Are people really so dim?

[AE-NMidlands]

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqxwjwqw3xdo
An energy efficient home - why is it so difficult?

“The whole question of how to better insulate the house is a real mystery to me,” says Mr Duffy, a director of sustainability think-tank Citizen Network. “I don’t know where the expertise for that is.” He also adds that he’s also not sure whether he could install solar panels, given that he lives in a conservation area.

Sounds like he is in the wrong job to me... or is he playing dumb for the sake of the article? At least there is some help available:

Conscious of the confusion around approaches to retrofit, some organisations are moving to improve the advice available to homeowners. Among them is Ecofurb.
“We can model all the different options that are available, suitable for your home and your budget, and identify a package of measures,” says Liz Lainé, of Parity Projects, a housing data analysis company, which runs Ecofurb.
The firm offers this initial consultation for free, but full plans, with personalised input from a retrofit coordinator, start at £470. Ecofurb can also oversee any works as they are carried out by contractors to avoid “horror stories”, says Ms Lainé.

Part of me blames our population's fear of anything vaguely technical, running away from even simple numerical comparisons.

[Stinsy]

The complexity benefits some people. Ofentimes not just the FF companies and the luddites and those who don;t like change, but the installers of these systems use the complexity to ramp up prices...

[HML]

While it was a pretty rubbish article, it's more than a little unreasonable to accuse people of being dim.

Energy saving is a wide ranging subject with multiple areas, all of which involve varying degrees of technicality combined with political and bureaucratic complexities. Add in various actors with vested interests and it's a mine field for the uninitiated, i.e. 95% of the population.

[AE-NMidlands]

While it was a pretty rubbish article, it's more than a little unreasonable to accuse people of being dim.

my first google search hit was https://www.sunsave.energy/solar-panels ... tion-areas "...But if you live in a conservation area, there are a few extra steps you need to follow to install your own solar array. In this article, we’ll run through the nuts and bolts of installing solar panels in a conservation area " so finding info isn't very difficult. Ironically I recently saw a headline "If York Minster can do it then anyone can!"

Energy saving is a wide ranging subject with multiple areas, all of which involve varying degrees of technicality combined with political and bureaucratic complexities. Add in various actors with vested interests and it's a mine field for the uninitiated, i.e. 95% of the population.

true, and I suppose most of us here have been thinking about it for a long time, but again, with the internet, there is no excuse for not being able to get a basic understanding of where your heat goes. https://www.eco-home-essentials.co.uk/b ... homes.html mentions draughts as accounting for 15% of heat losses - but then ignores it in the article. I'm sure books I have going back to the 1970s (50 years ago!) talk about that as giving the best bang for your buck...

but yes, after draughtproofing, prioritising might be technically challenging.

[Tinbum]

While it was a pretty rubbish article, it's more than a little unreasonable to accuse people of being dim.

my first google search hit was https://www.sunsave.energy/solar-panels ... tion-areas "...But if you live in a conservation area, there are a few extra steps you need to follow to install your own solar array. In this article, we’ll run through the nuts and bolts of installing solar panels in a conservation area " so finding info isn't very difficult. Ironically I recently saw a headline "If York Minster can do it then anyone can!"

Energy saving is a wide ranging subject with multiple areas, all of which involve varying degrees of technicality combined with political and bureaucratic complexities. Add in various actors with vested interests and it's a mine field for the uninitiated, i.e. 95% of the population.

true, and I suppose most of us here have been thinking about it for a long time, but again, with the internet, there is no excuse for not being able to get a basic understanding of where your heat goes. https://www.eco-home-essentials.co.uk/b ... homes.html mentions draughts as accounting for 15% of heat losses - but then ignores it in the article. I'm sure books I have going back to the 1970s (50 years ago!) talk about that as giving the best bang for your buck...

but yes, after draughtproofing, prioritising might be technically challenging.

All the info is out there- many people are both dim and lazy and expect someone else to do everything for them.

[Moxi]

Maybe they are not dim but I think apathy is rife amongst the general public with regards to energy costs and just how much its costing them per year.

I honestly believe the average bod in the street has no real understanding of the full cost of their energy or water services they probably have even less idea where their council tax goes and what it funds - they are simply too busy leading their lives and concentrating on things that they think are more important to them, that level of importance might change if for instance the government stopped the monthly DD for everyone and said you pay a year upfront for your predicted consumption and then settle any arears before the next year ahead payment, then people would:

A) be up in arms having realised that they are actually paying around 3 to 6K on average for their combined electric and gas bill per year;

B) be more aware of what the cost to them really is and therefore more invested in doing something to reduce the impact IF the sum is a significant proportion of their income OR impacts their preferred pastimes

Maybe the answer is to make it more expensive so people have to take action ? Imagine if they double the unit price of gas overnight ?

So yes maybe not dim but apathetic and needing incentivising at all levels across the social and economic profiles.

Here's a thought has there ever been a national pricing structure for energy that mirrors income tax ?

Moxi

[Swwils]

The only thing close is that lots of countries operate tiers based on the size of your available supply. For instance in France contracted power capacity in kVA sets your Tarif Bleu days.

3-6 kVA is small for instance and 300 Blue Days are cheapest, 40 odd White Days and about 20 red Days of the highest rate, designed to reduce consumption during winter peak months.

You can get 12 kVA for about €17 per month base.

[nowty]

The only thing close is that lots of countries operate tiers based on the size of your available supply. For instance in France contracted power capacity in kVA sets your Tarif Bleu days.

3-6 kVA is small for instance and 300 Blue Days are cheapest, 40 odd White Days and about 20 red Days of the highest rate, designed to reduce consumption during winter peak months.

You can get 12 kVA for about €17 per month base.

OFGEM did consider something similar as an option in a consultation a few years back when they dumped all/most of the transmission charges onto the standing charge.

The option based on the import rate was their least liked option at the time, but it does make sense to have a mixture of both a TOU tariff and a rate of import tariff. Of course than would make it mandatory to have a smart meter and such a tariff would be a nightmare for some of us when we turn it up to eleven.

[Yuff]

We live in a conservation area and I checked online to see if I could install solar panels.
It looked like I could as long as they didn’t face the road, however I emailed the council, before I had them installed, in August 2022. No reply yet ……just sums up the incompetence of public services in this country.

[AE-NMidlands]

We live in a conservation area and I checked online to see if I could install solar panels.
It looked like I could as long as they didn’t face the road, however I emailed the council, before I had them installed, in August 2022. No reply yet ……just sums up the incompetence of public services in this country.

I would defend your local authority by saying that their staffing has probably been eviscerated to the point where they can't cope with most of what comes in. There's a slightly tongue-in-cheek descrption of a management strategy which I can't recall exactly, but which says if you are fire-fighting the things which really matter, then marginal or minor items which might look after themselves tend to get "forgotten" about, i.e. the letters slide off the pile onto the floor and don't get picked up and closed out.

It's frustrating for people like us who want reassurance, but I guess if the initial approach didn't ring alarm bells - and get a response - then either it's OK, maybe doesn't really matter or even if it does it won't get checked up on anyway! I would hope that having engaged at the outset and got no reply would be a good defence...