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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Cutting down on using heating

110 replies

Oaktree1233 · 17/10/2023 08:48

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.

OP posts:
user1497207191 · 17/10/2023 12:12

Katiesaidthat · 17/10/2023 11:45

God, this thread is depressing. And this is the 7th world economy?

But the thread isn't about money saving, it's about using fewer of scarce resources and reducing pollution/environmental damage etc. Just because some can afford to use more power, doesn't mean they should!

aswarmofmidges · 17/10/2023 12:23

A rich world economy should be able to keep its population warm without harming the planet though

Yes it is depressing

Imagine if heat pumps had been mandated in 2012 for all new builds
Imagine if all low income households had been given an insulation grant

marshmallowfinder · 17/10/2023 12:31

ShellySarah · 17/10/2023 08:55

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.

He needs to run an electric dehumidifier. That's utterly barking mad.

Normalsizedsalad · 17/10/2023 12:34

Re environment. I am sure there is a scheme to offset basic need like heating as rich do their private jet rides

ginandtonicwithlimes · 17/10/2023 12:34

Easy for you to say. Our house is Edwardian and does have some damp so when cold it really feels cold. Also I have Raynaud's. After years of not having it plus two young children I will put the central heating on. We are used to having less heating on but it is a miserable life.

ginandtonicwithlimes · 17/10/2023 12:35

Plus yes I do layer up and still feel cold!

Fairyliz · 17/10/2023 12:39

MN is a funny place sometimes. On lots of threads people say they earn £100k and anything less that £80 is a poor salary. On the next thread everyone is so poor they can only have the heating on for 2 seconds a day without starving to death.
Im sure the op is talking about the average person who perhaps sets their thermostat at 20 degrees but could perhaps turn it down a couple of degrees to save energy.

findingithardertoday · 17/10/2023 12:39

Well intentioned but YABU. Everyone should be be warm at home in winter and it would be rationing for the poorest, not those who need it least. There is no practical way to separate the heat "deserving/undeserving", save on the grounds of ability to pay (and that would be foul and disastrous).

YANBU to want less of our heat to come from fossil fuels.

QuestionableMouse · 17/10/2023 12:47

I only have gas heating via the combi boiler and radiators. It's set to 17c atm and even then the flat often feels cold.

BeetleDeuce · 17/10/2023 12:52

aswarmofmidges · 17/10/2023 12:23

A rich world economy should be able to keep its population warm without harming the planet though

Yes it is depressing

Imagine if heat pumps had been mandated in 2012 for all new builds
Imagine if all low income households had been given an insulation grant

Yes this is a government failure. We can decarbonise our energy and have enough energy! But there’s been no national vision or energy minister to take it forward. Useless.

DaftQuestionForToday · 17/10/2023 12:56

mumda · 17/10/2023 09:15

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.

@mumda the first hour or two is the most expensive so try adding on an hour to a period of time rather than an hour at another random time.

Seymour5 · 17/10/2023 12:57

We’re on quite a low income, pensions, mid/late 70s. We budget by overpaying our fuel costs in the months where usage is low. The CH went on for the first time last week. We see heating as a priority in winter, but we also wrap up well indoors.

AvengedQuince · 17/10/2023 12:58

No. My thermostat was set to 14 last winter. I will not use less.

ladeluge · 17/10/2023 12:59

I spent money (instead of holidays/clothes etc.) this year on underfloor and cavity wall insulation. The difference is unbelievable. Best money I've ever spent. Existing S facing patio doors give great solar gain on sunny but cold days too. I really only need the heat on for about three hours a day and often for less than that. A heated blanket on the sofa and a good electric blanket fir bed completes the picture.
I am retired and at home during the day, but it's rarely cold enough to need the heat on after breakfast and before around 3-4 pm. Again an hour boost at a time is plenty

I have a decent dehumidifier in the box room where I dry clothes when it's not suitable outside. No tumble drier here either.

DaftQuestionForToday · 17/10/2023 13:03

CalistoNoSolo · 17/10/2023 09:42

The standing charge is a travesty and should be scrapped.

Show quote history

@CalistoNoSolo the standing charge is a shared cost of having gas/electricity available to you. Why should that expense Be added to the unit cost?

PickAChew · 17/10/2023 13:20

RoseAndRose · 17/10/2023 09:34

Depends on what their vulnerability is, doesn't it?

Vulnerable to what, for a start? Disease?

And I am struggling to come up with a vulnerability that prevents you from wearing warmer clothes or using a blanket and hot water bottle in the normal fashion (people who may or may not be "vulnerable" but who have certain disabilities might of course need assistance with dressing, making up the bottle etc)

For PP worried about hands, there are gloves (fingerless?) and wrist warmers, and for the face then masks (the wearing of which is a fantastic way to protect the vulnerable and the aged, though of course that benefit is less likely to accrue within your own home, unless you are in one of the (literally) millions of households which do contain someone who could be categorised like that)

Show quote history

Severely autistic Ds2 will only wear 1 layer of clothes, indoors, even when he's shivering. He couldn't tell us if he was uncomfortably cold, if he wasn't shivering. We keep the house at a comfortable temperature for him.

Desecratedcoconut · 17/10/2023 13:29

And I am struggling to come up with a vulnerability that prevents you from wearing warmer clothes or using a blanket and hot water bottle in the normal fashion

Cold air places a stressor on the respiratory, circulatory and immune systems.

Someone with COPD, etc, isn't going to be able to outrun the detrimental effects of living in a cold home with another jumper and fingerless gloves.

margotrose · 17/10/2023 13:33

YABU.

Sitting in a cold, damp house is really unhealthy and causes huge amounts of long-term problems in humans and homes.

ACynicalDad · 17/10/2023 13:35

We will hold it off another week or two and try to be economical but no way we're getting to the mould-appearing levels. We've done extra insulation and added a Hive system which seem to have meant our increase last year wasn't as horrific as some.

rwalker · 17/10/2023 13:43

Rather than be all or nothing I try to compromise
heating to take the chill off ,avoid mould
more layers
Rather than keep house at 21/23 degrees

we’ve all spent the last 10 years in shorts and tee shirts when there’s snow on the ground outside very nice but in reality unnecessary and wasteful

Gall10 · 17/10/2023 13:52

Has anyone found a way to recycle these solar panels?

aswarmofmidges · 17/10/2023 14:46

Gall10 · 17/10/2023 13:52

Has anyone found a way to recycle these solar panels?

Yes

Desecratedcoconut · 17/10/2023 14:49

The process of recycling solar panels has really progressed. It's more a matter of the economic viability of doing so now but apparently this will be less of an issue as the value of the reclaimed products increase - years rather than decades.

Mountainhowl · 17/10/2023 15:06

We make do with heat and hot water in the winter months only. We are on heating oil so it's a big 'all in one go' expense rather than a monthly bill and can only really afford to put 500L of oil in a year which we do in October (just took delivery today)

From about march the oil runs out and the boiler is turned off at the wall. We have an electric shower so all use that, and boil a kettle if we need a sink of hot water (but we have a dishwasher so don't often need that)

End of September/beginning of October, and just after we run out it can be chilly but not unbearable. The house got down to 16c before the heating finally came on for the first time since early this year

We run the thermostat at 18/19c throughout winter and continue to limit baths (in favour of showers, we're still clean) to ensure the oil lasts us the coldest months

I wish you could buy it in 100L at a time, that would be so much more achievable!