The truth about heat pumps
Plus a call to help count household plastic waste
I’m Sarah Hartley and this is The Northern Eco weekly update. As you’ve received this newsletter then either you subscribed or someone forwarded it to you. If the latter, then you can click on this handy little button below.
Do heat pumps work in the cold?
That was the headline which initially caught my eye from Hannah Ritchie at Sustainability by Numbers.
As heat pumps are designed to be a form of heating it had never occurred to me that this might be a problem. As Hannah put it so succinctly:
“It would be a bit useless if your mode of heating only worked in warm climates, not cold ones. This is becoming a common pushback on electric heat pumps.”
Because here in the UK a lot of the public is still skeptical, Hannah takes a good look at the issue from a high level looking at the performance of heat pumps in different climates, and survey data on how satisfied users are with their installations. Read her full findings here.
However, I was still left wondering exactly how they perform on the ground here in the north of England and thankfully local expert Tom Bray from Low Carbon Lifestyle didn’t disappoint in answering this important question. In the video below he does the maths on a real example from County Durham over the recent cold snap. Using the data he’s collected off his own system, Tom works out the energy usage, cost and comparison to gas heating. An invaluable guide for anyone thinking of installing a heat pump in the future.
The top three most clicked links from last week were:
Abandoned coal mines providing cheaper, clean energy for homes
Lhyfe to build hydrogen plant on Wallsend power station site
In the news
Thousands of households and hundreds of teachers from across Yorkshire have committed to counting a week’s worth of their plastic waste as part of the UK’s largest waste survey starting next week. The Big Plastic Count, organised by Greenpeace UK and Everyday Plastic, is a crucial national survey taking place on 11-17 March 2024 that presents a unique opportunity for residents across the region to gather vital evidence about the extent of the UK’s plastic problem.
Nationwide, across all 650 parliamentary constituencies, 88,000 participants have already signed up for The Big Plastic Count 2024, including over 11,000 school classes.
The national plastic-counting campaign is open to individuals, households, schools, community groups and businesses.
Find out more and sign up for The Big Plastic Count 2024 here.
🌳 Residents from a string of villages in Holmedale are working together on a new nature improvement initiative. The idea was kick-started around a year ago by residents Sally Zaranko and Lizzie Rumble of Whashton, who organised a public meeting attended by about 40 residents, Joe Willis at RichmondshireToday reports.
🎣 Plans to turn eyesore fish farm into holiday let near All Creatures Great and Small village has won backing A proposal to transform an eyesore former fish farm into a small-scale holiday let site has received the backing of planners, despite local residents claiming the proposal would exacerbate flooding issues and impact on their safety and quality of life, Stuart Minting reports for the Yorkshire Post.
🌞 A Conservative MP has spoken against a solar farm plan which would provide enough low-carbon energy to meet the equivalent annual needs of over 70,000 homes. Stockton South MP Matt Vickers, raised the issue of the Byers Gill solar farm plans, a major proposed development stretching across agricultural and arable land between Stockton and Darlington. Gareth Lightfoot at the D&S reports here.
🌼 Seven places to see spring flowers in Yorkshire chosen by Fiona Callow at The Stray Ferret.
Events
Join me for a special online event with Greenpeace tomorrow, Wednesday, March 13 from 12.30 - 1.30. Register for the lunch&learn with Global Press officer Kai Tabacek here.
Save Our Swale (SOS) is running a stall on Richmond Market from 10am on Saturday, March 16.
A New Climate Cinema is opening on Thursday, March 21 from 7pm. At the Institute of Thrifty Ideas, 9 Silver Street, Stockton.
Got an event that readers of The Northern Eco would be interested in - drop me a line at sarah@thenortherneco.com.