Eco rules will get us into hot water
MAY I congratulate Ross Clark on his splendid, if depressing, article about the draconian new eco rules for domestic heating systems (Mail). It’s about time someone spelled out the downside to the Government’s proposals. My son has an air-source heat pump that warms the outside air for underfloor heating and to provide hot water. Apart from being complicated, unreliable and unresponsive, it also costs much more to run than the gas boiler in my much bigger house. I asked my gas boiler installer what he thought of heat pumps. ‘They are total rubbish and I will not fit them,’ he said. The public also needs to be alerted to the costs and impracticalities of insulation requirements that are to be imposed, again at prodigious costs and penalties for homeowners.
COLIN WARBURTON, Yarm, N. Yorks. I AM horrified that domestic boilers will have to be replaced with heat pumps at the homeowner’s expense. I fully appreciate climate change is happening, but anything we do in this country is going to have minimal effect. Along with Russia and the U.S., China and India are major contributors to global warming, but are unlikely to reduce their carbon emissions as they strive to achieve the living standards we enjoy in the West. Doesn’t the Government realise that its threat to ban us from selling our own homes after 2028 if we do not undertake its list of green energy improvements will alienate many of the people who elected them? ALAN R. GIDLEY, Long Stratton, Norfolk. DOES the Government really think homeowners are going to pay £20,000 to upgrade wall and floor insulation and install heat pumps and new radiators? That’s not taking into account the cost of redecoration and new carpets. Has any thought been given to the fact that adding all that insulation could cause problems with condensation? The Government is making bold proposals to show its green credentials. It has no idea how to achieve this apart from passing the buck to homeowners, who are expected to pay for these grandiose schemes. It’s generally accepted we have to reduce carbon emissions, but let’s start with the simple things, such as offices turning off their lights at night and all shops having to keep their doors closed in the winter. Dimming street lights or turning them off during the early hours when few people are about would also make a contribution to saving energy.
SIMON DREW, Bracknell, Berks.