Finding the chase and cutting to it

Words to the wise: the majority of this paper is our usual exploration on how you can see the impact your efforts make in your home. I do include the actual mathematics at the bottom to explain where some of this has come from – you do not need to read this unless you want […]

When we got our solar cells, we were never looking to be off-grid. The move was to support us and our new electric car. I had an interest in heat pumps, especially ground source, but in 2014, we saw solar as helping us ease the load. Of course, the world has changed dramatically since then: […]

Was it all worth it? The hardest thing about a purchase like windows for your house is that feeling you don’t know if it was worth it. It feels intangilble. Even thermal imaging is a hard thing to assess because bricks have a high thermal mass, or in terms of house insulation efficiency a low […]

There are about 30 million dwellings (residential buildings) in the UK. As of early 2025, over 1.4 to 1.6 million of these have solar generative capability. Only 44,000 are making use of solar thermal panels. With the rising price of energy and fuel, is that likely to change? Owned versus rented. One of the biggest […]

Mothering Sunday was not originally about celebrating Mother’s Day – it’s an old age tradition where people returned to their “mother church” – the main parish church or cathedral where they were baptized or raised. This act of returning home is the original meaning of “going a-mothering”. It is celebrated on the fourth Sunday in […]

If you live in the UK, you energy company is probably making a big fuss about “Power Moves”. Part of demand flexibility schemes are operated by National Energy System Operator (NESO) as a means of ensuring the UK makes the most of the renewable energy it produces. Power move, first launched by Ovo in 2024, […]

It’s my week to shop and cook. So, I am trying something new today, cooking my lovely left-over pie in the combination microwave. The average UK home spends 3-4% of its energy usage on cooking. It spends 80% on heating. Which doesn’t make cooking sound as if it’s causing much of an issue. But, our […]

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I’m no saint. Yes, I have been the one to make the suggestions of looking into the electric car and the heat pump, but, like everyone else, there are big areas I, personally, should do better. We are alpine skiers, and living in the UK, that means foreign travel to some mountains. Last year, we […]

Strolling through our local town centre or talking with family, it’s tempting to think that the grey skies overhead this UK winter are a sign that climate warming isn’t really happening. Actually, they are almost certainly a symptom of climate warming in action. Compared to the past few Novembers, November 2025 was dramatically warmer and […]