Laut Studie würden Wärmepumpen und Isolierung die Lebenshaltungskosten in Großbritannien stärker senken als neue Ölfelder
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/oct/18/heat-pumps-insulation-warm-homes-plan-beat-new-oilfields-cutting-uk-cost-of-living-study
Von apple_kicks
28 Kommentare
They won’t generate the electricity for EVs and AI, and people can’t afford the investment. Nuclear is the answer not oil.
Just curious did any of the studies on net zero before it was policy predict we would have the highest energy costs in the developed world?
I feel like i have seen studies promising cheaper energy bills by pursuing renewable energy for the last 20 years. This is a genuine question though, as it could just be my perception.
Love my heat pump. Super efficient and AC in the summer is wonderful.
Would getting the water companies to stop acting like a capitalist free for all help too?
Noooooo! Don’t give the government actually good ideas! They are only interested in low hanging fruit to pad their list of „successes“ like implementing a rag like OSA and banning specific types of porn!
That’s what they said about the energy saving light bulbs and equipment. The more efficient we become the higher the standing charge.
The E3G think tank guys are super keen on the rapid move away from oil and gas and champion the setting of „challenging“ net zero targets they also want a massive state investment in Green Technologies.
I am not saying any of this is a bad thing but perhaps the Guardian should have told its readers the full provenance of the people publishing such a report.
If heat pumps were more affordable, more people would have them. Currently, the government is quite happy to have people freeze in the winter and boil in the summer
Finally, some truth coming out. Wonder about vested interests too.
Grant the licenses on condition that the oil / gas is sold to the UK at 2020 prices, they’ll still make millions and we would get cheaper energy.
It’s a distraction from the fact that we have astronomically high energy prices as a result of government decisions. Saying that option A will result in slightly lower costs than option B is missing the point entirely.
It’s also a childish, binary argument: what is needed is a change in government policy so we pay real costs for our electricity and not have gas taxed so that it’s another problem. We need less demand and more supply. That means more efficient systems like heat pumps, solar, wind, tidal, (unfortunately) nuclear, and not artificially cutting off what gas we are already using. It’s absolutely ludicrous that we still pay 20% VAT on insulation products, for example.
This is nonsense.
I have a heat pump and my electricity bill is still ridiculous every month.
Yeah but is the government going to pay for every house to have them installed ?
Great if everyone could afford to drop 15k when we’re deep into a cost of living crisis
Most mortgage lenders provide great loans or extra grants. Ours 0% interest for first 5 years then can be added to mortgage.
Heat-pump has only cost us £22 a month. Savings are well over double that. It’s the best deal possible and the best heating system possible for our solid wall victorian house.
It’s not suitable for older houses without a lot of expensive work, so rather than cut the cost of oil that would help everyone we can install heat pumps for those who have a well insulated house and can afford it or those not working who will get it for free, the average working man will be caught in the middle and have to pay for something at a time that the cost of living and tax burden is already at an all time high
Statistics can be made prove anything especially by a green think tank,
Okay… but one option requires staggering amounts of public investment, while the other generates significant tax revenue. They’re not the same, and also not mutually exclusive.
Folks getting rich off North Sea oil won’t like this… like Farageski and his cronies 🤷♂️
The money for new oilfield development comes from private entities, with a lot of tax going to the government; heat pumps and insulation require government subsidy. We should be doing both.
Yes but that doesn’t generate any money for the ultra rich
I’ll be sticking with a condensing combi for the time being, I can’t justify the cost of new radiators and additional insulation. A lot of people can’t make a financial decision that may only bring economical benefit years down the line.
Thankfully now that you’ve raised this dichotomy the government will stop it’s policy of discouraging heat lumps and insulation.
Obviously. New oil in the uk is probably better for our security and taise some tax and save transportation accross the seas, but it was never going to lower bills. Solar and batteries on the other hand would
To properly retrofit a property you’re looking at 40k for EWI and a heat pump (at the low end). So, yes, it might lower costs for consumers but where is the money coming from?
The government would be better off backing solar panels and battery storage, imo. We practically imported zero electric from March to September. And even now, in October, we are generating enough solar to run the house without importing. November to February will be a different matter, but, only really paying for electric for 4 months of the year is great and then getting paid for the extra generated in the summer off sets that winter usage.
Heat pumps should definitely be installed into new properties, but retrofitting them doesn’t seem to make financial sense at the moment.
Heat pump and insulation companies don’t have much lobbying power, sadly
It’s not an either/or issue.
In the medium to long term we should be transitioning to a decarbonised grid and transport system as much as possible, which would indeed be cheaper as well as less destructive to the planet
In the short term, using our remaining stores of oil/gas can be used to protect the UK from shocks created by shit like the Russia invading Ukraine or America picking a fight with Iran
In both of those situations, things like insulation to improve efficiency would reduce energy costs and wastage
Yup. Getting off of the expensive fossil fuel based system as much as possible is not only a solution to this oil crisis, but every oil crisis.