Cutting down on using heating

[Oaktree1233]

I was just thinking that if everyone used slightly less heat than in previous years this will ultimately be good for everyone. I’m trying to use far less heat not just due to cost but also because it’s using gas. I think that it needs to become more acceptable to bundle up in jumpers and blankets. Obviously, the ill and vulnerable or people with small children can’t do this as well. AIBU.

Im trying to think what we can do to lessen energy use. I’m waiting for more efficient solar panels to be marketed in the next 2 years but am really keen to get them. It would be good if there were more Government grants to make everyone go solar - think how much energy that would produce.

Many UK houses already suffer with damp and mould so less heating (and airing) will not "ultimately be good for everyone".

I don't want to be huddled under a blanket when I'm not working . Yabu.

My boyfriends house doesn't have gas. It would cost thousands to run the gas line down his road. He has electric wall heaters. His house has black mould and damp. That's the reality.

You want to bundle up in jumpers good for you. But don't pretend there are no down sides.

Yabu .. I am delaying putting my heating on for cost reasons .

if you want to be more energy efficient go for it .

telling others to live their lives by your choices yabu

Yabu

Yeah, you don't want to get too Mumsnet/four Yorkshire men in this. I cut down significantly last year and was then faced with quite a lot of black mould appearing behind furniture.

I imagine the average household in the UK uses much less energy when heating their homes than warmer countries spend cooling them. We really don't have a culture of running the heating all day long anyway. Most people heat their home to a comfortable temperature in the early morning and early evening hours and they aren't running around in shorts and t shirts all day during the winter.

The reality is residential solar panels are not the answer in the UK. Higher cost construction with things like Diathonite plaster and more Passivhaus principles would be a better long term approach. But as a country we allow construction companies to build quickly and cheaply without considering the long term sustainability.

We have cut down on using the heating. Purely for cost reasons.
The house seems to be ok so far but I do worry about mould etc. We managed ok last winter but it was unpleasant being cold a lot of the time.
Layers helped to a degree. But when the air is so cold it’s not a nice feeling

I'm with you OP. I've been adding insulation, installing better doors and windows since I bought our house 12 years ago. It's an old house so there was plenty I could do.

Installed a log burner (we're rural), cut water heating to only we what we actually use, and managed to keep last year's utilities bill to £1400. It takes a bit of effort but can be done.

You heat the person, not the space.

And I'm wondering why you seem to think that's not possible for the elderly, the vulnerable and children? Why can't they wear warmer clothes, or be under a blanket, perhaps with a hot water bottle?

Poor people already heat their homes so little that it causes damp, mold, condensation and eventually leads to respiratory problems.

I think, because houses were built 30-40 years ago or so that they built them with Central Heating in mind. No fire places for example and no chimneys like older houses.
If I had a chimney I'd be opening it back up and getting wood and coal delivered like when I was kid. We had 2 fire places, one in front room and one in the back room. Dad would set a fire in the back room and the heat would travel up the chimney and radiate heat all through the house. He'd make us keep the upstairs doors open "so the heat can wander around"

These days I can scarce afford to have the central heating on for more than 2-3 hours a day. It costs far more than a bucket or two of coal used too.

@RoseAndRose or be under a blanket, perhaps with a hot water bottle?

How do you go about your day under hot water bottles and blankets? How does a child play?

It simply isn't conducive to normal living to do that other than for an hour or two in the evening.

Because breathing freezing cold air is so healthy for the elderly and the young and everyone in fact 🙄

I'm trying but the cold is bitter and can be painful.

I'm lounging with 3 blankets and a hot water bottle rn, I wonder what January will be like.

If someone's home feels REALLY cold even if temperature shows it shouldn't be that bad, check humidity levels

We don't all have gas heating. Mine is electric. I'm not being cold, plus I have a hamster that would hibernate if it got too cold inside.

Has he no option of an open fire/wood burner? DS is rural and has no mains gas, the wood burner makes a big difference.

Less that last winter? No.
The heating is on for two hours a day when the thermostat says it's cold enough.
Ie: this week it's meant the heating has come on in the morning only.

I'm tempted to add an extra hour of heating. But need to look at the cost.

That part was of course because OP was talking about what is happening inside your own home (ie the place where you can think about how much heat you use)

If a non-vulnerable, not elderly person can cope with those measures during their time in their home, then why can't those who don't fall in to those categories?

DC playing indoors should be fine with the bundled up option (the bit before the "or" that you selectively edited out)

@RoseAndRose If a non-vulnerable, not elderly person can cope with those measures during their time in their home, then why can't those who don't fall in to those categories?

You really don't see that there is zero logic to that? There are plenty of things non-vulnerable people can do that vulnerable people can't ... surely you can understand that?

We couldn't use less if we tried. We live under blankets, and in one room in the winter. Totally punished though with standing charges. Our extravagance is a hot water bottle.

Likewise my Mum lives in her bed for most of the winter. Uses one lamp and a tablet. With just the freezer and fridge on using electric.

Being bundled up doesn't help with the hands and face, which are the parts that I struggle with. Last year we kept the thermostat at 18 during the day (it's always off at night) and it was miserable. I've whacked it up to the heady heights of 19 the last couple of days. We live in a 1930s detached house without cavity walls and it can be chilly.
Aren't wood burners really bad pollution-wise?

I can't get away with not heating the house in the winter. It's 300yrs old with solid stone walls and sucks up damp very efficiently. It's all very well saying heat the person not the space, but that's completely impractical in my situation. Instead of individuals being forced to continually penny pinch the fucking tory govt could have invested properly in green energy 13 years ago. By now the UK would be in a far better sustainable and self sufficient position if that had happened.

In one fireplace I’ve got a wood burning stove. In DP’s house they’ve got a wood burning stove and in the big front room also a fireplace but no place to put a fire (unless they just lit it).

They do radiate heat throughout the whole house if you leave doors open. But you need to do as we both did recently, get chimney swept.

We wear down jackets and hats indoors in the winter, it’s quite an extreme way to live. I wouldn’t expect others to do the same, but yes don’t have your heating on and wear just a T-shirt, that’s bonkers.