Our loved ones need us to act now. Here’s a quick and easy no-brainer to show you care! It takes less than a minute.
Critical work needs doing in the UK in the 5 years taking us to the 2030 milestone, that depends on government policies and funding. This is all covered in the Climate and Ecology Bill; our current MP is one of an as yet minority country-wide that supports the Bill
There is an excellent campaign being run by Zero Hour with the aim of asking every prospective parliamentary candidate for the next General Election to back the Bill.
You can sign as an individual, and businesses and community clubs and groups can sign too. Please ask those you work for or belong to. Every signature gives more encouragement and incentive to our candidates to act, and will also help snowball support around the country.
When you’ve signed here please share the online open letter with your friends and family: https://action.zerohour.uk/glastonbury-and-somerton?p=1
Energy for heat, electricity and transport is currently the world’s biggest source of carbon emissions. Heat pumps turn one unit of electricity into four units of heat energy, hence why they’re 300-400% efficient. Gas boilers are just 75-85% efficient. Are they noisy? No. Are they cheap to run? Yes! Whereas gas boilers burn gas to produce heat, heat pumps do something more complicated, a bit like a “fridge in reverse”; they use a mixture of evaporation and condensation to transfer free heat energy from the air outside to inside a building.
These humble boxes could be what Britain needs to help the country hit net-zero goals and save customers from rocketing gas prices. Only 1% of British homes currently have a heat pump; we’ve become climate laggards – the Netherlands, a country that has been gas-dependent for heating like the UK, is managing perfectly well to ramp up sales of heat pumps – now 30% of all new heating systems. We must act now.
The Boiler Upgrade Scheme, which closes in 2028, now provides a grant of £7,500 for heat pumps to help the UK reach ‘Net Zero’ – the point at which we no longer add to the total amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere; but remember that we will have put less greenhouse gas into the atmosphere the sooner we reduce our emissions, doing less harm to the climate we depend on and causing less harm for ourselves, our loved ones and generations for centuries to come.
Your property must have an eligible EPC issued in the last decade, with no outstanding recommendations for loft or cavity wall insulation. A box of about 1m x 1m x 0.4m needs to stand outside – close to, or attached to the property – to draw in air. It should be at least 1m from your neighbour’s property so they will not be able to hear it, although it won’t be much louder than a fridge. You will also need space inside for a heat pump unit and hot water cylinder. The unit will be about the size of a gas boiler – while the cylinder depends on the size of the home. There is no VAT on heat pumps until 2027.
Come and see an Air Source Heat Pump in action!
Milborne Port Sunday 11 February 3-5 pm
Email the address below for details.
Here’s One Thing To Do: Find out more about Heat Pumps! Email us to see one in action.
Next meeting: 7.30 pm Thursday March 7th Town Hall. Upstairs.