even England. Not to mention most of our buildings aren't designed to be insulated to modern standards without creating new problems like damp. A heat pump is only efficient in a well insulated building, preferably with underfloor heating. These pumps also require separate electricity from the grid to 'top up' the heat generated by the pump, which means having a hot water cylinder inside your flat, and unless you want your shower running out of hot water after 10 minutes that means it has to be fairly large. Solar panels might help with this but that's another expense.

The reality is we are absolutely kidding ourselves if we think we can shut down the use of fossil fuels in the space of a couple of decades. People really seem to underestimate how much we still depend on oil & gas, and also don't appreciate why we use oil & gas instead of other fuels. They are simply superior in so many ways, except of course that they create carbon. Unless we build another 10 nuclear power plants in the next decade (in the UK) we are living in a fantasy if we think renewables can pick up the slack.

Governments seem to think they can just force change by cranking up the price of fossil fuels, however they don't seem to be envisioning any kind of secondary side effects to this, like, for example, people getting really fucked off.