Who was the coldest last night?

[JohnB]

I hope the stuff never starts to run out - imagine what that'd do to the price of the stuff. :shock:

Peak conventional oil seems to have happened 4 years ago. We may be on the down slope where supply falls a little every year soon, and prices go up. Get insulating!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Peak conventional oil seems to have happened 4 years ago.

Can I switch to unorthodox oil? Is that any cheaper or more plentiful?

Isn't peak oil a bit of a moving feast - as it becomes scarcer, it'll become more economic and technically feasible to extract deeper and harder to find supplies - as well as lifting the embargo in places like Antarctica, etc. Just set Edward de Bono on the problem...

 

[JohnB]

Can I switch to unorthodox oil? Is that any cheaper or more plentiful?

Isn't peak oil a bit of a moving feast - as it becomes scarcer, it'll become more economic and technically feasible to extract deeper and harder to find supplies - as well as lifting the embargo in places like Antarctica, etc. Just set Edward de Bono on the problem...

The deeper and harder to find and unorthodox oil is harder to get at, and not such high quality, so more expensive. The more oil we burn, the sooner climate change gets us. Another reason for insulation!

 

[FamilyWiggs]

Ooh - we haven't done climate change for a while.

I'll start by flippantly saying I need to increase my carbon footprint cos it's so flipping cold...

Edit - just wiki'd Peak Oil. Oh dear :shock:

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh deary dear.

What's to be done?

Insulation just isn't going to sort this house out. The roof could be improved, but the basement is built into the hill, for chilly subterrranean starters, the walls are very thick solid stone, which can't be insulated, the windows are old and draughty and there are all these great gaping holes - ie chimneys! Then, the main door is a large glass porch arrangement, double glass doors leading onto more double glass doors, all old and draughty, then the floors are gappy boards suspended over the ground, or freezing slabs of stone, with the breezes blowing through!

It is a house for the hanging of game, I think - and if I wanted a warm house here it would be far easier to knock it down and build a different design than insulate this one.

I'm so glad I can drive as I can now get warm in the car. :twisted:

 

[middi]

Oh deary dear.

What's to be done

I'm so glad I can drive as I can now get warm in the car. :twisted:

Is petrol cheaper than oil in your neck of the woods Joce :wink:


Middi

 

[JohnB]

Edit - just wiki'd Peak Oil. Oh dear :shock:

It adds an interesting dimension to renovating old houses . Houses were built as homes, so how ever much you love old ones, they weren't built to be quaint and full of character, but to be lived in. I've just started a local Transition Housing Group (Do some Googling on Transition once you've got over the peak oil shock!), and the big issue that's come up first is how we deal with old houses, to make them comfortable and liveinable (have I just invented that word? ) in an age of expensive energy and resource depletion (as well as climate change, and a collapsing economic system!).

My aim is to undo the last 40 odd years of damage (cement etc), and then to let the house evolve in an enlightened way, with the minimum impact on it's historic features possible, while turning it into a home fit for the future.

Do I get excommunicated now?

 

[middi]

No John, You get "incommunicated" (and end up living the life of Monk) :wink:

Middi

 

[Penners]

Oh deary dear. What's to be done? Insulation just isn't going to sort this house out.

You're right, Joce. Insulation fulfills just one function - it reduces heat transference through a surface. The word "heat" is the key; if there's no heat on either side of the insulated surface, then the insulation is redundant.

Obviously this is an extreme example, but in your case if you haven't got enough heat inside the house, then improving the insulation is only going to make a marginal difference - unless you can thermally "seal" the house to the extent that your minimal sources of heat gradually fill the place up with imprisoned warmth. This is very difficult to do even on a new-build house. In yours I would say it's downright impossible.

You can improve the situation with insulation but, at the risk of stating the bleedin' obvious, you need more heat for that insulation to keep in.

But you didn't need anyone to tell you that, did you? Sorry.

 

[JohnB]

No John, You get "incommunicated" (and end up living the life of Monk) :wink:

Middi

Oh no I don't - http://www.eco-hamlets.org.uk

 

[middi]

I have read that eco-hamlet link John.
Is't it amazing how some people wish to tun the clock back 2/300 years. This proves the point that we can't have the cake and eat it .
It is obvious that we are starting to realise that we are burning the candle from both ends where energy waste is concerned

Middi

 

[JohnB]

I have read that eco-hamlet link John.
Is't it amazing how some people wish to tun the clock back 2/300 years. This proves the point that we can't have the cake and eat it .
It is obvious that we are starting to realise that we are burning the candle from both ends where energy waste is concerned

Middi

Turn the clock back? Where does it say that? This is the future, or at least a future that appeals to a lot of people who have thought about where the world is headed. There are times when I can't keep up with the enquiries from interested people! They will be lots more about the concept, and what we're doing to make it happen, on the new improved web site coming soon .

 

[Tom]

Well, we finally got water in the caravan again yesterday after having 5 days with none. We were having to carry it over in buckets from the house :roll: It's been so cold here, we even had a pipe freeze in the house :shock: The coldest temp we recorded was -12 outside and -6 inside :lol: Our curtains had to be peeled from the windows in the mornings and our boots were frozen to the inside doormat. And during all that the house was toasty warm :roll: Still, we're getting closer and closer to moving in

 

[Me!]

Just a warning to anyone who is about to buy some heating oil, and who hasn't realised what the price is doing at the moment -

 

[worms]

Good grief! I got a delivery on Thursday - pre-ordered at 51p which I thought was bad enough!

 

[MdB]

The graph is from here: http://www.boilerjuice.com/heatingOilPrices.php

Press the max button and press update :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[worms]

I've checked my local supplier against boilerjuice in the past and have always found the local price to match their quote. This time I was quoted 61.5p for 1000 litres but 56p for 1500, so probably worth the bigger delivery - although I suppose I might be using 56p oil in the spring when the price may be back down. It is worth it, though, for the peace of mind of knowing I'll not be out in the snow with jerry cans!

 

[Penners]

I've checked my local supplier against boilerjuice in the past and have always found the local price to match their quote.

I used to use Boilerjuice to check prices, but I never once found a price that I couldn't beat by phoning around local suppliers.

Nevertheless, that trend looks scary.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

The Saturday Telegraph says that people living in rural areas could find their oil costs rising to an extra £564 per year as a result of this recent price hike, 76p a litre was mentioned. :shock: :shock:

 

[worms]

The Saturday Telegraph says that people living in rural areas could find their oil costs rising to an extra £564 per year as a result of this recent price hike, 76p a litre was mentioned.

...and add in the fact that if you are not on the gas grid you can't get any decent deals on electricity.