I get being on a budget, but I think it’s kind of cruel to have kids in a home and then need jumpers with hot water bottles to be warm

The house, which was built in the 1980s, was retrofitted for free by Santander as part of a project to examine how to fund homes towards better energy efficiency. If Naylor had to pay for the works, the solar panels, heat pump and battery would have come to just under £20,000 after a government grant was applied.

to be fair that’s not a bad investment given the energy price cap is predicted to be &2k next year, payback in 10 years and the system probably has a life of 20 years.

Their thermostat was set at 18C (64F). That's not really that cold.

cruel

I think you need to recalibrate what cruelty means. plenty of kids out there without enough to eat, or even a steady place to stay, these kids are fine.

I put off investing in solar panels for years but bit the bullet and thought I had a 7 year pay back, I added batteries and and thought those would take about 8 years. Power prices went up and the pay back was around 4 years.

Yeah, that's actually my preferred temperature for indoors.

A new study posted that 35 year old solar panels were still producing just at a lower rate. I think it was 80 to 75% to the original rate. Modern panels are better so the degradation should be slower.

Yea, slippers and a sweater (jumper) through the winter period and a thermostat at 18C seems like a perfectly reasonable way to save energy to me. That's not an uncomfortable situation at all.

Found Walt Disney

Was that a thing about him, liking colder temperatures?

Same, best comfy temperatures. Add partner, a couch and a blanket and it's absolute heaven.

In honor of your comment, we're going to do just that after a bowl of some hot soup with oven-fresh bread.

No, but it's not a comfortable indoor temperature. That was the temperature in my house growing up, because it was an old, poorly-insulated house, and we couldn't afford to keep it any warmer.

It was tolerable, but in the winter, my hands would get so cold they'd stiffen up. Can't really wear gloves or mittens around the house and actually do anything, either.

My house is set to 62° all winter

Cruel would be not keeping them warm, or exposing them to danger

Giving them warm clothes and hot water bottles is not any form of deprivation. It's just a different way to provide for them, one that sounds super wholesome and cozy to me

Like with everything, the key to saving money is to have it to begin with. The people who are being wrecked by their utility bills are also the people who don't have an extra 20k lying around to buy a super energy efficient heating and cooling system.

Breaking news "How one man beat the shoe industry" - he had someone buy him a really nice pair of boots so he wouldn't have to buy new boots every 3 months. Super helpful........

Oh, ha ha ha ha. That's funny. I'm definitely not a head in a jar with an internet connection

Are you or someone near you also definitely not a crook?

Now listen here you drugged up commie, I paid for this body and I’d no sooner return it than I would my little cocker spaniel Checkers.

One can have levels of cruelty perhaps. It's just a word that you can apply meaning to. Especially a subjective one like this, which, as you mentioned, needs calibrating. So highly subjective.

inb4 down votes because people don't like how language is a constantly moving and evolving thing.

Still waiting to install dune esque wind traps.

click, engage, repeat :)

(takes notes)
Ok, I just need a (looks up article) four-bedroom detached home in Milton Keynes to get someone to install the stuff for free.

Renters are fucked, sadly. Oh well...

I mean everyone is entitled to their opinions and a childhood of nothing but adverse cold would be miserable. I grew up in a highly varied series of environments ranging from trailer park poor to middle class, I'm not trying to shame anyone. But cruelty in this context to me would be keeping ONE kid cold, or denying someone dry clothing - abusive.

good luck.

The Vimaire (Discworld) theory of shoes springs to mind.

Sam Vimes “Boots” Theory of Economic
Inequality

But why did Santander pay for that? Are they going to do mine too? I don't have 20k lying around so unless a bank throws some philanthropy my way it's not happening

Vimes, thanks, in french it's Sam Vimaire 😁

No kidding? That’s super cool! Disque-monde! I am somewhat disappointed they didn’t transliterate Ankh-Morpork.

Typically, the best candidates for the retrofitting work are homes built in the last 10 years with good insulation levels, said Banks.

Or insulate older homes instead of this nonsense

Vetinari (IIRC) is Veterini 😁

The translations are masterpieces, I prefer some french over the originals even. The wordplays are so thought out and function so well. Ankh-Morpork, ou by some I dont remember (Klatch?) becomes Ankh-Mord-Porc, "Ankh-Bite-Pig" with food jokes etc. And so on.

How long before the solar panel people realize that's bad for business? The phrase "they don't make 'em like they used to" will eventually apply here, if it doesn't already :( but that just means that the second-best time to invest in solar panels is probably today, not tomorrow.

All depends on where you live. Some states punish you for going solar.

You do need to do the sums and while my feedin traffic is almost nothing it’s the avoided kilowatt’s that made the difference. The price of electricity going up made the game much more profitable.