[meldrewreborn]

While I go down the green route when it makes financial sense, I’ll not go green to satisfy green campaigners. Hence my car is a hybrid and delivers 56 mpg overall on petrol and zero VED,

I don’t need to replace the boiler because it’s reliable and though better efficiency is available nowadays those boilers tend to have short lives .While a replacement might cost £1000, fitting it would cost another £1,500 and the efficiency gains would take ages to make it pay off. My annual gas consumption varies between 13,000 and 17,000 kWh per annum depending on the severity of the winter, or it did before prices went through the roof and some tweaks to economise were made. Whatever assumption is made, replacing a solid working boiler at my level of consumption for marginal efficiency gains makes no financial sense.

equally adding more solar thermal would be expensive compared to the savings in gas. While I’m pleased to have the system,I only paid 10% of the price. Because of that fact it’s been a good investment, but I’d never have installed it if I had to pay the full rack.

[retrotecchie]

@meldrewreborn

Completely agree with your philosophy. It's why I drive a 60mpg diesel that's just turned 18 years old. It's greener than any EV as it has already paid back the embedded carbon in it's manufacture twice over and it costs me less to run than an EV when you amortise the purchase or finance cost and maintenance into the per mile cost.

Likewise, my oil boiler is cheaper to run than an equivalent output gas boiler and using HHO biofuel actually has better environmental credentials than a fossil-driven appliance by some margin and, with the current energy mix in the UK electricity supply, is slightly ahead of a heat pump in green terms.

Yes, I have solar thermal and micro PV too, so I'm doing my bit with renewables too, but I don't look good in a hair shirt.

[Mailman]

Something that seems to be forgotten all too easily is that many folk have a vastly reduced carbon footprint through the simple expedient of a reduction in kWh consumption.
Compared to 5 years ago my gas usage is now about 37% lower and electricity is about 40% lower. Even my usage of my petrol motor is barely 3000 miles pa and that will reduce still further when I use my bus pass from Apil 2024 to purchase some of those hair shirts.

With a gas boiler, now 10 years old, I'm sure it will be doing well to last another 10 years and we will decide what to do when it needs replacing. The same goes for my car.😁

[meldrewreborn]

@wizzo227

the chart is in hundreds of cu ft of gas, because that’s how my meter measures. The multiple to get to kWh is 31.6. Although the precise multiple varies fractionally over time it’s stable enough for these purposes. . Yes my summer has use is close to zero, with only cooking and occasional water heating happening.

[retrotecchie]

Originally Posted by Mailman

Something that seems to be forgotten all too easily is that many folk have a vastly reduced carbon footprint through the simple expedient of a reduction in kWh consumption.

That is a coin with two sides though. Back in the 80s, a typical TV with a 32" CRT would use about 100W-150W of electrical power. Not that many people had VCRs and most folks just had the one TV in the living room. Today, three or four TV's, set top boxes and associated gubbins are the norm. A 32" standard LCD TV today uses 30W, but everyone seems to want huge screens and sound bars and whatever we could save by using a newer technology has been pretty much wiped out buy having more of the tech with bigger screens.

Just saying...

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

That is a coin with two sides though. Back in the 80s, a typical TV with a 32" CRT would use about 100W-150W of electrical power. Not that many people had VCRs and most folks just had the one TV in the living room. Today, three or four TV's, set top boxes and associated gubbins are the norm. A 32" standard LCD TV today uses 30W, but everyone seems to want huge screens and sound bars and whatever we could save by using a newer technology has been pretty much wiped out buy having more of the tech with bigger screens.

Just saying...

Agreed but you forget that our generation are well-known for being skin-flints. 😂

Thinking about the last 5 years and the appliances I've been using during that time:

Sony 50" TV - same model so little change from 5 years ago.
AV equipment - same as 5 years ago.
PC+Monitor setup - same as 5 years ago.
Tumble Dryer - now a Beko heat pump variety rather than the Beko condensor I had 5 years ago + more drying done outside now since moving 2 years ago.
Electric Oven and Induction Hob - uses less as oven esp is on only for batch baking + other methods (e.g. slow cooker/pressure cooker) used more often.
Dehumdifier - this does run during winter esp when it is too nithering to purge vent BUT now use a Meaco (Refidgerant-based) using 160W/hr to run instead of Meaco (dessicant-based) using 660W/hr. So 5 years ago I'd probably be using 2/3 kWh per day on really bad days whereas now a max of 0.5kWh per day ATM.

But maybe my usage patterns are atypical of many (younger) households 🧐 - just 2 of us in the bungalow with no 'Kevins and Perrys' to think about any more and with a wallet tighter than a duck's **** 😉

Just off to check my Lidl app to see about them Hair Shirts 😁

[JoeSoap]

Originally Posted by Mailman

... Just off to check my Lidl app to see about them Hair Shirts 😁

Cheaper at Primark, I reckon 👍

[retrotecchie]

@Mailman

True....those of us who are more chronologically gifted do tend to be a bit tight!

My computer is a power-hungry monster but I need it for my job, so that can't be helped but most of the time I use an 8" tablet for generally browsing the web or just pootling about on here.

My AV system is a 1987 vintage Kenwood component system which I use for listening to a bit of vinyl now and then, but most of the time I just listen to the radio out in the shed and that's solar powered. To be fair, as I live in a remote location in a building with 32" thick stone walls, I can (and often do) crank up the herbs a bit when I'm listening to music. Especially if it's Dire Straits or Queen.

I do have a PVR but I switch it off at the wall when I'm not actively using it, and I don't have any set-top boxes or other gubbins like Sky or Virgin. I'm too tight to pay for subscription TV as I already have 130+ channels on Freeview which gives me plenty (of repeats!) to chose from. I have a DVD player but again, off at the wall when not in use and maybe only used once or twice a month.

I use Aero360 dehumidifiers in a couple of rooms so they don't use any electricity.

I'm now charging all my cordless tools (I have over a dozen!) from the microsolar so that saves a chunk of money.

I have a condensing tumble drier which gets a bit of use, but it only cost me £20 ten years ago and a fiver for a replacement thermostat. I save money and energy by putting the washing machine (an inverter drive model) on an extra 1600rpm spin so the tumble only needs 30 minutes now compared to over an hour. I also recycle the water from the drier which offsets my metered water bill just a tad too. The drier water is fed to the washing machine! Saves a couple of quid a year and if I do a wash right after a drying cycle, the water is about 10 degrees warmer than the cold fill, so that saves energy too.

The biggest savings for me is using an air oven for anything small enough to fit it, and not using corded mains tools as often as I used to.

[Mailman]

Originally Posted by retrotecchie

I use Aero360 dehumidifiers in a couple of rooms so they don't use any electricity.

I'm now charging all my cordless tools (I have over a dozen!) from the microsolar so that saves a chunk of money.

.....on an extra 1600rpm spin so the tumble only needs 30 minutes now compared to over an hour. I also recycle the water from the drier which offsets my metered water bill just a tad too. The drier water is fed to the washing machine! Saves a couple of quid a year and if I do a wash right after a drying cycle, the water is about 10 degrees warmer than the cold fill, so that saves energy too.

The biggest savings for me is using an air oven for anything small enough to fit it, and not using corded mains tools as often as I used to.

I've just picked these things out as they are 'of interest'

1. With that Unibond aero 360 I've been tempted to use it in my bedroom as we have to shut the door at night - cat involved if you get the drift. What is your experience of them for confined spaces/1 room areas?
2. Maybe I should so a double spin now that the days are getting cooler for total drying via mother earth.
3. Air fryer I totally agree - used tonight rather than the oven,

👍

[retrotecchie]

@Mailman

The Aero 360 is ideal for a bedroom. I used to have an off-grid office built from a 20ft truck body and one lasted about 3 weeks in a 20ft x 8ft x 8ft space. In my bedroom which is about 10x10x8 it lasts a month.

My washing machine on a 20 minute spin cycle at 1600 rpm uses 0.2kW of power. 30 minutes saved in the tumble drier is about 0.5kWh.

I do have an air fryer but haven't used it in a couple of years. The air oven is so much more versatile.