Bills Rising Stupidly!

We've just been moved from the late Avro to Octopus and still waitimg to see what figures they come up with. We were paying £134 PM and had wellover £200 credit but we're still expecting it to go over £200 PM. One of our neighbours has a wood burner, don't really know who, we can smell it at night and another is thinking of getting one but there's no way we'd consider one, way too much faffing about. Can you imagine if they become really popular and people see them as the "answer" to big fuel bills, there won't be a tree left standing in the country. De forestation comes to a green space near you!

 

I have a wood burner, I work with wood so its a no brainer as I get free offcuts. I prefer pete though, burns at a nice temperature and don't need to keep an eye on it like I do with wood.

 

I hope you mean "peat"! . Jokin' aside, I've stopped at a few B&B's in NI who had peat burners so I guess it"s quite popular over there. I seem to remember the late, great Joey Dunlop did some peat digging in his early years.

 

There's 3 of us in a 4 bedroomed house and being retired means there's someone in virtually all of the time. We had a new boiler 2 years ago which has turned out to be way more efficient than the old one and that reduced gas use quite a bit. We also have cavity wall insulation, double glazing and been through the whole house with LED bulbs where possible so there isn't really much more we can do on the energy saving front.

 

Aye peat even people still dig it here. Its a lot of work but its starting to make more sense the way energy prices are going. Its even more popular in southern Ireland. I love it when you get a whiff of someone burning it when out on the bike, beautiful

 

So how does peat burning sit with the Eco brigade? I wouldn't really call it a fossil fuel. The use of peat for gardening compost is know being frowned upon and the use of alternatives encouraged. We bought some based on wood chippings earlier in the year and it was shite.

 

I have no idea. Harvesting it certainly has no I'll effects that I can see. I don't know about burning it. Burns cleanly though.

 

Peat degradation and burning is held to be damaging to the environment, as it holds dead plant material over long periods and "stores" the CO2 they hold. It's a major weapon for carbon capture. Burning wood and peat is about as bad as it gets in terms of carbon release, l'm afraid.
As for bills, we're all in for a "shock" over the coming months. No doubt the councils will be blaming the pandemic for a hike in council tax soon enough, and so on ad nauseum. Once again, the poor bloody infantry will bear the load for the costs incurred recently.

 

Decaying peat also gives off methane which is something like 10 times worse than CO2 as a greenhouse gas. Vast areas of permafrost in Northern latitudes is now starting to thaw and decay, potentially releasing vast amounts of methane. Not sure what the answer is to that problem.

 

Correct, and there certainly isn't an easy answer. TBH l stick my head in the sand a bit on this subject, don't know all the rights and wrongs, all l know is l've ridden miles simply for pleasure, l drive a diesel car, but l don't figure on feeling guilty about it since it isn't actually illegal.

 

That's quite a hit No change for us yet, we're pretty light on energy compared to most, but worrying times without a doubt. Currently paying 105 sovs a month and have about 185.00 credit.

 

As i understand it, the Russians are being prevented from bringing their second gas pipeline on stream to Europe, by the Americans. So they have upped the price of that which comes through their first pipeline.They, the Americans, have imposed sanctions on Russia, and are threatening to impose them on other EU countries, if they buy Russian gas. America is now a huge producer of fracked oil, and gas. And want to ship it over here. But it is so expensive, that nobody wants it. So, here we are, being blackmailed, by our so called no1 ally.

 

Don’t worry all the carbon we are burning now (fossil fuels) was in the atmosphere once, at a time of the Earths greatest diversity of flora and fauna.

The Earth will survive the release of CO2 back into the atmosphere. Animals and plants ultimately will thrive. Humanity might get a bit pissed off though, but will survive.

We should learn from history.

 

Pete or peat? Good info though as we’ve one too. Never thought of the stuff

 

I think we should burn all the alarmist eco nutters. I am pissed off with their self righteous whining. Ought to help reduce our fuel bills a bit too.

 

I’m not even sure it’s as simple as that. Russia do claim that Europe has move to a policy of “spot buying” rather than predictive forward planning which is incompatible with their production process... yet It is speculated that Russia doesn’t have the capability to increase much more atm, and with fuel demands in Asia rising... they don’t have a huge storage surplus!

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Russia was boosting supplies and acting as a reliable partner, but he said the EU erred when it shifted towards a spot market under steps taken years ago.

https://www.reuters.com/business/en...t-over-europes-red-hot-gas-prices-2021-10-06/

 

Yeah, the gas/elec provider I was using went bust and so I have been passed onto one of the big 6. They've set up a 'special' tariff for us which is smack on the ofgem cap..... So tariffs have just gone up 50% for both gas and elec. At this rate air source heat pumps will look like a bargin.....

 

Yep I'm in the same boat,switched to British Gas, with min 50% rise with more to come it seems.
Big sinking ship me think's.