Yes Plouasne, it does seem as though it may go that way. I often wonder why they seem to concentrate more on getting alternative fuels for the motorcar than they do for domestic heating systems. Okay they talk about wind, geo thermal, voltaic, and heat pump alternatives but those programs need drastic up sizing and research for them to be more effective.
Lets be honest, how many heat pumps are fitted compared to gas boilers?
We should be looking for alternative ways of heating domestic premises.
At the moment its all insulation and boiler efficiency based over here.
How about heating the person instead of the house?
How about domestic hydrogen converter units and changing boilers from natural gas to hydrogen burners?
It could perhaps been done on a local scale.
How about burning rubbish for heat? I know its getting done now, but isn't it slow?
We Brits need to stop mucking about and join Europe properly. Mind you the Brit bankers couldn't do what they liked then, and working people would have to work normal hours with proper holidays.
Lets get away from using Brits as cheap labour to undercut the European developed countries like France and Germany.
Bernie,
I agree with you, the much vaunted heat pump air to water for UFH, most now a days have an electric immersion heater in a pocket to top up the heat of the water when the outside temperature drops too low; A CON or what ??
Insulation the regulations are much too slack, I remember reading in I think the carpenter and builder, around 1960, that the Swedes, had triple glazing and 18 inches of insulation even then
A timber frame building, using "I" beams for all the timbers, 30cms in depth with 30cm fibre glass/rock wool insulation in between the timbers (floor, walls, ceiling, roof), with 25mm of the "Dow blue" insulation on the outer shell of the timber frame, 50mm closed air gap, then 150mm light weight concrete block outer skin, the heat loss through this type of construction, is in the region of 0.08 watts/mt²/°c, and for a "bog standard" sized british home it would need a boiler in the region of 4 to 6Kw, couple this with a heat store of 500 to a 1000 litres, with solar panels that's a good 75% saving on fuel, if not more, I would say
France at the moment insists on a minimum of 150mm insulation in the walls for timber frame housing, 200mm in normal block wall houses, and 200mm in the roof, the aim by 2012 is for an annual heat consumption for all heating requirements (heating & hot water), of no more than 50Kw/mt² plan area/year, and by 2015 reduce this to 25Kw/mt² plan area/year; not being nasty or snide now, what's the UK doing
Wood pellet boilers/fires are becoming the in thing, a log fire has always been a feature in 90% of French houses, sometimes a back-boiler coupled to the Oil C/H(red diesel burning 35 sec oil only, in France, they regard Kerosene 28 sec oil as too dangerous, for central heating, and can only be obtained in small lots 20ltr's) 99.9% of the C/H in France is of the sealed system as well, so you can imagine the raised eye brow from me, at first
Hydrogen is a less energy dense fuel and there could be a problem of local generating it, in my opinion
Waste rubbish burning has been long used in France, but then France had a lot of its cities reshaped by both the Germans, the UK and the Allies, and so started of from a better footing, for district heating via waste burning, I believe its the same with Germany
Don't want to shatter your dream, but the wages are fairly low in France, 1500 to 2000€/month (£1275 -£1700/month), but 35 to 40 hour week at least an hour for lunch 90% of the time paid for by the firm, the whole of August of for holiday, down side is Christmas is 1 day off, and the 24th is just a normal working day with maybe a couple of hours off, January 1st is the big day though
Euros and the UK bankers (should that be a "W" instead of a "B"??) do not mix, all that lovely commission they charge to change £ to € and back again would be lost
When is the revolution starting ?? shall I renew my passport ??, that's another sore point with me, the best part of 200€ (£190) to renew it from the Embassy in Paris, plus 10 minuets on a premium phone line at 1€ a min
This will give you some idea of how the other side is tackling the problem
A 1.20mtr space under the ground floor, the external wall will be timber clad
The underside of polystyrene block for a block and beam suspended ground floor
The topside of another property before the slab is cast
Note the depth of the foundations
And the thickness of the concrete, the steels sticking up are reinforcing rods, the concrete blocks are hollow and slid over the steel when laid then filled with concrete
Inside shot of the top photo, the first floor joists are morticed into the central beam and the wall plate on the outer edge, timber uprights are 200mm x 145mm
