More energy-efficient homes in London

Last year we completed an extension (upward) of our typical Victorian.  This required us to put in a larger boiler and water tank instead of the combi boiler we had.  Could we have switched to a heat pump?  I have yet to find a clear answer as to whether or not these are practical for a Victorian semi-detached with a small garden.  Just how much garden/outdoor space is needed to install such a system?  Because we did not have a clear answer, we could not insist on going down this route.

Related to this -- you have got to get the architects and builders on board.  Our architect didn't think a heatpump was feasible, so that was the end of that.  

For us, it was not fundamentally a question of cost.  

I have been searching grants for heatpumps etc. I may be missing something, but I see grants for home owners to instal heatpumps up to 7k, and I see grants for heatpumps for district heating systems that use purplus heat from a centalised heatsource such as a power plant. However I am not able to find grants etc for a neighbourhood type district heating system using heatpumps.

Would it be the case that if a neighbourhood of say 40 homes chose to have a collective heatpump based heating system, they could each get 7k, making a total of 280k to put towards this type of system? If not, what would be the grant options for this, and would any other additional grants be available to make sure that all houses are compliant insulation and efficiency wise?

If  governments and authorities are so keen on reducing carbon emission, energy saving, etc. perhaps they would like to explain to us why they have for many years approved (and continue to approve) building plans by property developers which make little if any use of these methods and why there are no appropriate official organisations to ensure that Grenfell (external cladding) does not happen again.    

Every report that I have read requires the resident to foot the bill for these systems (as they did when ULEZ was introduced) and yet 60% of the  population earns £25,000 OR LESS per annum and child poverty levels are shameful - 13% in Barnet.    

Of course I am aware of the benefits to the environment of electric vehicles, etc. however, I have serious reservations about the consequences of so many batteries being required - not only in the environmental impact of their production but more importantly on how they are disposed of at the end of life.   

This huge push to reliance on electricity will, of course, result in our being totally dependent  on an electricity supply and I can only imagine the economic problems which this might pose to the majority of the population who will have no choice but to buy electricity for all their needs - whatever the cost.     Our electricity system isn't perfect with the current usage.  Imagine if all those i-phones went off during a power failure. Not only dangerous but I would imagine there would be riots in the streets.  

I’m not sure we’ve got any more to add here. The idea of reducing carbon emissions is, of course, a very good one but I can’t help thinking the work to do it all is going to be vast - and that’s assuming that we all want the same things (but clearly we can’t all want the same)…

Just one question - there was no mention of central heating using heat pumps (or did U miss that?)

There is not enough pressure on freeholders to improve the energy efficiency of flats. The unreliability of EPC certificates is also a problem. We have old rusty, leaky, drafty uPVC windows in our block, replacing them would not improve the EPC rating so there is no incentive for the freeholder and for non-resident leaseholders. 

On encouraging the use of storage heaters, we switched from storage heaters to electric heaters, more than halved our electricity bill and made our home more comfortable, even though storage heaters are supposed to be greener. The energy companies charge so much more for day electricity if you move to economy 7, cancelling out savings from the cheaper night rate. Storage heater made our home too warm in the early morning, and too cold in the evening. I think storage heaters are only suitable for people who are at home during the day, otherwise you heat an empty home.

I already have an efficient means of both heating my rooms and heating water. I have gas fired, balanced flue convector's which heat the rooms by warm air circulation, and our water is heated on demand via a gas multipoint, which only heats the water as we need it. I also have a split type heat pump system which gives us either heating or cooling for the rooms, so if we have issues with the other heaters we have a backup, and we can use it for a quick boost if we have been away, and come back to a cold place. Whilst we could contemplate electricity storage, to enable things like washing machines to be used at night, it is likely, in my view that the cost of installing it would not be recoverable in the time that we intend to stay living here, as we are both over 70 now. I’m also not sure where I would put a storage battery - probably in the loft.  I should add that this place is a split level property, as a large (130yr old) house split into several flats, and we are on the top. One of the best things we could do to improve energy consumption here would be to have external wall insulation, but as we have just spent over £60,000 having the whole place repainted, that’s unlikely to happen now. Solar panels are a No Go because it would be too difficult to split/share the power saved. We do have some communal power consumption, but it is minimal in the form of lighting(already low energy bulbs).

I know of some local buildings that are all-electric, with night storage radiators, immersion cylinders for hot water, and a lot of communal power in the form of lifts, and lighting inside and externally. Those are the sort of properties that could save a fortune with all these ideas like solar panels, wind turbines, & heat pumps. It would be good to get involved with the conversion of one of those properties.

Finally, just to advise, I have been in the business of air conditioning, ventilation & heating all my working career, over 40yrs, & have installed my own systems here.

Does anyone know where I can get discounted/a grant/significant help with secondary internal glazing? I have ancient sash windowS and I can’t afford over  3 thousand pounds to have 3 windows secondary glazing, they rattle a lot and the housing association won’t help in the slightest. Any help would be great, I’ve ever set up a go fund me, but I’ve had no attention. Thanks 

As an early adopter of electric cars and solar panels, I would be an ideal candidate for heat pumps or other low carbon technologies, but the options that seem to be offered (or discussed by Which? or other bodies) fail to give me a conclusive action plan - frankly, too many people I meet (including heating engineers) simply don't believe the technology is suitably developed to engage with it.  The excellent Waltham Forest scheme to showcase a retrofitted house certainly didn't have all the answers.  Maybe we need a HeatTogether initiative from the Mayor, similar to the solar model, that helps lead the way and overcome the fear of making a big mistake.

I am very supportive of the environmental need to change the way our homes use energy and the way we access our energy. However, due to myriad health problems I am basically a tenant of a private landlord and Universal Credit covers my rent but not a lot else. I have zero choices about how my home is insulated or powered, and my landlord is only interested in making money (I have to use a coin operated electric meter which I have been told by CAB is perfectly legal and since the landlord is basically my electric supplier, he can legally charge whatever he likes! I have long suspected he makes a tidy profit from this set-up.) 

Not only do I have zero choices but I also have zero prospects of this ever changing due to ongoing health concerns and rocketing cost of living. I have no faith that my local council or my landlord will ever make any positive moves to make homes of people like me more sustainable, and so it continues.

I just wanted to share this since I'm sure I am not the only Londoner in this situation. If something happens to my tenancy, I will probably have little option but to move out of London which will break my heart, but I feel this is precisely what London councils want as they don't want the responsibility of helping the vulnerable and just want people who are going to supply the cha-ching to them. This focus on profits MUST change if we are to ever realistically address the climate crisis. 

6 years simply is not enough time to tear up Tower Hamlets (and other boroughs) Conservation Area's rulebook, which has prevented the installation of double glazing and other types of retro-fitted insulations for decades. Forcing people who live in Victorian housing to keep single glazing sash windows is an enormous contributory factor to the financial and carbon costs of heating vast swathes of London's homes. A massive re-think was required decades ago! Too little, too late! No point installing district heating or a ground source heat pump at enormous personal cost - the heat will still go straight out of the windows!!

I've read a score of the most recent  messages below, and see that only one mentions solar panels.  A while back I enquired if there is any plan for those of us who opted to have them (under the Mayor of London's warmer homes initiative) might now have the opportunity of adding a couple of extra panels so that a battery could be installed and we could store the power from whatever sunshine we get.  As I mentioned before, I'd be willing to make a financial contribution to or pay the full amount but, as a single, female pensioner, I am not confident enough to find a reliable company for the installation of both panels and battery.  Might the Mayor's office be able to help in these circumstances?

I live in a ground floor flat with bare-brick walls. I'm keen to get a heat pump installed, but understand that heat pumps require pretty decent insulation throughout the property in order to work. As a result, I'm keen to address the insulation/weatherproof-ness (if that's a word) of the property but don't really know where to start. Cavity wall insulation (if we have cavity walls)? Floor/ceiling insulation? Something around the doors or windows? I'm loath to cover up the bare-brick walls as my partner loves them, so that's a bit of a non-starter, but any and all other options are definitely on the table. Any ideas on where to go for advice on my options?

I would like to install more energy-efficiency measures in my home but my concern about doing it is the level of disruption involved in doing something like replacing the heating system, particularly as I now work from home most of the time. 

i live in a council house in 2010 the council contractors changed the windows from wooden to double glazed pvc 

because of this they said they require "ventilation " so now i have windows that are worse then the wooden ones and over ventilated home, 

so bad there is a wind blowing through the house.

in the early 2000s the council replaced radiators from micro bore to waterfilled,

they misjudged the number of radiators and put a old leaking rad he "had on the van" and will be back to fit the rest.

 i never saw him again so i  have had no down stairs heating for about 20 years 

i lost count the calls i made to Newham council.

because of these things I don't put on the heating as it NEVER gets warm and is a waste of money. 

so i don`t trust council or contractors

so  solar battery off grid would be better,

not fitted by council or contactors

My parents live in Ipswich, which for various reasons has an unusually high-functioning borough council. Three years ago the council bulk-bought solar panels & battery systems and supported homeowners to install them. The result is some very enthusiastic and engaged older people, who are still looking for further ways to improve efficiency in their home. Schemes like this - where the LA has to look for users, can work with its own planning department, and can provide larger, longer-term, more reliable contracts to contractors - are excellent as they short-circuit a lot of the problems with an individual-led approach.

The biggest barrier to heat pump deployment is the widespread disinformation that they can't work, are too noisy, don't heat your home, too expensive... despite it being a 100+ year old technology that works in multiple different countries and climates around the world.

In a system where electricity is overwhelmingly renewable (the system we now have), and where fiddling with existing buildings is expensive and controversial, the case for heat pumps is overwhelming. I'm hugely supportive of helping people with insulation, particularly in rented housing, but it's been a stop-start project for a generation and it's incredibly slow and difficult. On the other hand, stating a phase-out date for the residential gas network would concentrate minds as well as force funding - and would itself drive more insulation.

As a final point, modern induction hobs are incredibly good. They're also an excellent gateway technology to wean people off the idea that you have to have gas domestically.