Energy bills

[Mussels]

If hydrogen can be extracted efficiently it would be an ideal way to buffer volatile green energy. Then it would make a great fuel for cars.

[Skub]

makes the tarmac flammable when underground pipes leak.

That's a slight drawback.

[slowsider]

Oh and now you've cross threaded this with a quote from GM and dragged me into a part of the forum I don't use anymore because...well what's the point when I was talking to a brick wall and taking shit for it...I thought I'd pop this up, I had planned to revisit this early in 2023 to say "I told you so" but I only had to wait six months...

the economy is going to be bad

In the long run what matters is how the UK economy performs in relation to other western economies, especially continental European. Service and digital economies such as the UK's are inherently more flexible and faster to adapt to change than manufacturing economies.

Thus to the contrary I do not share your pessimism about the future performance of the UK economy.

Project Fear !

[demographic]

WRT renewable gas.

My Boss's wife is an Engineer at SSE. 'Proper' Engineer that is, not the gas fitter who calls themselves an Engineer, she used to work in body design at Jaguar.

She's currently working on pilot programmes to switch domestic gas over to hydrogen. They have a few off grid villages which have been switched to 100% Hydrogen (or rather, up to 100%, they can also blend with conventional gas). Its more developed than I thought as a technology.

At the moment most Hydrogen comes from fossil fuels though.

Ita also a bugger to hold on to and makes the tarmac flammable when underground pipes leak.

I've been keeping an eye on this one.
From what I've heard its less energy dense than our normal gas and also escapes though the old pipe walls cos its got tiny molecules.
So needing a fair change of pipes in the network to be safe?

Just insulating homes properly (even new ones are almost always shite) makes a massive difference to energy consumption. Having large overhanging eaves helps keep summer sun out of the building and reducing the need for AC but allows the lower winter sun to warm the rooms when its needed.
Architects seem to love flat rooves with minimum overhang, plus box gutters that clog up with leaves and flood the house. You can't tell em.

[Cousin Jack]

Just insulating homes properly (even new ones are almost always shite) makes a massive difference to energy consumption. Having large overhanging eaves helps keep summer sun out of the building and reducing the need for AC but allows the lower winter sun to warm the rooms when its needed.
Architects seem to love flat rooves with minimum overhang, plus box gutters that clog up with leaves and flood the house. You can't tell em.

Scandinavia knows a fair bit about insulating houses and making them comfortable. Unfortunately most of our Building and Planning rules are prescriptive, so new ideas and materials tend to be frowned upon. Unless of course you are a large manufacturer of stuff, that can manage the testing of a smallish sample, prove it safe, and then install it in massive heights with all the safety bits missing.

[Yambo]

One bloke is in a position to tackle it and is doing so because he saw it coming (and told you about it), and mitigated against it. The other is a moaning unemployed science teacher from Hull who plays Dungeons & Dragons and collects a few lagging indicators/facts then combines them with his politics and moans about "the government" on Youtube when he doesn't actually know who he's referring to and uses the phrase "the government" to mean anyone making decisions that affect the economy.
He might be an ok science teacher, but he's clearly out of his depth when he talks about global business or finance - he's the same as you, talking after the event with no plan of how to address it or mitigate it.

I believe in karma, I think that if you know there is a storm coming and you don't warn your neighbour then you're not a good neighbour, but there comes a point where you can only tell people so many times before you think bollox to it, and now I've got very little sympathy for any moaning on here about it, it's tough titties.

There's an old story attributed to Mark Twain (not his real name of course, just as your's isn't Harry Potter). It's probably apochryphal but then it's just like Aesop's Fables and those Bible stories, there may be a message there for those that care to look.

Apparently, young Mark left home at the age of 18 and was away for 10 years or so. When he returned home he commented that he couldn't believe how much his father had learnt in the 10 years he'd been away.

I don't know how old you were in 1980 but I'm sure I was a lot younger than you are now. It was in 1980 that after discussing things with my wife I decided to not leave the army at that time but to stay in for the 22 years and get a pension which would be paid from the day I left. I left in 1991, had already bought a house and after paying off a lump sum, I had a mortgage that would be covered by my pension for 15 years if interest rates didn't get silly. They did for a while of course but we managed quite easily. After 15 years, the pension would be increased to that day's rates and would become index linked. It was a non-contributory pension.

Fast forward 15 years and the pension increase has kicked in and I'm living in my own house in Turkey where there's a better climate, nicer people and cheaper all round. Not too bad for someone who knew very little about macro economics except that economics is sort of cyclical. I'd read a bit of Dickens as well so knew about Mr Micawber. I've never been poor, I've never really struggled, I've still never studied economics. I'm not that fussed about energy prices and the reaction to your current inflation rate in the UK is very similar to the UK getting 2" of snow. I don't really need to be concerned, to be honest. There's plenty of people in the food bank queue and the internet who know a lot more than me,who'll tell me where I went wrong though.

[Kneerly Down]

*Clearly bollox, where are they getting that renewable gas they sell me?

They are buying REGOs so your blended electricity and (not so much blended) gas is suddenly all clean and renewable.

[Count Steer]

In related news, in addition to the 2 other stations, government have agreed a deal (££s not disclosed) with the German owners of Ratcliffe-on-Soar coal-fired power station to delay the closure.

Oh well at least we have a lot of our own coal to put in it.

Oh. It appears we didn't mothball any mines. Never mind, the Asfordby 'super-mine' is on the doorstep. Oh.....

[Cousin Jack]

*Clearly bollox, where are they getting that renewable gas they sell me?

They are buying REGOs so your blended electricity and (not so much blended) gas is suddenly all clean and renewable.

REGOs, RECs, Green Tags, Carbon offsets, it is all smoke and mirrors. Blind and confuse, standard tactics.

[Hoonercat]

I believe in karma, I think that if you know there is a storm coming and you don't warn your neighbour then you're not a good neighbour, but there comes a point where you can only tell people so many times before you think bollox to it, and now I've got very little sympathy for any moaning on here about it, it's tough titties.

Your 'neightbour' is probably well aware of the coming storm (given all the media attention) and may well be inclined to think 'Who cares, I'll just put on another jumper/blanket'. As for telling people 'so many times', maybe they don't want to hear it? It kind of implies that you know better and if they don't listen to you them fuck 'em, because they can't possibbly have an alternative plan.

[Asian Boss]

The most important thing is, as David "fuck the poor and screw the green crap" Cameron led us to, is to keep it Brexity. Nice and Brexity.

[weeksy]

There's an old story attributed to Mark Twain (not his real name of course, just as your's isn't Harry Potter). It's probably apochryphal but then it's just like Aesop's Fables and those Bible stories, there may be a message there for those that care to look.

Apparently, young Mark left home at the age of 18 and was away for 10 years or so. When he returned home he commented that he couldn't believe how much his father had learnt in the 10 years he'd been away.

I don't know how old you were in 1980 but I'm sure I was a lot younger than you are now. It was in 1980 that after discussing things with my wife I decided to not leave the army at that time but to stay in for the 22 years and get a pension which would be paid from the day I left. I left in 1991, had already bought a house and after paying off a lump sum, I had a mortgage that would be covered by my pension for 15 years if interest rates didn't get silly. They did for a while of course but we managed quite easily. After 15 years, the pension would be increased to that day's rates and would become index linked. It was a non-contributory pension.

Fast forward 15 years and the pension increase has kicked in and I'm living in my own house in Turkey where there's a better climate, nicer people and cheaper all round. Not too bad for someone who knew very little about macro economics except that economics is sort of cyclical. I'd read a bit of Dickens as well so knew about Mr Micawber. I've never been poor, I've never really struggled, I've still never studied economics. I'm not that fussed about energy prices and the reaction to your current inflation rate in the UK is very similar to the UK getting 2" of snow. I don't really need to be concerned, to be honest. There's plenty of people in the food bank queue and the internet who know a lot more than me,who'll tell me where I went wrong though.

To be fair you've done a pretty good job of it and you've arranged your affairs quite well. One can't plan for everything, but you've done a decent job of it and you're reasonably well insulated from life's vicissitudes.
I wasn't being unpleasant, but you were having a little poke at me and in good humour I gave you one back.

If we were to use a metaphor then your tree trunk in the garden and Hooners woodpile is what I've been advocating, winter is coming and unless you've got a stash of something to fall back on then you're going to catch a cold.

I didn't start making any decent decisions until I was in my late twenties and since then a few lightbulb moments and exposure to global business has allowed me to see behind the curtain. A significant lightbulb moment was becoming aware of the policy of massive inflation - it has been called quantitive easing but it's inflation of the money supply. Inflation doesn't mean prices going up, it actually means expansion of the money supply, prices going up are a symptom, but because one follows the other it is now commonly accepted that inflation means rising prices, as if it's some sort of cosmic force that just happens, but inflation is a policy, it's a conscious decision by policy makers, it's not something that just comes along on it's own.

Anyhow, the effects of an expansion of the money supply was always going to filter through to your average bloke on the street - especially when it's been massively accelerated over the last two years - and when it did I knew that we'd see a huge economic shift, the rich would get richer and the poor would get poorer at a pace that we haven't seen before, so a very basic plan was not to be poor - which is why I was saying get a better job, try and increase your income, save your money, put a bit away in a commodities ETF, hedge, etc.
This is just the creeping start of it.

I don't think it has anything to do with Brexit, that's a problem and it upset my personal plans but on a bigger scale it can be dealt with by traditional monetary theory, balancing rates, import/export, diplomacy and good logistics - this is something different.

Thank fuck you're not a vegan. I don't think the internet could cope.

[Hoonercat]

If we were to use a metaphor then your tree trunk in the garden and Hooners woodpile is what I've been advocating, winter is coming and unless you've got a stash of something to fall back on then you're going to catch a cold.

As much as I appreciate the honourary mention, it's not really deserved My intentions were good (order more wood than usual to offset not ordering any pellets) but the execution was poor
I noticed my Bulgy neighbours ordered their wood much earlier than usual so thought I'd best do the same, checked prices and it was 110 lev per cube, up from the 80 lev I'd payed last year. An all-knowing expat who's lived here alot longer than me insisted I wait a couple of weeks for prices to drop (to be fair they usually do drop at the start of June) which left me in 2 minds. A couple of days later I broke and almost severed a finger, no way I'd be able to shift and stack all that wood so waited until my daughter and her mate arrived a couple of weeks later to give them a real 'taste of Bulgaria' Price had gone up to 140 lev per cube though I did knock them down to 135 lev.
I'm still 'saving' money, compared to buying more pellets and less wood, but paying alot more than I did last year.

The UK media likes the line that the UK will suffer more because it's reliant on gas for heating compared to much of Europe, but they fail to mention the knock-on effect that gas prices have had on heating sources such as wood and pellets.

[Count Steer]

Thank fuck you're not a vegan. I don't think the internet could cope.

Using that analogy, if becoming vegan was made compulsory from tomorrow then you’d just shrug and eat lentils, whilst my freezer has enough steaks to last me until I’m ninety

That's a good freezer if it keeps frozen steaks edible for more than 30 years.

Probably better to buy a farm with a beef herd and a good bull.

Being a logical sort of chap I'd consider why veganism was being made compulsory and whether I agreed with the rationale before taking any action other than investing in lentil production.

[Cousin Jack]

Ah, but stockpiling is bad!

Our oh-so-efficient JIT logistics chain cannot cope with people stockpiling. People like you create shortages and leave poor people starving. Or freezing. And moaning.

[Mussels]

The most important thing is, as David "fuck the poor and screw the green crap" Cameron led us to, is to keep it Brexity. Nice and Brexity.

You don't like Cameron or Brexit but what's your opinion on energy prices, polluters pay or help the poor?

[Hoonercat]

Ah, but stockpiling is bad!

Our oh-so-efficient JIT logistics chain cannot cope with people stockpiling. People like you create shortages and leave poor people starving. Or freezing. And moaning.

To be fair, I bought all my wood from private sources. I could have bought it through the village mayor at last year's prices (though delivery cost has increased) but knowing that poorer Bulgarians rely on this cheap source of wood (the old codgers get two free cubes), coupled with the Bulgarian govt being shit at forseeing supply and demand issues, I'd have felt a bit bad about it. Lo and behold, last week the govt announced a temporary ban on firewood exports, due to increased demand and lack of supply

[Hoonercat]

Speaking of money-saving, I read an article this morning claiming that thousands of northern Greeks are travelling to Bulgaria each week to fill up their cars and do their weekly shopping. Meanwhile, thousands of Bulgarians travel to Turkey each week for exactly the same reason. Given how much the cost of food and petrol has increased here in the past 6 months, things must be pretty grim in Greece, cost-wise

[Yorick]

Well, look, I don’t really give a shit if you starve or go cold this winter, but I was quoted and dragged into a thread where no one seems to understand what’s going on, so I told you.

Perhaps I’m wrong, maybe I miraculously guessed at the outcome for the wrong reasons, perhaps I’m a boring miserable twat.

Please sir, I know that one

[Horse]

Well, look, I don’t really give a shit

Forget the beef, stockpile bogroll