Interesting Links for 14-03-2019

[andrewducker]

I linked to something by Jesse Singal. I won't be doing that again.

(tags:fraud transgender lgbt OhForFucksSake )

Online activists are silencing us, scientists say

(tags:research abuse )

Six positive ways drones are used

(tags:drone Technology )

The EU Is Telling European Leaders There Are Only Three Reasons They Should Allow Brexit To Be Delayed

(tags:UK europe viaDanielDWilliam )

Suicide , austerity and the Troubles

(tags:suicide austerity history NorthernIreland )

Dwarf Fortress coming to Steam {and itch.io) - with updates graphics

(tags:games )

Labour abandons support for referendum on Theresa May's deal

(tags:UK europe labour doom )

An old rule means Bercow could take drastic action on Brexit | Politics News | Sky News

(tags:UK europe politics parliament )

May loses a vote against herself in a crazed night of parliamentary drama

(tags:politics uk )

UK to phase out gas heating in new homes by 2025

Electricity is about five times the cost of gas, so that's going to be painful for some.
(tags:gas heating uk globalwarming )

Comments

Gas vs Electicity

[lsanderson]

High-end electric (geothermal heat pumps and induction cooktops) are less costly than gas to run. The hit comes in the initial equipment purchase. (I'm guessing on the cooktop a wee bit.) Low-end electric is a budget killer.

Re: Gas vs Electicity

[rmc28]

I looked into heat pumps 8-10 years ago when we had a boiler to replace, and the equipment cost was what decided us on getting a gas boiler again. But at least it's a much more efficient boiler than the lowest-possible-budget-in-1990 that it replaced.

Re: Gas vs Electicity

[lsanderson]

"To run" is the catch. And you have to go geothermal for the real high efficiency. Air-based heat pumps crap out around 0 C.

Re: Gas vs Electicity

[armiphlage]

The air-to-air heat pumps being put into condos in Toronto work down to about -15 C, although I expect efficiency suffers.

Re: Gas vs Electicity

[lsanderson]

It seems they can go down a bit further to around -20 C, but at some point, they switch over to backup or straight electric resistance heat. This article from my exhaustive 30s Google research covers it better than me: https://www.nordicghp.com/2017/01/heat-pump-effective-temperature-range/

-20 C is a warm day in January around here so they're not much seen, although geothermal is inching forward here -- if nothing else you can see the above-ground part of the verticle field heat sinks.

Re: Gas vs Electicity

[naath]

If what you are doing is 'burning gas' then it is inevitably more efficient to do it where needed (the waste is 'heat', you wanted heat...) than in a power station; but if you are getting wind or solar or nuclear electricity then the sums change. We went induction hob, but didn't really care about small cost differences. I expect ground source heat pump would be prohibitively expensive even given that we own a garden large enough (probably)

Re: Gas vs Electicity

[lsanderson]

If you get cold weather or even cool weather, the geothermal kick butt over air. It's the twenty to twenty-five year payback that's the kicker.

[danieldwilliam]

I think with the right building regulations for insulation etc and using solar panels, heat pumps and so on you can just about make a home built in 2025 using no gas cost the same to heat as a current home using gas.

(No number on that, just my gut feel.)

[aldabra]

We're going to get at most one more referendum. We want it to be used to ratify a coherent deal, which has been approved by Parliament, before it gets implemented. We absolutely do not want to use it up on the current pile of incoherent piffle. (Apart from anything else, we can't rely on the Great British Public not to vote for a pile of incoherent piffle; if we get as far as a referendum, we have to be in a position to implement either Yes or No.)

Labour is quite right that the current proposal does not merit a referendum.

[andrewducker]

This is the only deal we're getting.

The EU have been really clear on this for quite some time.

And with our exit being negotiated before the future relationship is, I'm not sure what people would want to (or be able to) change in the agreement.

They aren't going to say "Yay, it's Labour negotiating, we don't need a backstop." because they totally still do until we sign up for something coherent afterwards.

[doubtingmichael]

I might well be wrong about this, but whenever the EU says "This is the only deal on offer", I have been thinking they actually meant "This is the only deal on offer given your red lines". If Labour rubbed those out, other deals might well be possible. Admittedly, not without an extension given how much time the Tories have thrown away.

There might still be a backstop implied in a temporary deal, but if Labour said "We're going for a Norway-style arrangement", it would become a technical detail only.

I think.

[andrewducker]

The "Future Relationship deal" depends very much on the red lines. I'm not sure the Withdrawal Agreement does.

And yeah, the backstop could be a temporary detail in either case - it depends on the future relationship, and we have no idea what that's going to be yet.

An old rule means Bercow could take drastic action on Brexit

[doug]

This story is pretty much already overtaken by events. Bercow has cannily called an amendment to be voted on (in an hour or two) that would rule out having Theresa May's deal brought back to the House. I'm sure he'll treat that vote as expressing the will of the House on the matter: if the amendment is passed, he won't accept it being put again, and if the amendment is voted down, he will accept it, should the Government bring it forward.

But for this, that amendment looks like a slightly odd choice to call in this debate, so I strongly suspect he picked it precisely so he wouldn't have to make an independent ruling, which would be massively unpopular with whichever side he didn't come down on.

As I've said elsewhere, with conventions being burned with abandon all over the place (including by Bercow!), it's slightly reassuring to see clever manoeuvring to stay within the lines.

Re: An old rule means Bercow could take drastic action on Brexit

[skington]

It was withdrawn and not voted on, though - presumably because the amendment to allow parliament to take control of the timetable also failed.

[doug]

In case you don't see it: "Edinburgh Trams: Councillors approve controversial £207m tram extension to Newhaven"
https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/edinburgh-trams-councillors-approve-controversial-207m-tram-extension-to-newhaven-1-4889604

I think I've previously called here for a Tram Inquiry Inquiry to look in to why the Tram Inquiry, looking in to why the Tram project ran so heavily over time and budget, is running so heavily over time and budget. Given that they're starting the Tram Extension before the Tram Inquiry reports, should we not try to get ahead of matters? It's inevitable that the Tram Extension will run heavily over time and budget. And, in turn, inevitably, the Tram Extension Inquiry will run heavily over time and budget. If we start it now, before the Tram Extension even starts, we might have a chance of it reporting before the Tram Extension Inquiry Inquiry starts.

[cmcmck]

Especially when you consider that the Croydon/Wimbledon tram system down near where we used to live and the Birmingham tram system near where we now live both came in on time and on budget.........

[andrewducker]

Thank you, that made me smile.

[marahmarie]

We investigate the investigators who did the investigations over here (the US) _all the damn time_ so yeah, why the hell not.

gas heating

[zz]

when looking at flats to buy, i've always immediately dismissed any that had electric heating, because it's so expensive to run.

i'm sure in some utopia where housing is well insulated it's not so bad, but this is britain where the housing is made of dried dog shit.

Re: gas heating

[channelpenguin]

I had storage heaters / hot water on White Meter (overnight cheap rate) all my life in the UK. None of the places were especially well insulated. None had double glazing. Last bills I had for a 44sqm all-electric flat were about GBP 1700 / yr (2014-15). That is ALL heating, lighting, etc. etc. Don't know how it is now or how it compares with gas...

Re: gas heating

[andrewducker]

I'm currently paying £768 per year.

So under half.

Electricity is over double the cost per kWh of gas.