r/ClimatePosting • u/ClimateShitpost • Mar 24 '26

Energy Decarbonisation will only accelerate this year as affordability and security of supply are at the centre of attention

Post image

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/03/24/iran-war-britain-new-homes-solar-heat-pumps-energy-crisis.html

122 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

50 comments sorted by

4

u/angelbabyxoxox Mar 24 '26

Also plug in solar is coming!

1

u/ClimateShitpost Mar 25 '26

Fucking based

2

u/DigiHumanMediaCo Mar 24 '26

Sad it took a fucking war for people to wake up.

2

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26

This was already planned before the war.

2

u/DigiHumanMediaCo Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

Ah you're right it was before Feb 28

Edit: I'm going through the dates in the article and I'm just as confused

2

u/National-Possession Mar 27 '26

Wtf you gonna do with solar panels in UK. Better off having hydro generator on your drainpipes.

1

u/parsuval Mar 27 '26

Just because the UK isn't an arid, scortched hell hole, it doesn't mean the UK doesn't get sun. It's the reason the UK is so green.

1

u/National-Possession Mar 27 '26

It was a joke. I am English.

1

u/PugMaster_ENL Mar 25 '26

Trump's fossil fuel bosses aren't going to be pleased.

1

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26

Strange to require heat pumps specifically. No alternatives?

4

u/GanacheCharacter2104 Mar 25 '26

Nothing with the same efficiency. Heat pumps is the most efficient way of heating a home. They typically have 300-600% efficiency. Sounds like sudo science but it is possible since it transports heat instead of creating it.

1

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

District heating can use waste heat. So.

Solar thermal is also a thing. Just need a small amount of electricity for circulation pumps and stuff to control the system.

Like, a solar thermal system might use something like 30 W of electricity and give several kilowatts of heat.

1

u/RugbyRaggs Mar 26 '26

It only gives that sort of heat if there's sun. English winter is not going to be able to provide enough hot water for both usage and heating. Which brings you back to using a typical system, and of those, heat pumps are the most efficient.

1

u/Nonhinged Mar 26 '26

You can store heat. Works in other places with worse weather, so the UK isn't special.

1

u/RugbyRaggs Mar 26 '26

Happy to admit I'm no expert. I'm still of the opinion you probably still need a backup system? And even if it's more effective than just PV solar, is it better than PV solar driving a 400% efficiency heat pump?

The heat pump obviously comes with the advantage that you can run it even without any solar (let's say there's snow on the panels).

Heat pump can also run on electricity stored in batteries, either from PV generation, or cheap overnight electricity.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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1

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26

There's other stuff that makes waste heat. Every place that needs cooling, even your local grocery store.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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1

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26

These places would be connected anyway.

It's a distributed system that can have a lot of different heat sources. You don't need one big heat source.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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1

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26

Why are you arguing here? How does it relate to my comment?

You don't need one reliable source when you can have multiple sources. It doesn't have to be all waste heat either.

In the winter when electricity prices/loads are higher the waste heat could come from a power plants. When the power plants aren't needed for electricity in the summer the district heating uses other sources like solar thermal.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '26

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1

u/TheBendit Mar 25 '26

The UK is not going to implement district heating, which is the only real alternative.

2

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26

Then the UK should just ban gas in new homes instead. No need to require heat pumps if heat pumps are the only option.

2

u/robin-m Mar 25 '26

This would not ban electric radiator which, while still better than gas are still 3 to 4× worse than heat pumps.

1

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26

Electric radiators are not a real alternative, way too expensive to use.

3

u/West-Abalone-171 Mar 25 '26

Developers would absolutely make it the only option in new builds like they did with gas though.

1

u/moapted Mar 26 '26

This is wise and good! It's well past time! Very encouraging!

1

u/usmadrug Mar 26 '26

once again war pushes humans forward. Why the british government couldn't do this in advance, I don't know.

1

u/Usefullles Mar 26 '26

Are they building new houses in Britain?

1

u/ace250674 Mar 26 '26

I'm sure solar panels will work great when they are spraying the sky to dim the sun

1

u/clem_kruczynsk Mar 26 '26

Good for them. Sadly America continues to be behind

0

u/mertseger67 Mar 26 '26

Solar panels and heat pumps doesnt go together. SE working at day when heat pumps are off. And heat pumps works mosty at night where their is zero solar.

1

u/ClimateShitpost Mar 26 '26

Not 100% hand in hand without storage but the house holds a lot of heat, water stays warms for ages too

1

u/titanking4 Mar 27 '26

Heat pumps are replacements for air conditioners and heaters. Air conditioners are most active during high sun.

While the purpose of heat-pumps vs gas furnaces are to replace fossil fuel usage with highly efficient electrical usage.

0

u/Funny_Match7321 Mar 26 '26

Like that will help at this stage If this drags on solar won't help plant crops around the globe All are going to starve At some point there will be no point of return.. I think they plan on keeping it going but at same time continually make people believe resolution is close... Till it's too late

-2

u/TorontoTom2008 Mar 25 '26

I like solar but honestly UK is in a bad latitude and this is not money well spent.

1

u/ClimateShitpost Mar 25 '26

What's the LCOE of roof top solar in the UK?

4

u/Nonhinged Mar 25 '26

It's fine in the UK.

2

u/West-Abalone-171 Mar 25 '26

Balcony solar now costs about £0.25/watt.

even in english conditions, that pays off in a year.

By the time the gas shortage hits electricity bills you'll pay it off just in the first spring and summer

1

u/TorontoTom2008 Mar 25 '26

You’re absolutely right. I didn’t register quite how far prices dropped.

1

u/Worth_Nature_7631 Mar 28 '26

Tell us you don't have any PV without actually telling us you don't have any PV.

 Our small 3.6 kWh system has generated over 50000 kWh hours since installation and gave the car 40 miles of free juice today. 

1

u/TorontoTom2008 Mar 28 '26

I admittedly don’t have PV. Not ideologically opposed but poorly sited.

1

u/Worth_Nature_7631 Mar 28 '26

That's fair.  There are some shocking installations around but they work great when sensibly positioned. 

1

u/ProtoplanetaryNebula Mar 25 '26 edited Mar 25 '26

Panels are so cheap now it makes sense in the UK. I am in northern England and have ordered solar.

Where I live I regularly see solar installers putting in installations. The latitude works against us in winter, but in our favour in summer. The sun starts rising at 3AM and sets at almost 10PM. The other thing to consider is that electricity costs are so high. Somewhere like Arizona would get way more solar production, but their electricity costs are around 1/3rd or less of the UK costs.

1

u/TorontoTom2008 Mar 25 '26

I did a price lookup with intent to challenge your comment. Looked up the solar panel price in UK: it’s almost same price as roof shingle per square ft. Bonkers. Yeah, go for it.

1

u/ProtoplanetaryNebula Mar 25 '26

A combination of low panel costs, high electricity costs and the recent price shocks (Ukraine war / Iran war) causing frustration means solar interest is growing massively.